Tomorrow across the city we will remember the men who fought at the Somme a full century ago.
And of course it will not just be the men, but their wives, mothers and sweethearts along with their families who will also be remembered.
The events will be a mix of the solemn, the historic and a dollop of fun.*
The solemn will be met with the ceremonies of Remembrance in the Cathedral and Southern Cemetery the historic by various re enactment activities in Heaton Park and a special exhibition at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern.
As for the fun, it’s important to remember that those who participated in the Great War will have enjoyed a joke and will have endeavoured to see the funny side of things and so that will also be included in the events at Heaton Park on the Saturday.
But for now I want to finish with that service in Southern Cemetery, which will be attended by Major David Charron of the Royal Canadian Army because July 1 marks not just the start of the Battle back in 1916 but is also Canada Day.
And the cemetery is the last resting place of a number of men from the Canadian Expeditionary Force. **
Over the last few weeks I have been exploring their lives before they enlisted and already we now know much about some of them.
Added to these there are those from the British army who came back to recover from wounds in one of the hospitals in Manchester and later died. A few died at home recovering from those wounds and at least one died after catching flu while on leave.
But some survived and died long after the war.
One of these is Captain M B Dickinson of the Royal Ordinance who was wounded on the Somme on July 20 1916 and again in May 1918 and died in November 1941.
Location; Manchester, & Southern Cemetery
Pictures; grave and medals of Captain M B Dickinson, 2016 from the collection of David Harrop
*Remembering the Battle of the Somme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Remembering%20the%20Battle%20of%20the%20Somme
**Remembering the men of the CEF in Southern Cemetery, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Remembering%20the%20men%20of%20the%20CEF%20in%20Southern%20Cemetery
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| Captain Dickinson, 2016 |
The events will be a mix of the solemn, the historic and a dollop of fun.*
The solemn will be met with the ceremonies of Remembrance in the Cathedral and Southern Cemetery the historic by various re enactment activities in Heaton Park and a special exhibition at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern.
As for the fun, it’s important to remember that those who participated in the Great War will have enjoyed a joke and will have endeavoured to see the funny side of things and so that will also be included in the events at Heaton Park on the Saturday.
But for now I want to finish with that service in Southern Cemetery, which will be attended by Major David Charron of the Royal Canadian Army because July 1 marks not just the start of the Battle back in 1916 but is also Canada Day.
 |
| The medal of Captain Dickinson, 2016 |
Over the last few weeks I have been exploring their lives before they enlisted and already we now know much about some of them.
Added to these there are those from the British army who came back to recover from wounds in one of the hospitals in Manchester and later died. A few died at home recovering from those wounds and at least one died after catching flu while on leave.
But some survived and died long after the war.
One of these is Captain M B Dickinson of the Royal Ordinance who was wounded on the Somme on July 20 1916 and again in May 1918 and died in November 1941.
Location; Manchester, & Southern Cemetery
Pictures; grave and medals of Captain M B Dickinson, 2016 from the collection of David Harrop
*Remembering the Battle of the Somme, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Remembering%20the%20Battle%20of%20the%20Somme
**Remembering the men of the CEF in Southern Cemetery, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Remembering%20the%20men%20of%20the%20CEF%20in%20Southern%20Cemetery
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