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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Delville Wood Tea Rooms Open


keithfazzani

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After a gap of nine years (can it really be that long?) Delville Wood Tea Rooms are once again open. At the moment there is tea, coffee, soft drinks etc available. Michelle is hoping to extend the range. Obviously its survival like everything depends on the usage it gets.  If you do pop in you are sure to receive a warm welcome from Michelle. Incidentally when we there last week the temperature was certainly warm 32C and predicted to be 38C during the coming week. 

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What are the opening dates?

Tony

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1 minute ago, tootrock said:

Do they have toilets?

Martin

 

There's toilets in the South African Memorial anyway.

 

Jan

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On the website :

Schedules

From early February to early April/mid-October to late November : 10h00-16h00

From early April to mid-October : 10h00-17h30

Edited by KIRKY
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It's good to hear this...the visitors' centre buildings in the carpark area have always been locked up and deserted each time I've visited...and the toilets were only open on one occasion. 

 

I guess the tearoom is in the building in the carpark? 

 

 

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On 26/06/2019 at 09:28, Ken Lees said:

Only the females' toilets were open yesterday. The males' were locked and out of service. 

 

 

 This is how I've found them on previous occasions too... 

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On 26/06/2019 at 08:28, Ken Lees said:

Only the females' toilets were open yesterday. The males' were locked and out of service. 

not usually a problem for men we have passed parked in layby's

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Delville Wood is one of the most impressive memorials on the Somme (built by the 'old' South African government which was very fond of all things military, despite its faults) but as a South African, It saddens me that the facilities are now in a somewhat rundown state. The post- 1995 South African government doesn't really put much emphasis on the country's 'European' history except where identity politics can be brought up and sadly this shows in the lack of interest in the upkeep of the facilities at Delville Wood.  

 

It strikes me that the way the Canadians at Newfoundland Memorial Park have gone about placing young Canadians there as guides would be a wonderful way of fostering some interest in South Africa's history amongst young people of very varied South African backgrounds if a similar thing were to be done by the South African government at Delville Wood...but first they need working toilets. 

 

 

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There are working toilets, inside the memorial (which is also a museum).

 

Jan

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I would agree with the last comment. On an occasion when the gents was out of action I simply asked the chap inside the museum and he directed me to what I assume is the staff facility. Incidentally if you haven't visited the memorial/museum it is a must see.

 

It is one of those places amongst many, not least the new  Monash Centre, which leaves me in despair at the lack of British Commemoration and Museum. 

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14 hours ago, keithfazzani said:

Incidentally if you haven't visited the memorial/museum it is a must see.

 

I absolutely agree. Both the museum and the Wood itself are a must-see. 

Edited by Michael Thomson
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Another reason to stop by!! 

Need to convince the Boyfriend!! 

 

m.

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On 27/06/2019 at 23:01, Michael Thomson said:

Delville Wood is one of the most impressive memorials on the Somme (built by the 'old' South African government which was very fond of all things military, despite its faults) but as a South African, It saddens me that the facilities are now in a somewhat rundown state. The post- 1995 South African government doesn't really put much emphasis on the country's 'European' history except where identity politics can be brought up and sadly this shows in the lack of interest in the upkeep of the facilities at Delville Wood.  

 

It strikes me that the way the Canadians at Newfoundland Memorial Park have gone about placing young Canadians there as guides would be a wonderful way of fostering some interest in South Africa's history amongst young people of very varied South African backgrounds if a similar thing were to be done by the South African government at Delville Wood...but first they need working toilets. 

 

 

 

That sounds like a rather political viewpoint, Michael.

 

Are you aware that there were South African interns at Delville Wood last year?

 

Are you aware that the current South African regime has made significant investment to show a much more balanced explanantion of the involvement of South Africa and its people in the Great War?

 

And did you know that the South African government is supporting the new venture in the cafe? The facilities are no more run down now than they were under the previous regime.

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Ken, I was unaware there were South African interns there...there haven't been any on the last five visits I've made there.

 

I am well aware that the displays inside the memorial/museum have been used to honour and memorialise indigenous African troops and workers from disaters such as the S.S. Mendi, but it really does feel like not much is said about the events that took place in and around Delville Wood itself. 

 

Lastly, I was not aware that the South African government was supporting the tea room venture, beyond obviously allowing a tearoom to operate on the premises. Can you elaborate on the supporting role they are playing? 

 

Edited by Michael Thomson
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Can we please move on and avoid the recent history of South Africa. 

I look forward to visiting the tea rooms again on my next visit to the Somme.

 

Keith Roberts

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Walked a full circuit of the wood a couple of years back. Two things struck me;

1) How utterly serene, yet haunting, almost oppressive the atmosphere was.

2) I did not see a single other human being more than 50 yards from the museum complex.

 

I wonder what percentage of people who visit the site venture beyond the ‘only surviving tree’.

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Mills-bomb, you are absolutely right...it is exactly as you describe, serene (and so very green and beautiful) yet with a very eery feeling at the same time.

 

History is still visible on the surface in the form of craters and trenchlines but just faded away enough to be starting to blend with the natural landscape. I've never walked the entire perimeter but I have walked deep beyond the 'last tree' and also far into the Wood to the left and right of the central clearing. Utterly beautiful but chilling too. 

 

There are deer in the Wood too which one sometimes sees. 

 

On one occasion, quite bizarrely, we could swear we smelled the strong smell of cordite while walking. It came and went very quickly. 

 

Delville Wood is truely a remarkable place.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I walked quite a way into the woods some years ago, on a beautiful autumn day (I could hear acorns dropping onto the ground from the majestic oak trees).

Next morning I read that an unexplored bomb had been found there that day!

So take care...

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Strange, I have never found Delville Wood to possess a haunted atmosphere in the way that, for example, Mametz Wood or Trones do, always very serene. I have walked through the wood along all of the rides, and sometimes off of them too.

 

In 2003 they reseeded one of the main rides, and had run a cultivator through it. The turned soil was tarnished with the red of iron oxide, testament to the vast amount of iron that was thrown into the wood in 1916, and patches of blue from copper, and one could stoop down and sweep up clips of .303 ammunition in some places. Its dark history survives, just below the surface.

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If they had interns last year, maybe this has been deemed to be a failed experiment...or maybe it was an initiative stimulated by the now past 100-year anniversary excitement?

Without interns/guides, presumably the enterprise has/is fallen back on the museum and your own self-guided ambling around the wood, aided by whatever history overview you may have in your head?

 

It could be so much more meaningful than this.

 

Personally I, and I doubt I'm alone in this, would welcome the opportunity to join a guided walk around Delville Wood......by an intern, a museum staff member, just somebody who could 'bring life' to the story of what happened there.

OK, it's not a 1st July 'draw'....but, as a tightly defined area of hard, intense fighting, it's a even a more compelling drama than the excellent Ulster Wood......and, with the right guide, it's a story to grab the imagination every bit as much as Newfoundland Park (imho).

 

It needn't be a daily event, simply a reliable time (1-2 days a week to start with) that people can sign up to...coaches (maybe) could organise their itineraries around.

 

Or....am I simply out of touch with the reality of the numbers of people visiting the Somme these days?

 

Interested to hear others views.

 

Regards,

 

David

 

 

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The walk around Thiepval wood is a must I have been 4 times so a walk around here would be fantastic!

Tony

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