Deftly organised by @LargeAddick and superbly conducted by @SE7toSG3, it was really a trip to remember.
A very pleasant group, accompanied by two stalwarts from German Addicks.
I'm just back in SE18 - it's hard to believe we only left yesterday morning.
Having seen monuments, memorials and cemeteries - of all sizes - scattered throughout the peaceful Belgian countryside, it was a strangely poignant end to the weekend to pass by on the not very peaceful streets of South London the memorial to a single soldier - Lee Rigby. Service to the nation, and sacrifice - then and now.
Wonderful weekend. Thanks to Large for organising, to Clive for bringing the facts to life and to everyone else for being a great bunch. Looking forward to the next one already.
Can't thank @LargeAddick and @SE7toSG3 enough for this trip, which was a truly unique (NOT meaning weird!) experience. Having now seen the geography of the ground where my relative fought and died, and walked a little of it, I have such an enhanced appreciation of the situation he experienced.
A great group of people as well - thank you all for your company.
I just want to add my thanks to everyone for making it a really enjoyable weekend. Particularly @LargeAddick for organising and @SE7toSG3 for a fascinating insight to The Great War. So much information and so many stories! Will look forward to the next tour.
Absolutely terrific weekend (despite getting up at 3am) and huge thanks to @LargeAddick for the organisation - not forgetting the lift to Ebbsfleet! Massive thanks also to @SE7toSG3 for his sensitive, enlightening and humorous guidance over the two days. I had expected to return home feeling sombre. I didn't. I came home in a reflective mood but more than anything feeling proud and positive.
It was great to meet many fellow lifers, Charlton supporters really are a good bunch, and I've even determined to pick up my guitar again after a chance lunchtime conversation! As for the Somme trip that seems to have been mentioned; put me down as a definite 'yes'.
Finally, in honour of Nobby, I'll now raise a glass of malt to his memory!
This morning one of our visits was to Pond Farm, Langemark and we met the owner Stijn. He has appeared on TV - see UK TV Play Unearthing WW1 Series 1 Episode 1 Ypres. Since the programme was made Stijn has significantly added to his collection, as we saw today ....
An unforgettable trip. well organised (thanks Neal) and enhanced by Clive's details and humorous anecdotes. Nice people, nice place and even nice weather (no rain like on the protest visit) and the visit to Pond Farm a real gem. would be hard pressed to find another person with so much passion and enthusiasm for WW1 history.
I really enjoyed the weekend and special thanks to @SE7toSG3 and @LargeAddick for their work. I came away having learnt a lot and with a hunger for more. A few words on the internet cannot do justice to Clive's stories and anecdotes. Most importantly, Clive has got me thinking and challenged some of the thoughts and ideas I have, particularly the idea that the Great War was our "revolution". This wasn't an idea I'd encountered before and I will need to digest it but it is just great to have your ideas challenged with new ways of thinking, particularly when in your 50s. It's not just learning - I was moved by the scale of the cemetaries and really honored that we were joined by @GermanAddick and his friend to visit them. I have now been to Belgium twice (this and the protest) and have really enjoyed it both times. The people are lovely and the places are really elegant. And the beer is good! And what a great bunch Addicks are. Really great company from everyone I talked to.
This was a very special weekend. At first I didn't know what to expect. But I got the first insinght on our arrival in Ypres. We passed the Meningate by the time of the Last Post. I was surprised to see so many people there for the ceremony.
Many thanks to @SE7toSG3 for his guidance and for so many stories of the men behind the names on the cemetery. So it all became human and not just only facts.
Also many thanks to the group on the coach. You made Michael and me feel welcomed. It was really a honour to join you. I hope to see you all during one of my next visits at the Valley (Ipswich, MK Dons, Rochdale, Portsmouth and Wallsall are booked).
Would also like to add my thanks to Neal and Clive for arranging and narrating what was a very enjoyable and informative trip in great company. Special mention to Clive on passing his homework test with flying colours, this was an unexpected bonus and very much appreciated by us both.
As others have already said, a wonderful trip and humbling experience. Great to meet others from CL, and those who are not too. Many thanks to Neal for arranging it and Clive for his (as always) compelling tales which bring history to life in a way my teacher could never do. Lovely to spend time with our German friends, and to meet Michael for the first time. Hopefully, the other German Addicks will work on him and get him to The Valley for a game in the near future.
Want to echo what has already been said in the foregoing remarks. Thanks to Neal for arranging and thanks to Clive, who brought the stories to life (he must have been Hans Christian Andersson in his previous life).
Good also to meet other fans and to put some faces to Charlton Life nicknames.
