IT WAS an honour last week, as West Dorset’s serving MP, to join in the commemorations of one of my predecessors, George Somers, in the annual Somers Day celebrations at Lyme Regis.

He was Mayor of Lyme Regis in Elizabethan times, and then MP, and then naval hero who founded the island community known today as Bermuda. Exotic foods and knowledge of the world are two things we take for granted today, but Somers and his crew endured considerable disease, starvation, and mutiny in the pursuit of discovery and knowledge.

I was joined by the Mayor of St George’s, one of the earliest settlements founded in Bermuda by Somers. And for many years now, the Somers Day parade has celebrated the continued strength of our strong relationship with the Island of Bermuda and one where elected representatives are always keen to visit us on this day.

The Mayor of St George’s speech was moving and from the heart. He told us that these celebrations underscored how important it is that we learn from our history and to be always in the pursuit of truth, rather than what we are first told. And I think it is important to hear from those who are much closer to historical issues like this rather than those who like to be the voice of others without a mandate.

We take for granted today our ability to search on our phones or computers any information we want to know about this world in an instant. It is important to remember that sometimes what we first read might not be accurate and we have a responsibility ourselves to validate what we read too.

CHRIS LODER

WEST DORSET MP