A special trip to France

[Smithy]

Last weekend saw us part of a group travelling to France for a very special journey.

 

Last year the Staffordshire Regimental Association, Hednesford Branch were on a tour of WW1 Battlefields when they stopped off to visit a memorial to the 46th (North Midland) Division whom the South Staffordshire Regiment were part of during the First World War.

 

The site of the memorial was where the Stafford’s along with the rest of the division broke the German defensive lines in the now famous Battle of St. Quentin Canal, which eventually led to the breaking of the Hindenburg Line.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St._Quentin_Canal

 

Now when the Hednesford Branch visited the memorial last year it was in a very run down state and had been damaged following a number of years of neglect. The Branch felt that they had to do something about it, so with the help of one substantial backer they were able to restore the memorial to its former glory. A fence has also been put around it and sign put at the roadside in order to keep the memory alive for future generations.

 

After travelling over on Saturday we arrived at our stop for the evening, Arras. This is a place which is of great interest and in the short time that we were there we managed to find a little museum (The Tunnel Museum) which gave a little bit of history and also showed a number of artefacts which were of WW1 origin from around the local area.

 

Sunday morning saw us travel to the memorial, which is situated just out of Bellicourt on the road to St Quentin. Along with the 50 or so members of the Hednesford Branch we were joined by members of the Sherwood Foresters Regimental Association and the Volunteer Band of the Mercian Regiment.

 

A short service took place with the Bishop of Stafford leading the order of service as the colours were paraded, wreaths laid and the last post played before the Regimental Collects of the Royal Lincolnshire, Royal Leicestershire, Staffordshire Regiments and the Sherwood Foresters were said.

 

Once the service was finished people were able to mingle before heading back to Arras and then back home to conclude which had been a very interesting and poignant weekend.

 

Below are some of the pictures from the weekend. (Sorry about the watermark still trying to find a good enough software to resize my pictures)

 

Scott

[Enigma]

Good to hear the monument is restored.

Must have been a good trip.

[N.O.S.]

Great that it has been restored. Must have been quite an experience to be at the service. A pity that a fence is necessary, but the design chosen seems somehow quite appropriate and does in a way convey the 'see-through barbed wire' nature of the war out there.

[Smithy]

Yes it was a good trip, just a shame it couldn't have lasted a bit longer in order to get in a few other places of interest.

 

It was certainly a different experience to be at the service also, to be stood on the site where one of the major battles of WW1 took place for which this memorial was erected.

 

The fence was installed as they felt it was needed. The farmers had previously piled all sorts of stuff against it before and hence why it had become neglected. Hopefully with this now in place it will survive for many a future generation.