Was very moving, even for those of us who only visited in March. Forgot to say, that Stijn wanted us to sign his tank, names and where from, so had to do it as I liked the idea of Charlton being written on a Belgian tank. Like others, wanted to write "Roland out" but could not do it to Stijn.
Nick (Mr Tatters) really enjoyed the weekend. In particular, as others have said, Clive's brilliant knowledge and delivery.
He'd also like to thank you all for making him feel very welcome. He's a shy old bugger and sticking him on a coach full of folk he had only heard of by CL names was probably quite daunting.
I enjoyed a rare weekend of peace - and even missed the old boy a little!!
Just want to echo the previous comments and thank Neal and Clive for making this weekend trip possible. We returned home with a much greater understanding and appreciation of WW1. We are now inspired to research our own family members who fought in WW1 and WW2. Clive - would you be able to post links to the military research websites that you mentioned, please?
Best starting point is the Medal Index Cards, these are searchable on the National Archives website and will provide your relatives Rank, Number, Regiment and sometimes date he goes overseas.
My pal Chris Baker has an excellent website www.longlongtrail.co.uk that is a very useful reference to the orders of battle and actions each battalion or unit fought in
Then its either a trip to Kew (National Archives) to look at the medal rolls, service records (just over a third survived the Blitz), war diaries and pension returns. These should build up a picture of your relatives experiences.
Alternately if you access to Ancestry.com you can pretty much do all of the above.
Generally if a soldier was unlucky enough to die in service (about 1 in 6 sadly) then there are far more records available, The National Roll of Honour, Soldiers Died in the Great War and CWGC records to name three.
Hope that helps, the Great War is far more accessible than 1939-45 where few if any personal records are in the public domain.
An excellent and fascinating weekend well organised by Neal and brilliantly delivered by Clive. My mate John (the one that never stopped talking at the back) and my brother Joe (an Arsenal fan but he kept it quiet) also said they had a great time and were a bit unsure what to expect to start with but thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend and commented on what a great bunch to spend the weekend with. By the way Dave Pearce (SHG) and I went to school together at St Austin's and this was the first time we had seen each other for about 40 yrs approx. So something else to make it a totally memorable experience. Oh and not forgetting the beer.
a bit late but thank you everyone for your kind words. I think I had the easy job, Clive had the hard bit but he made it seem easy.
I'm pleased everyone had an enjoyable trip and hope, like me, that you found it an uplifting experience. It's good that people like ourselves go to places like Ypres to show our respect and gratitude to those who gave their lives for us. Never forgotten.
I'm sure we will do a trip to The Somme next year and you guys will get advance warning when we do.
Thanks to you all for helping make it a memorable weekend.
A big thanks to Neal for organising the trip and to Clive for the way he used his huge knowledge to deliver so many facts and thought provoking comments with down to earth south east London humour.
Thanks also for arranging the visit to my uncle's grave at Lijssenhoek Cemetery on the 100th of his death.
The vist to Colin Blythe's grave at Oxford Road Cemetery rang a few bells and I remembered a book I was given as a present which to my shame I have only previously flicked through. The book is entitled 'For Kent and Country' by Paul Lewis and it covers the military service and wartime deeds during the Great war of men who played for Kent County Cricket Elevens of this small group of men thirteen were awarded the Military Cross,three the DSO and there were 32 Mentions in Despaches. I am now going to read it with a much better undestanding.
A big thanks to Neal for organising the trip and to Clive for the way he used his huge knowledge to deliver so many facts and thought provoking comments with down to earth south east London humour.
Thanks also for arranging the visit to my uncle's grave at Lijssenhoek Cemetery on the 100th of his death.
The vist to Colin Blythe's grave at Oxford Road Cemetery rang a few bells and I remembered a book I was given as a present which to my shame I have only previously flicked through. The book is entitled 'For Kent and Country' by Paul Lewis and it covers the military service and wartime deeds during the Great war of men who played for Kent County Cricket Elevens of this small group of men thirteen were awarded the Military Cross,three the DSO and there were 32 Mentions in Despaches. I am now going to read it with a much better undestanding.
Comments
A very pleasant group, accompanied by two stalwarts from German Addicks.
I'm just back in SE18 - it's hard to believe we only left yesterday morning.
Having seen monuments, memorials and cemeteries - of all sizes - scattered throughout the peaceful Belgian countryside, it was a strangely poignant end to the weekend to pass by on the not very peaceful streets of South London the memorial to a single soldier - Lee Rigby. Service to the nation, and sacrifice - then and now.
Thanks to Large for organising, to Clive for bringing the facts to life and to everyone else for being a great bunch.
