Honorary CADS, John Cameron-Webb, has asked me to tell you about his next trip to the WW1 Western Front battlefields on the weekend of 1 st and 2 nd April 2023.

“Similar to the October 2022 CADS weekend, we will drive the four-hour trip in our own cars (sharing where possible) either on the Friday or Saturday morning to meet
at 11.00 hrs in Albert; Picardy.

This next trip will focus on the 1916 Somme battles, looking at both the infamous 1 July disaster and subsequent, more successful offensives on the Somme battlefield
between July and November that year. We will start off at the “jump-off” positions of the 34 th  Northumberland Division on 1 July and follow in their footsteps up to the huge Lochnagar crater. Looking also at the German cemetery at Fricourt, we will spend time looking at the 38 th  Welsh Division attacks at Mametz Wood including poetry by Sassoon, Graves, Owen and visit Devonshire Trench cemetery to see William Noel Hodgson’s headstone and read his poem “Before Action” .  Following the direction of the British front we will visit the beautiful South African memorial at Delville Wood and surrounding battleground. Saturday evening, we will dine together as a group at the Hotel de la Basilique restaurant. On Sunday we will continue along the front moving on to the Australian Division’s attacks at Pozieres and 36 th  Ulster Division’s at Thiepval Wood. We will visit the impressive Thiepval Memorial to the Missing and visitor’s centre. There will also be an hour’s visit to the Newfoundland Memorial Park looking at the preserved trenches etc. in the 28-acre national park, then moving on to the Lancashire Fusilier’s infamous “sunken road” overlooking Hawthorne Ridge mine- crater.  Finally, we will visit the Sheffield Wood Memorial Park and focus on the efforts of the Pals battalions to take the village of Serre. The tour will end around 15.00 hrs allowing enough time for everyone to return home early Sunday evening.”

If you are interested to take part, please email John Cameron-Webb before 14th February at ymajymaj@hotmail.com (these trips are popular and will have to be capped at about 25 participants, so please respond as soon as possible if you are interested).