Remembering them ...... 100 years after the Battle of the Somme part 4 in Heaton Park*

Now how we remember those men and women will depend pretty much on our own personal interests.

Manchester Corporation tram dressed for recruitment, circa 1914

Over and above everything else there will be the solemn acts of Remembrance which this July will be dominated by the service in the Cathedral and another at Southern Cemetery.

For those who still retain a very personal connection with the Great War the books, exhibitions and centenaries of specific events will be an opportunity to get a better understanding of  family members who served in the armed forces, worked in a munitions factory or just lived through the four years.

Field kitchen, reinactment

But increasingly for lots of people the focus will be on trying to experience something of what it was like be in a field hospital or in a training camp.

It is easy to be sniffy about such events but they have become part of how we get our history.

So down at Heaton Park on Saturday July 2 there will a whole collection of activities, including, “the horses and riders of the Lancashire Hussars, a heritage tram dressed from the Heaton Park Tramway, authentic front line food by the 29th Field Kitchen and a  Nurse's Casualty Clearing Station staffed by Manchester University.

Harp and a Monkey

In addition there will be songs and stories by folk trio 'Harp and a Monkey,' storytelling from  Ian Douglas and Taff Gillingham and the Khaki Pals”**

But the serious side of the day will be addressed with the opportunity to talk historians as well as living history experts and learn about the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Location Heaton Park, July 2

Pictures; courtesy of Manchester City Council

*Remembering them ...... 100 years after the Battle of the Somme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/remembering-them-100-years-after-battle.html

** Experience Field, http://manchester.gov.uk/experiencefield