There can’t be many World War One veterans who won a Military Medal for bravery, went on to become a Prime Minister, then to become an ‘Official Hero’, and to have an international airport named after him. That’s what happened... read more →
Feb
01
Feb
01
‘The aftermath of an earthquake!’ Do the words express the reality before us as we move along the mile of road between Albert and La Boisselle! Hardly. The earth-shudder that visits a volcanic district may topple towns and villages into ruins in a few minutes. It does not tear and... read more →
Feb
01
Most of the memorials you’ll see as you walk round Lochnagar Crater are for men who fought in the First World War. But we also remember that women took part in the struggle too, many on the Home Front and others who served as nursing staff. Women who tended for... read more →
Feb
01
Looking back, it’s now very hard to untangle the hundreds of different trips to the Somme. The first one is easy to remember as is the last. The hundreds in-between, less so. There has, though, always been one single thread in every trip, no matter... read more →
Jan
07
Wenches in Trenches are a group of women, from all walks of life, who raise money for military charities by doing a sponsored walk each year, around September time, on the western Front. The Great War saw large number of women serving as nurses or with the VAD (Voluntary Aid... read more →
Oct
09
The eulogy for George Harwood by the Chairman of the Friends of Lochnagar. 9th october 2015 – Whitley Bay. In my experience, there has never been anyone quite like George. I speak as a friend of 40... read more →
Aug
01
25th Battalion northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Irish) Killed in Action 1 July 1916, aged 29 John Foley was born in 1887 in Ballyhea, Charleville, Cork, Ireland, the son of David and Minnie Foley. When the 1901 census was taken... read more →
Aug
01
2nd Battalion Royal Scots. Shot at dawn 19 May 1918, aged 28. Robert William Sims was born at Haltwhistle, northumberland in 1890 (GRO reference: Jun 1890 Haltwhistle 10b 347), to sixteen year old Amy Simes.... read more →
Jul
07
The eulogy delivered at the funeral of Les Disbrey by the Chairman of the Friends of Lochnagar. 7 July 2015 - Contalmaison Church. This is without doubt one of the hardest things I... read more →
Jul
01
The two Lochnagars, one a mountain in Scotland, the other a Great War crater in France and now a Peace Memorial, are linked together by having the same name. With the advent of the Centenary year of the Great... read more →