Queen marks deadly Somme centenary at Westminster Abbey

TWO services are to be held in Worcester Cathedral on Friday to commemorate the centenary of the opening day of the Battle of the Somme in the First World War.

On Sunday July 3, the Salford Armed Forces Veterans Network will hold two services – one in the morning at St Clement’s Church, Ordsall which houses memorials to those who fell in the Somme and the second in the afternoon at the Royal British Legion, Pendleton.

At 3pm, a remembrance service will be held at Manchester Cathedral.

Some 1.2 million troops were killed, injured or listed as missing in the World War I battle, which lasted for almost five months and was seen as a military tragedy for Britain and Commonwealth countries.

Thousands of Irish troops serving in the British army were among the casualties.

Irish President Michael D Higgins travelled to Thiepval in France to pay tribute to the Irishmen who died while serving in the British, Commonwealth or U.S. armies.

Two is marking 100 years since the Battle of the Somme with a live broadcast from the United Kingdom and France. On the first day alone the British Army lost 60,000 men, 20,000 of whom were killed.

The silence came after a night-long vigil led in Britain by the Queen and at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, which towers over the rolling Picardy fields where so many fell.

More than four in 10 Britons do not know which conflict the Battle of the Somme took place in, according to research found ahead of the Somme 100th anniversary of the calamitous First World War offensive.

The event is part of the national commemorations, and will be preceded by a vigil at the Memorial with a “Whistle Blast” at 7:28 which signified the signal made “to go over the top”.

This coming Friday, the 100th anniversary of the beginning of this darkest of times, the Yorkshire Evening Post will publish a special edition commemorating our lost heroes.

“The actual figures of how people sacrifice for the freedom which we take for granted sometimes now in today’s society – being an ex-serviceman, I realise what people are putting on the line”.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, said: “The Battle of the Somme was a significant battle in terms of casualties”.

The Reverend Canon Dr Michael Brierley, Worcester Cathedral precentor, added: “The Battle of the Somme represents the mid-point of the First World War, and its first day was not only itself a awful tragedy, but also encapsulates the tragedy that was the war as a whole”. Around 1000 local men, including 650 from the Salford Pals regiments, died on the first day of fighting near the Thiepval village in France.