Tommy and Ian prepare to make Ypres pilgrimage

Members of the Lees District branch of The Royal British Legion are to join thousands on a pilgrimage of Remembrance to World War One battlefields that culminates in a parade and ceremony in Ypres.

The pilgrimage forms part of the end of the First World War centenary commemorations next month.

The Royal British Legion event, known as Great Pilgrimage 90 (GP90), takes place between August 5 and 9 and will be one of the largest in the charity’s history.

GP90 will mark 90 years since the original Royal British Legion Pilgrimage in 1928, which saw 11,000 World War One veterans and war widows visit the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium, a decade after the conflict ended.

That Pilgrimage culminated in a march through Ypres to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Menin Gate Memorial for a ceremony to commemorate the launch of The Hundred Days Offensive and in remembrance of those who never returned.   

Local Legion members, Tommy Howe and Ian Holland-Boulton, will represent the Lees Branch and the local community at the event, as standard bearer and wreath layer respectively.

Tommy and Ian will tour some of the same battlefields and cemeteries visited by those on the 1928 Pilgrimage, before marching along the original route through Ypres, to the Menin Gate on August 8, bearing their branch standard and a wreath.

They will join more than 2,200 other Legion representatives and dignitaries, including civic and military guests from the UK, Commonwealth and Northern Europe who are taking part.

Once at the Menin Gate, Ian will lay a wreath on behalf of the Lees District community.  

Tommy said: “Great Pilgrimage 90 is a unique opportunity for the Legion community to come together and bear our standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of the First World War.

"The Lees District branch looks forward to proudly representing Lees and Oldham at the event.”

Meanwhile, 31-year-old Alison Clowes, from Saddleworth, is set to take part in her first official duty as a Standard Bearer at GP90.

The Air Cadet has recently completed training and is looking forward to getting involved.

Alan Wrigley will also represent Saddleworth as a wreath layer.

Alison said: “The Saddleworth branch of the Legion approached the Air cadets to see if they could help carry the standard at parades, as the members were getting too elderly to carry them.

"But our cadets are too young so I offered to help out instead.

“I was part of a group of Greater Manchester Air Cadets who were at Menin Gate for the 100th anniversary of the RAF in April, so I am looking forward to returning next month to show my support and appreciation to those who put their lives forward for our future.”

If you would like to find out more about GP90 or your local Royal British Legion branch, then please visit the local branch on 1 Princess Street in Lees or contact Tommy Howe on 07889 088113.

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