By Stephen Kerr For most visitors, the Somme is a photographer’s dream.  Sites like Lochnagar Crater, the cemeteries, memorials and woods, and the rolling landscape, are irresistibly photogenic. Stephen Kerr is a regular visitor to the Somme and has produced an impressive portfolio – including pictures taken from the air.... read more →

Every now and again, words written by men who survived the slaughter on the battlefields a century ago echo through the years. Relationships made in appalling conditions can cascade through the generations. Many visitors to Lochnagar Crater, for example, will have seen a slim volume called Reflections of a Veteran,... read more →

By Martin Middlebrook The name of Martin Middlebrook is inseparable from the name of the Somme. Nobody visiting the battlefield will be unaware of his ground-breaking work, The First Day on the Somme, first published nearly fifty years ago. It is still, to this day, an essential reference book. In... read more →

By Peter Vass For General Haig, the Battle of the Somme was supposed to be the solution to the stalemate on the western Front not, as it turned out to be, a further problem. Its impact changed the mood in Britain significantly, particularly for those serving on the home front.... read more →

By Tim Rogers You can’t visit Lochnagar Crater and fail to notice the wood carvings and sculptures which adorn the site. One of the most recent is the three-dimensional tableau comm-emorating the tunnellers who created the mine, pictured here. On July 1st, the Cross on the lip of the Crater... read more →

By Jason King Many hundreds of young people are introduced to Lochnagar Crater each year on trips organised by their schools. These visits are crucially important. With luck - and with some inspired teaching – the experience generates a lasting impression and a willingness to help the mission of remembrance.... read more →

A small family group stand in a field commemorating the death of a soldier in the Battle of the Somme. The man being honoured is Corporal Ernest Goodridge of the 18th King’s Royal Rifles. He was killed in October, 1916. He was 24 years old. Acts like this are not... read more →

By John A. Taylor Many visitors on their way to La Boisselle will have stopped to examine the austere obelisk of the Tank Corps memorial, crowning the ridge at Pozières beside the busy main road from Albert to Bapaume. The site of this memorial, flanked by its miniature bronze tanks,... read more →