THIS weekend, on Armistice Day, when we fall silent to “Remember Them” - who is it we are remembering?

We each have our reasons for wearing a red poppy in November. For me, I guess it’s because my grandad served in the Second World War and I think my generation owes much to him and others who fought and died in conflict.

The poppy is a simple symbol - and in a multi-cultural city like Bradford, it is a reminder of the significance and impact of war on families around the world.

In July, at a ceremony marking the 101st anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, a wreath was laid at the Bradford Pals memorial in remembrance of the 1.14 million men of the Indian Army who served in the First World War. It was the first time such a tribute had been paid in the city and was, said Bradford World War 1 Group president Tricia Restorick, “long overdue”.

This time last year I travelled with the WW1 Group to France to unveil a Bradford Pals memorial at Serre Road, overlooking fields where many of the men died. We visited war cemeteries where Bradford men were buried, placing poppy crosses on their graves. Tributes were also left at the graves of Indian soldiers, who lay at rest alongside Bradford Pals. Some members of the group were visibly moved to find the names of men whose stories they had researched.

Ray Greenhough was one of them. For several years he has painstakingly researched men from Marshfield School who perished in the conflict and is now updating his booklet, Marshfield School: Our Heroes of World War 1, to raise the profile of Indian soldiers too. Ray’s research led him to the Battle of Festubert in May, 1915, where British and Indian soldiers attacked enemy lines together, and buried their dead in an orchard. “The Indian men were from Rawalpindi, Jullundur, and Jhelum,” said Ray. “This global war has taken on a much wider significance. In terms of Marshfield’s current school community comes a realisation that we have a shared history. What can further research uncover for the families of today’s Marshfield children?”

Families from around the world lost loved ones in WW1. The Menin Gate at Ypres bears the names of many Indian soldiers. Yet it’s an aspect of the war not widely taught in British schools.

Today Marshfield has mostly Asian pupils - many will live in houses where previous Marshfielders grew up before heading for the trenches a century ago. They served in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and fighting alongside them, now buried alongside them, were soldiers from many countries, including undivided India. Schoolchildren in Bradford today could be descendants of these men.

This week, an exhibition by Bradford World War 1 Group focussing on the Indian Army is touring venues in the city, including Muslim community centres and a Sikh Gurdwara. Visitors are invited to bring along family photographs and share memories of ancestors who served in the war.

In windswept war cemeteries in the November rain last year, I was struck by a sense of connection when we found graves of local men. We knew the streets they grew up on, the schools they went to, the mills and offices they worked in. It felt like we knew them.

Their lives ended in foreign fields that are ‘forever England’. And with them lie men from another continent, who died with the same hopes, fears and families waiting back home.

* I HAVE only ever been to one football match. It was Boxing Day, it was freezing, and everyone seemed to be scoffing pies at half-time. That’s about all I remember.

Growing up near Valley Parade, Nudrat Afza was curious about the noises coming from Bradford City's ground on Saturday afternoons. When she finally went to her first match, she was so inspired by the devotion of female fans she started taking pictures of them. Now her images are in a striking exhibition, City Girls, opening at the Science and Media Museum next week.

“I love the sense of unity and enthusiasm at matches,” says Nudrat, whose portraits and crowd scenes capture a range of emotions, from delight to despair. From teenage girls wrapped up in the on-pitch drama to grandmothers waving their scarves, these images reflect our city's sense of community and cultural pride.

A touching tribute to the club's female fans, this exhibition is well worth a visit - whether you're a diehard Bantams follower or, like me, someone who'll probably never spend Saturday afternoons on the terraces.