As you all may know, our ‘Friend of the Year’ Award is the highest accolade we have to express our gratitude to those who have worked above and beyond the call of duty. Normally, there is a lively debate by the Trustees as to who deserves it most (there are... read more →

The weather had been awful in the preceding days, with flood warnings throughout northern France, but we were confident that Saturday would bring dry weather, albeit with cloud, for the Armistice commemorations. And so it was a fairly confident group of 35 or so members of the commune and Friends... read more →

Work is steadily progressing on the replacement walkway, and we expect to have commissioned and be on the way to completing 80 or so metres by the end of September 2023. We take this opportunity to thank wholeheartedly our local builder Arnaud Delescluse for his efforts as he continues with... read more →

Just before Armistice Day in 2021 Benedikt Marchand from Munich emailed to tell us he had visited the Somme during the previous month, and that he had been following the footsteps of his granduncle, a young German soldier who fought and died at High Wood in 1916. That soldier, Lt... read more →

Thank you, David Thomson, for the excellent Facebook Livestream from the Lochnagar Crater on the morning of July 1st. Although we had some rain during the early part of the Ceremony this did not affect the broadcast. David commences the Livestream in the few minutes before the official start of... read more →

We are pleased to share the news of the completion of the first phase of the replacement walkway. Our dedicated and talented local builder, Arnaud Delescluse, has recently finished our commissions of 64 metres, or approximately 20% of the total. We are now in the process of trying to raise... read more →

It was just over 100 years ago, on Wednesday May 23rd, 1923, that Sir William Pulteney, Commander of III Corps of which the 34th Division was a part, gathered with veterans to unveil the first of two identical Divisional Memorial statues each known in their local areas as ‘La Madelon’;... read more →

Walkway update Although we are still in the winter season (at the time of writing) and despite the recent extreme cold snaps both in the UK and in France, we have commissioned the replacement of a further 40 metres of the walkway. Our committed local builder, Arnaud Delescluse, has made... read more →

A personal appreciation and tribute by Richard Dunning It’s hard to imagine life at Lochnagar without our charismatic Chaplain John Pressdee and his loyal and supportive wife Yvonne now that they’ve formally retired from the roles on December 31st. For almost 15 years they have both been resolute and irreplaceable... read more →