Looking forward to the next one already.
Having now seen the geography of the ground where my relative fought and died, and walked a little of it, I have such an enhanced appreciation of the situation he experienced.
A great group of people as well - thank you all for your company.
Well done all, and a massive well done to @LargeAddick and @SE7toSG3. Great work guys
It was great to meet many fellow lifers, Charlton supporters really are a good bunch, and I've even determined to pick up my guitar again after a chance lunchtime conversation! As for the Somme trip that seems to have been mentioned; put me down as a definite 'yes'.
Finally, in honour of Nobby, I'll now raise a glass of malt to his memory!
This morning one of our visits was to Pond Farm, Langemark and we met the owner Stijn. He has appeared on TV - see UK TV Play Unearthing WW1 Series 1 Episode 1 Ypres. Since the programme was made Stijn has significantly added to his collection, as we saw today ....
I came away having learnt a lot and with a hunger for more. A few words on the internet cannot do justice to Clive's stories and anecdotes. Most importantly, Clive has got me thinking and challenged some of the thoughts and ideas I have, particularly the idea that the Great War was our "revolution". This wasn't an idea I'd encountered before and I will need to digest it but it is just great to have your ideas challenged with new ways of thinking, particularly when in your 50s.
It's not just learning - I was moved by the scale of the cemetaries and really honored that we were joined by @GermanAddick and his friend to visit them.
I have now been to Belgium twice (this and the protest) and have really enjoyed it both times. The people are lovely and the places are really elegant. And the beer is good!
And what a great bunch Addicks are. Really great company from everyone I talked to.
It was a privilage to be able to meet new addicks, catch up with old friends and remember, not forgetting the money we raised as well.
Many thanks to @SE7toSG3 for his guidance and for so many stories of the men behind the names on the cemetery. So it all became human and not just only facts.
Also many thanks to the group on the coach. You made Michael and me feel welcomed. It was really a honour to join you. I hope to see you all during one of my next visits at the Valley (Ipswich, MK Dons, Rochdale, Portsmouth and Wallsall are booked).
Special mention to Clive on passing his homework test with flying colours, this was an unexpected bonus and very much appreciated by us both.
Good also to meet other fans and to put some faces to Charlton Life nicknames.
Film taken from a distance so the sound quality isnt fantastic.
He'd also like to thank you all for making him feel very welcome. He's a shy old bugger and sticking him on a coach full of folk he had only heard of by CL names was probably quite daunting.
I enjoyed a rare weekend of peace - and even missed the old boy a little!!
Thanks again
My pal Chris Baker has an excellent website www.longlongtrail.co.uk that is a very useful reference to the orders of battle and actions each battalion or unit fought in
Then its either a trip to Kew (National Archives) to look at the medal rolls, service records (just over a third survived the Blitz), war diaries and pension returns. These should build up a picture of your relatives experiences.
Alternately if you access to Ancestry.com you can pretty much do all of the above.
Generally if a soldier was unlucky enough to die in service (about 1 in 6 sadly) then there are far more records available, The National Roll of Honour, Soldiers Died in the Great War and CWGC records to name three.
Hope that helps, the Great War is far more accessible than 1939-45 where few if any personal records are in the public domain.
My mate John (the one that never stopped talking at the back) and my brother Joe (an Arsenal fan but he kept it quiet) also said they had a great time and were a bit unsure what to expect to start with but thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend and commented on what a great bunch to spend the weekend with.
By the way Dave Pearce (SHG) and I went to school together at St Austin's and this was the first time we had seen each other for about 40 yrs approx. So something else to make it a totally memorable experience.
Oh and not forgetting the beer.
I'm pleased everyone had an enjoyable trip and hope, like me, that you found it an uplifting experience. It's good that people like ourselves go to places like Ypres to show our respect and gratitude to those who gave their lives for us. Never forgotten.
I'm sure we will do a trip to The Somme next year and you guys will get advance warning when we do.
Thanks to you all for helping make it a memorable weekend.
Thanks also for arranging the visit to my uncle's grave at Lijssenhoek Cemetery on the 100th of his death.
The vist to Colin Blythe's grave at Oxford Road Cemetery rang a few bells and I remembered a book I was given as a present which to my shame I have only previously flicked through. The book is entitled 'For Kent and Country' by Paul Lewis and it covers the military service and wartime deeds during the Great war of men who played for Kent County Cricket Elevens of this small group of men thirteen were awarded the Military Cross,three the DSO and there were 32 Mentions in Despaches. I am now going to read it with a much better undestanding.
Hertfordshire humour surely?