Passchendaele weekend

[bruce]

Are any Pals going to be there?

If so, I will be on the field at Zonnebeke chateau on both days, so please come and say hello!

 

bruce

[Ian Riley]

Bruce, I am in Ieper until Sunday 6th (to cover the Chavasse Commemoration 4th August at Brandhoek Church 2:45  for presentations/short papers/followed by cemetery) and Menin Gate that evening. . Tyne Cot on 31st July and LPA ticket for Menin Gate that evening

 

Looking for somewhere to fly my 2 yard replica 55th Division Banner (just commissioned)

 

Walked Pilckem Ridge today to prepare for 55th Div/166 Bde/Liverpool Scottish walk later in week. 

 

Don't know if you were in town tonight - I was separated from the Trompet on the north side of the Grote Markt coming from my hotel on south side of Grote Markt in Sint Jakobstraat. The rehearsal was pretty full and the security tight (don't bother with a long umbrella)

 

However, amazed to sit next to a very nice couple (polite, intelligent, great uncle on the Tyne Cot memorial to the missing) when she said she had a ticket got a ticket for 'some event on Monday in a ballot - is it on the Market Square?' and 'Would turning up at 1300 be a bit early?' and 'Would her taxi be able to get right up to Tyne Cot?'.  Explained that Monday at Tyne Cot is the sort of thing that would be at St Paul's or Westminster Abbey if it was in the UK, presence of host of royals from a variety of nations and the PM. She had not read a word of the 14 pages of instructions but 'had them in an email on her phone'. Spent 45 minutes explaining what it was all about and the response was 'Well, do you think it would be alright if I went up tomorrow instead?'.

 

"Well not unless you want either to be very disappointed or be savaged by Belgian security and/or police"

 

Ian

 

Lady now on net and pointed in right direction. Perhaps there has been too much information. I get the impression thatsome think this is the equivalent of Remembrance Sunday at their local war memorial which is nice but ....

[Hyacinth1326]

Of course the media fields (some) questionable information at these times - those so called experts they trundle out for instance. We might yearn for interpretation by an Andy Roberts or a Tim Travers but for a variety of dismal reasons, we are more likely to get Kate Williams and Dan Snow with an injection of Shirley Williams.

 

However please give the coverage a chance.  Despite my cynicism I found the Somme commemoration (yes, I was present at Thiepval)  and TV coverage (caught retrospectively) to be, in the main well judged and often profoundly moving 

Edited 30 July , 2017 by Hyacinth1326

[EditIM]

The exhibition in Ypres Cathedral on chaplains is superb and profoundly moving.  From one of the storyboards -

 

[Ian Riley]

Thanks for mentioning the 'Padre' exhibition in St Martin's. I had missed it.

Edited 30 July , 2017 by Ian Riley

[Phil Wood]

2 hours ago, Hyacinth1326 said:

Of course the media fields (some) questionable information at these times - those so called experts they trundle out for instance. We might yearn for interpretation by an Andy Roberts or a Tim Travers but for a variety of dismal reasons, we are more likely to get Kate Williams and Dan Snow with an injection of Shirley Williams.

 

However please give the coverage a chance.  Despite my cynicism I found the Somme commemoration (yes, I was present at Thiepval)  and TV coverage (caught retrospectively) to be, in the main well judged and often profoundly moving 

 

Dan Snow is certainly there - but why not?  He has impeccable connections for a WW1 historian.

[Hyacinth1326]

'impeccable connections' indeed. But has he really earned his privileged  BBC platform ? 

I can think of quite a few more historians more deserving of a media stage. 

Also see why makers of Somme 1916 series rejected Mr Snow in favour of Mr Barton See especially post 164.

 

 

Edited 30 July , 2017 by Hyacinth1326

[Phil Wood]

1 hour ago, Hyacinth1326 said:

'impeccable connections' indeed. But has he really earned his privileged  BBC platform ? 

 

 

Nepotism and the old school tie are still powerful forces in the job market.

 

And, to be honest, he does seem fairly clueless about Passchendaele http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-07-30/dan-snow-explains-why-passchendaele-was-one-of-the-greatest-disasters-of-world-war-one

 

Edited 30 July , 2017 by Phil Wood

[Steven Broomfield]

38 minutes ago, Phil Wood said:

 

Nepotism and the old school tie are still powerful forces in the job market.

 

And, to be honest, he does seem fairly clueless 

 

 

I think you could have stopped there.

[Phil Wood]

12 minutes ago, Steven Broomfield said:

 

I think you could have stopped there.

 

But he always seems so knowledgeable about the bits of history I know nothing about.

[phil andrade]

Watching it as I write this.

 

Excellent.

 

I had feared an orgy of sickly emotional indulgence : no way....this is first rate. 

 

So far, not only so good, but bloody brilliant .

 

Phil

[Knotty]

56 minutes ago, Phil Wood said:

But he always seems so knowledgeable about the bits of history I know nothing about.

 

I wonder how many people with other history specialisms are saying the same thing?

You could always substitute "appears" for "seems" in your statement.

 

 

[Gareth Davies]

14 minutes ago, phil andrade said:

Watching it as I write this.

 

Excellent.

 

I had feared an orgy of sickly emotional indulgence : no way....this is first rate. 

 

So far, not only so good, but bloody brilliant .

 

Phil

 

Agreed. 

 

But are they pretending to be live or was the ceremony delayed by 1 hour?

[Pighills]

Well, apart from the crass singing, I'd agree it's good.

I too thought the time difference was a bit weird.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Absolutely splendid so far. Extremely tasteful.

[AOK4]

24 minutes ago, Gareth Davies said:

 

Agreed. 

 

But are they pretending to be live or was the ceremony delayed by 1 hour?

 

It was "delayed relay" indeed. The ceremony was at 8pm local time.

Jan

[Gareth Davies]

Thanks Jan.

 

 

[squirrel]

48 minutes ago, phil andrade said:

Watching it as I write this.

 

Excellent.

 

I had feared an orgy of sickly emotional indulgence : no way....this is first rate. 

 

So far, not only so good, but bloody brilliant .

 

Phil

I couldn't agree more - well done to all concerned.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Are you sure it isn't live? It looks as dark there as it is here in the U.K.

[AOK4]

Just now, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Are you sure it isn't live? It looks as dark there as it is here in the U.K.

 

Now it's live, but the Last Post ceremony was broadcast with delay.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

4 minutes ago, AOK4 said:

 

Now it's live, but the Last Post ceremony was broadcast with delay.

Thanks. You can now see the clock on the Cloth Hall and it's showing the present time.

[nigelcave]

Well, that was a lot better than I feared it might be, so hats off to those concerned. I was especially pleased to hear them sing the hymn 'O Valiant Hearts'. The clerical PC brigade got at this some years ago - as far back as thirty years ago, I fear; but we had it and I am pleased and I am fairly sure that the returning soldiers would have been as well (the last veteran I accompanied to the Salient, who attended the service at St George's on the 11th and assured me that he was choir boy in his youth, sang it there with real gusto - and completely (and painfully) out of tune! He got the DSO at Langemarck in August 1917 (KOYLI), having been promoted from the (Leicesters) ranks.

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Oh dear, it's taken a turn for the worse with 'War Horse'.

[Pighills]

You can never unsee Michael Morpurgo narrating War Horse now, can you!

[Dust Jacket Collector]

7 minutes ago, Pighills said:

You can never unsee Michael Morpurgo narrating War Horse now, can you!

Sadly not, but somewhat redeemed by a splendid Ivor Gurney song just now.