Council delegation pays tribute in France and Belgium at one hundred and tenth Battle of the Somme commemorations

A council delegation took half in a four-day go to to France and Belgium this week to mark the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme and commemorate these killed in motion throughout one of many defining battles of the First World War.

The delegation included Aldermen Glenn Barr, Margaret Tinsley and Ian Burns; Councillors Joy Ferguson, Julie Flaherty, Robbie Alexander and Scott Armstrong. Together, they paid tribute to the braveness and sacrifice of the troopers who misplaced their lives in the course of the Battle of the Somme.

During the go to, the delegation attended remembrance providers and toured historic websites and landmarks throughout the area, together with battlefields, museums, cemeteries and monuments devoted to those that misplaced their lives.

Reflecting on the go to, members of the delegation commented:

“Getting to visit and experience these historic sites really brings home the scale of sacrifice made during the Battle of the Somme. It was an incredible privilege for us to pay our respects and remember those who gave their lives.”

 On Tuesday 30 June, shortly after arriving in France, the delegation visited the Sir John Monash Centre, a state‑of‑the‑artwork museum and interpretative centre that tells the story of Australian troopers who served and fought on the Western Front in the course of the First World War.

The following day (Wednesday 1 July) – the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the primary day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 – the group attended and laid wreaths on the Services of Remembrance on the Thiepval Memorial, the Ulster Tower and Guillemont, which commemorate the 1000’s of troopers who misplaced their lives in the course of the offensive.

On Thursday 2 July, the delegation visited Vimy Ridge – a major web site of the Battle of Vimy Ridge within the Battle of Arras – in addition to Ancre Cemetery and the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. They additionally toured the Somme Museum beneath the Basilica in Albert, which supplied a strong perception into the circumstances confronted by troopers on the entrance traces, earlier than attending the Last Post Ceremony on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium – a shifting each day tribute to those that fell within the First World War and don’t have any identified grave.

The go to concluded on Friday 3 July with a go to to the historic city of Arras, an space intently related to the broader Somme marketing campaign and subsequent battles, earlier than the delegation returned residence later that day.