Monday 31 December 2012

Alnmouth

The 2nd Northumberland (Percy) Artillery Corps was descended from the Percy Tenantry Volunteer Artillery which was enrolled in 1805. During the period from 1805 to the forming of Volunteer movement in 1859, the members exercised on a 6 pounder gun in Alnwick Castle.

The Duke of Northumberland agreed to the formation of the Percy Artillery Company of the Northumberland Volunteers. The members had noted the Tynemouth Artillery practised on the North side of the Castle at Tynemouth, and proposed to adopt a similar practise by firing from the sands near Alnmouth.


Percy Artillery Volunteers Badge
 
On February 20th 1860 the War Office approved the formation of the Corps,On 2nd April 1861, the Corps formally took possession of a new battery at Alnmouth, which the Duke of Northumberland had erected at his own expense.

Percy Artillery Battery Alnmouth
Commemoration stone detailing the opening of the battery in 1861 by the Duke of Northumberland

Percy Artillery Battery

 The Battery is located to the north east of Alnmouth on top of an escarpment looking out to sea. As well as the battery, the battery hostel nearby provided accommodation.


Alnmouth Coast Percy Battery
Battery Hostel Alnmouth


 The Corps expanded to 8 batteries by 1868 with drill stations around north Northumberland. Over the next 32 years the number of drill stations expanded and contracted, and batteries were disbanded and formed.

In 1902 it was re designated 2nd Northumberland (Percy Artillery) RGA Volunteers, when the Royal Artillery re-organised. The Percy Artillery found themselves with drill stations too scattered to sustain position artillery role, and with no suitable forts nearby, they were unable to operate as garrison artillery. The Corps disbanded in 1902.

 
St John the Baptist Church Alnmouth

Church Hill Alnmouth

To the south of Alnmouth lies Church Hill. Originally connected to Alnmouth, the River Aln went around the hill until 1806 when the great storm changed the course of the Aln, cutting the church off from Alnmouth, leaving it on the south bank.

At 19:20 8th November 1941, a bomb fell on Argyle Street. Three houses were demolished and seven people killed. They are commemorated on the villages war memorial.

Argyle Street bombed November 1941


Argyle Street 2012

 
Alnmouth War Memorial
Those lost 8th November 1941



Friday 16 November 2012

Remembrance Sunday 2012

Veterans prepare to lay wreaths Eldon Square 2012
Source: ChronicleLive.co.uk

 
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QM and CO 101 Regiment RA (V)
"Raspberry ripple please"

Thursday 15 November 2012

Remembrance - TS Earsdon

Small ceremony at the graves of two fallen Tyneside Scots burried in Earsdon St Alban Churchyard with the Tyneside Scottish Association.
Earsdon St Alban
 
Tyneside Scottish Association Earsdon (St Alban) Churchyard

Private Peter Lockey

Private Peter Lockey died siddenly 30th January 1915, and is recorded as the first casualty of the Tyneside Scottish in the Great War.

Private Dannie Bell
Private Dannie Bell was wounded on the Somme, probably on 1st July. He sirvived World War One, but finally sucumbed to his wounds in May 1919.




Monday 5 November 2012

Saltwell Park 2012 - Field of Remembrance

Saltwell Towers Gateshead
 
Saltwell Park Gateshead
Field of Remembrance
 
Saltwell Park Gateshead
Field of Remembrance
 
 
 
 Saltwell Park Gateshead
6th / 8th / 9th DLI Memorial

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Saltwell Park Gateshead
6th / 8th / 9th DLI Memorial
 
In Memory of Private Matthew Stephenson
8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry
Lost as a POW on SS Scillin
14th November 1942
 
 
Commemorated on the  Alamein Memorial
 

Saturday 20 October 2012

Op Drum - Tyne Cot


Tyne Cot as ever very moving. 


The CWGC records 3,587 graves and 34,952 names on the memorial. It is always so peaceful and tranquil, in stark contrast to those who fought and died in the shell torn, gas filled, quagmire that was On th Raod Passchendaele.


The silence as we held a small parade at the Cross of sacrifice and at the memorial wall of the Northumberland Fusiliers (remembering 77 Tyneside Scottish commemorated there) was an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made.

