Friday 1 July 2016

Remembering them ...... 100 years after the Battle of the Somme part 7 ...... today in Salford

Today is the centenary of the first day of the Somme and across Salford as well as Manchester  there will be a full weekend of Commemorations, including the world premiere of a new, musical tribute.*


“Around 650 Salford men - most of them in the Salford Pals battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers - died on the first day of one of Britain's most brutal battles.

Civic leaders, school children, musicians and the general public will pay tribute to them as part of the national day of commemoration on July 1 which was once known as Thiepval Day in Salford.

Thiepval today hosts the largest British battle memorial in the world, commemorating the 72,195 missing British and Commonwealth men who fell on the Somme battlefield and have no known grave.

The day will begin at 7.00am with a peal of bells at Sacred Trinity Church, the parish church of the Salford Pals, followed by a memorial service in Fire Station Square. 


The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers will take part in the service in recognition of the fact that many Salford men went to church with their regiment before heading to the front. 

A second afternoon service will be held at the church at 3.30pm.
Salford Museum and Art Gallery will be open all day screening the original 1916 record of The Battle of the Somme, featuring the Lancashire Fusiliers, courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, alongside a small display. 

Visitors will be able to handle World War One objects from their collection.
Salford City Council will hold a memorial ceremony at the Civic Centre, Swinton at 11.00am where two wreaths will be laid - one in memory of all the Salford men who died and one in memory of over 200 council workers who fell in the battle.

At 1.00pm, pupils from St Ambrose Barlow, Swinton High and Moorside schools will present a concert of specially composed music, developed with Salford University Professor Stephen Davismoon at 1pm at Peel Hall.

This will be followed by two World War One themed performances from the Honour Choir at the University's new amphitheatre at their Peel Park campus at 3pm and 5pm. 

The Honour Choir brought together hundreds of local people to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One and has continued to perform since.

The day will close with a special evening concert at Salford University's Maxwell Hall featuring the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manchester Chamber choir and soloists. 

And on Sunday 3 July, the Salford Armed Forces Veterans Network will hold two services - one at St Clement's Church, Ordsall which houses memorials to those who fell in the Somme and one at the Royal British Legion, Pendleton which will feature a specially commissioned piece by the Honour Choir.”**

Location; Salford

Picture; the war memorial Greengate, 2016, from the collection of Antony Mills
*Remembering the Battle of the Somme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Remembering%20the%20Battle%20of%20the%20Somme

**Somme commemorations - Salford will remember, http://www.salford.gov.uk/your-council/news/news-archive/news-from-march-2016/somme-commemorations-salford-will-remember/

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