23-25 July 2008

 With the Master having selected "service" as one of his themes for the year, it was entirely appropriate that the Clerk should decide that Summer 2008 was the perfect moment to lead a Feltmaker tour of the Somme battlefields. Accordingly, twelve of us gathered in Albert on the afternoon of 23rd. July: the Master and Frankie, the Upper Warden and Ruth, The Renter Warden and her daughter, Sarah, the Third Warden and Rosemary, Past Masters Wright and Curteis, our gallant Clerk and his friend and fellow Welsh Guardsman, Rhydian Vaughan, who was to be our guide.

Rosemary and John Ray, John Curteis, Jollyon Coombs, Sarah Wood, Frankie Vero, Pip Wright, Ruth Heal, Geoffrey Vero, Nick Heal, Rhydian Vaughan

Over the next two days they led us all along the line of the battle, from Sheffield Memorial Park to the Guillemont Road Cemetery. We visited the exact spots where key engagements took place, starting at 7.30am on 1st. July 1916. We heard stories of uplifting heroism and gallantry but also saw in peaceful cemeteries and splendid memorials evidence of the dreadful loss of life, on both sides. We were lucky to have warm sunshine for the whole tour, and only found the famous Somme mud in the very centre of Delville Wood. Each member of the party would probably select a different moment that touched them deeply:

John Curteis with the carved name of his uncle at the Thiepval memorial

We toasted Pip Wright's birthday at Newfoundland Memorial Park with a memorable horse's neck cocktail (copyright Messrs Wright and Curteis), served, of course, in Feltmaker glasses transported precisely for the purpose. Pip read a poem that his son, Ian, had composed for the occasion and recited a prayer for the fallen by Peter Mullen, Vicar of St Sepulchre's. It included the beautiful line: "in our monuments and mementos we recall with gratitude the sacrifice of those who gave their lives for our country."

Our trip concluded with a visit to the underground quarry hideouts in Arras and the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge. We returned in reflective mood, as Nick Heal put it so well, each of us touched by the stillness of an area that once witnessed sacrifice on such a scale. Our thanks to Jollyon for organising a splendid few days. A trip that should be repeated.

The Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge