It might seem hard to say it, but the generation who last lived through a major war that cost millions of lives across the world are coming to the end of their time. The war they endured was the last to involve large-scale conscription which snatched ordinary men and women - husbands and wives, fathers and mothers - from their everyday routines and sent them into battle.

And it was the last war in which those who were left at home, mainly the women, children and elderly, had to cope with the distress of separation along with economic hardship and strict rationing and constant fears of airborne attack and invasion from sea.

Those who were there at the time are this year marking the 60th anniversary of VE Day and later VJ Day. For the older ones there will be few more opportunities to pass on their accounts of that period and how it affected them. There will not be all that many more chances for children to hear first-hand accounts of it.

So the idea of bringing together old and young in Bradford for the "Their Past, Your Future" project, with Bradfordians who lived through the war talking directly to youngsters as part of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary, is a splendid idea.

By talking face to face with people who can recall what it was like the children should get a much more vivid impression than they could ever hope to gain from books and television. As a result, hopefully, the new generation will be persuaded to do their utmost to ensure that it is never allowed to happen again.