Nicola Adams was on Desert Island Discs last week, a remarkable young lady brought up in Leeds. Whether you follow boxing or not, her achievement is tremendous, now twice an Olympic Gold medallist; she won her first bout aged thirteen.

Another young person from Leeds, one hundred years ago, was Horace Iiles. Aged thirteen he was a trainee blacksmith, at fourteen, strong and big for his age, he volunteered for the Army joining the Leeds Pals. In May 1916, he was wounded, had brief time in hospital and a week’s leave in Yorkshire before returning to active duty. On 1st July 1916 he advanced with the Leeds Pals toward the village of Serre and struck down by machine gun fire. He died aged sixteen.

On our televisions and radios we witness daily the awful existence of people of all ages, children from toddlers to teenagers among them, in the embattled country of Syria suffering gunfire, bombing and starvation, the inevitable outcome of warfare by deliberate siege.

The young people who survive such horrendous circumstance, in Syria and elsewhere in the world, deserve the support of all nations to lead the best life they can find in future years.