Forthcoming visit to the Somme Battlefield. Advice please.

[Treetotal]

They have been ordered Victoria, see reply #7 
Carol

[Viktoria]

Oh sorry, back from Suffolk this evening and sent info I’d promised without re reading the previous posts.
They are good aren’t they.
Cheerio.
Viktoria.

[Treetotal]

I agree, we really benefitted from having these on both the Somme and Ypres on our trips to the battlefields and created a folder of brochures and leaflets from all the sites we visited during the Centenery of WW1. Attending the "Last Post" at the Menin Gate was an unforgettable experience.
Carol

[Viktoria]

We did a “little “display, which grew and grew ,at Church for the 100 th anniversary of the ending of WWI.
The precious artefacts that people entrusted to us for a display open to the public were amazing.
I lent those maps and accompanying books plus lots more.
There were always two people from church there at any one time to be as sure as we could that nothing went missing!
Nothing did.
But the number of people who knew the cemetery their relative was buried in was amazing but they had no idea where they were .
But the maps etcwere up on the wall and we could say “ Oh Alannah Farm,that is N.W. Of Ypres - just here “.
I had two copies so both sides were viewable ,the maps and the lists.
They took references and many were prompted  to visit now knowing the exact location.
Yes, The Last Post at the Menin Gate is to say the least moving, it echoes through the arches and lingers ,then silence .

Then once more life resumes its busy pace.
The Wipers Times was produced just under the ramparts to the left as you return to the town to the square before the Cloth Hall.
I am sure you will be in tears .
Little poem which you might like:-
Remembrance.
Gently, so gently
The soft winds blow
Between the white stones,
Row on row,here where we lie.

Softly so softly
The bright sunbeams bless
Enfolding us all
In their warm caress
Here where we lie.

Silently,silently
The snowflakes fall
Covering us gently
With their loving pall,
Here where we lie.

Quietly quietly
The breezes sigh
Whispering our plea
to those who’d pas by,
Stay, tarry, linger a while,
It’s not much to ask
For we who gave all,
And now here we lie.
Our living not easy
Our dying so hard,
Just think of us kindly
When soft winds blow,
The bright sunbeams bless
The snowflakes fall
And soft breezes whisper,
“ Remember them all, wherever they lie. “

Sorry about the phrasing etc , just from memory .
 But the  winds do blow softly , lovely in a special way.
I am sad now ,but each visit will keep those men alive in memories ,perhaps on behalf of Grandparents etc but remembered.
Viktoria.

[onefortheroad]

Hi Viktoria.
Sorry you'd gone to all the trouble with that post but yes I had ordered the pocket book and the map. They came yesterday and, must say, I'm impressed.
Thanks for your kind help and the help of all who took the time to reply to my request.
Now just surfing through the B&Bs in Folkestone and Pozieres area before I book the Eurostar.
I'll update with photos when we come back in July.
Thanks again everyone.
David.

[Viktoria]

It was no trouble at all.
It is wonderful that people put so much effort in to finding relatives, that was not really possible for quite some years after the war finished.
Imagine the anguish of not being able to visit,and also those whose relatives have no known graves.
Kind regards .
Viktoria.

[Viktoria]

Heard a radio programme today, I believe it was from Manchester’s vast Southern Cemetery.
It was on the term “ Dearly Beloved” referring to departed loved ones.
The presenter arrived at a memorial to a young man killed just before WW1
 ended.
His mother had the monument erected to her dearly beloved son and her other words were :-
“Into the Diadem of Victory
I place my most precious jewel, My Son.”
It struck me as something special.
The deaths so near the end of the war would be all the harder to bear I can imagine.
Viktoria.
 

[barryd]

As you look out over the graves you must ask

WHY.

[rsel]

Following up on MaxD's advice, what we did when we went over a few years ago, was use the War Diaries to plot out On Google Earth how my relatives moved around during the war, and where possible overlaid trench maps/diagrams from the dairies as well. 
Using this info we found the approximate area in a farmers field where my Great Great Uncle was killed whilst attacking High Wood on the 15th July (so would have been part of the same battle as your relative but a different unit), so could place a marker alongside the field as his body was never identified. It also allowed us to go to some of the smaller towns/villages where he stayed, and you find a lot of interesting little places that way.

Richard