Visit to Flanders May 2015

The visit to the WW1 battlefields April 30 to May 3rd

About half the members of the club visited the WW1 battlefields from over the week end of April 30 to May 3rd 

A brief diary of the visit follows

Thursday April 30th

We had a good run down to Folkstone  and crossed under the channel to Calais . We travelled through France and into Belgium calling at Lijssenthoek cemetery and arrived in Ypres at 18.00.  We then enjoyed a good meal together followed by a beer or two.

Friday May 1

Today we toured the Ypres Salient including Pilkem Ridge and the grave of Hedd Wyn followed by a visit to the new Welsh Memorial and to Passchendale.  At 8 p.m. we attended the very moving ceremony of the Last Post at Menin Gate, Ypres. The sheer number of people resulted in a restricted view for some of us but we could all hear the sounds.

Saturday May 2

An early start was made for a tour of the Somme but our first call was to visit the war graves at Varennes to see the grave of Gwyrfai's Grandfather who was killed in 1916 aged 30. We then went on to the Devonshire Cemetery, Mametz for the Welsh Fusiliers Memorial, Lochnagar Crater, Thiepval Memorial to the missing, the preserved battlefields and trenches at Newfoundland Park and Serre

Sunday May 3

Returned home and arrived in Denbigh in the evening.  It was a very successful tour and very emotional at times.  The weather was good, transport was excellent and our tour guide was brilliant, extremely knowledgeable, pleasant, approachable and a friend to us all.