Twentyone of us – members of Eltisley History Society and friends – left on Monday 15th for a 5 day tour of the battlefields, graves and memorials where the men from Eltisley fought and in some cases died and are remembered. Staying at Arras and Ypres it was a real journey of discovery. Our expert guide Andrew Spooner dispelled many of the myths of trench warfare and replaced them with the – often more shocking – truth. At each grave or memorial one of our soldiers was remembered, Laurence Binyon’s words ‘They shall grow not old…’ were spoken, a Poppy Cross was placed and the Last Post was played. On the final evening we attended the now world famous ceremony at the Menin Gate. Watched by an almost silent crowd of several hundred Mary Flinders, Maureen White and Geoff Sewell formed one of the few official wreath-laying parties and laid a poppy wreath to the memory of Eltisley’s Fallen.
We shall be publishing a diary of our trip, together with photographs, and video and sound recordings will be on our website as soon as possible.