There’s a light that shines in Flanders
As a beacon for the brave
From the distant past it wanders
To recall the lives they gave
And it tells each generation
To be wise and never fail
On the road to Passchendaele

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Tyne Cot
Cross of Sacrifice

Observing two minures silence Cross of Sacrifice

Tyne Cot Cemetery


Come with me and I will show you
Why all wars should ever cease
Take a walk among the gravestones
And your tears will cry for peace
For their spirits walk in Flanders
You can hear the grieving wail
For the brave who laid their lives down
On the road to Passchendaele


Tyne Cot Cemetery
Tyneside Scottish Casualties Tyne Cot

Tyne Cot
Laying wreath on the Memorial Wall
Tyne Cot
In memorium of 77 Tyneside Scots

 

Tyne Cot
October 2012

On the Road to Passchendaele
© Alan G Brydon/Major Gavin Stoddart MBE BEM
 
There’s a light that shines in Flanders
As a beacon for the brave
From the distant past it wanders
To recall the lives they gave
And it tells each generation
To be wise and never fail
On the road to Passchendaele
 
On the road to Passchendaele
On the road to Passchendaele
Where the brave will live forever
On the road to Passchendaele
 
Come with me and I will show you
Why all wars should ever cease
Take a walk among the gravestones
And your tears will cry for peace
For their spirits walk in Flanders
You can hear the grieving wail
For the brave who laid their lives down
On the road to Passchendaele
 
On the road to Passchendaele
On the road to Passchendaele
Where the brave will live forever
On the road to Passchendaele
 
 

Op Drum - Sanctuary Wood Trenches

 
Visited Sanctuary Wood trenches with Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment Northumbria ACF.

Great opportunity to get into the trenches and tell the cadets about how the soldiers lived and died in those surroundings. leading the whole contingent through the long tunnel in total darkness was an interesting experience.


Sanctuary Wood
Northumbria ACF in the trenches

Though less than convinced with the group photo on the Colours.....................

Sanctuary Wood Trenches
Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachement ACF




Friday 19 October 2012

Op Drum - Essex Farm

A visit to Essex Farm Cemetery. The CWGC lists 1,097 casualties, and given it's location adjacent to a dressing station many would have died from wounds.

It was in Essex Farm Cemetery that Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army Medical Corps wrote the poem ' In Flanders Fields' in May 1915.


Essex Farm Cemetery
Cross of Sacrifice

Essex Farm Cemetery

There is the too familiar site of the graves of Royal Artillery all together, that died on the same date or near.

The counter battery fire on the Salient could result in an entire gun detachment being killed in a single incident. With in the cemetery 5 Gunners from 261 Siege Battery are buried together, four lost on 10th August 1917, the remaining casualty recorded as 12th August 1917. The Battery was equipped with 6 inch Howitzers and in August 1917 was part of the 65th HAG.
 
Royal Garrison Artillery
261st Siege Battery
 
                                          Gnr GA Moore   Cpl T Teague    Gnr D Marnock     Gnr AW Dodd    Gnr LJ Drury
 
Rank Initials Surname Age Date of Death Service No. Grave Ref
Gunner G A MOORE 19 10/08/1917 296660 I. Q. 24.
Corporal T TEAGUE 24 10/08/1917 43943 I. Q. 25.
Gunner D MARNOCK 19 10/08/1917 344204 I. Q. 26.
Gunner AW DODD 31 10/08/1917 147759 I. Q. 27.
Gunner L J DRURY   12/08/1917 147756 I. Q. 28.

Op Drum - Menin Gate Ceremony

Recently paraded at the Menin Gate with the Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch. Lead by the Somme Battlefield Pipe Band, who included the Flanders Jocks in their ranks, we marched from the Grote Market upto the Gate. Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment ACF.

The ceremony was as ever very moving. The exhortation  'For the Fallen' by L.Binyon being read by Colonel David Middleton Commandant Northumbria ACF.

Hearing Highland Cathederal echoing around the arches was excellent.

The march off entailed a counter march under the Menin Gate before marching back down the Meninstraat with the skirl of the pipes from Somme Battlefield Pipe Band playing on the road to Paschendaele.

A momentous occasion.

Last Post Association - 6th October 2012

Somme Battlefield Pipe Band lead the narch from the Grote Market

Menin Gate 6th October 2012

Somme Battlefield Pipe Band lead the march off

 

Op Drum - Drum Ceremony


In 2010 the President of the of the Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch, Colonel Tony Glenton, was contacted by  Yves Holbecq, Pipe Major of the Somme Battle Field Pipe Band about a drum he had purchased from a French lady. The drum had been found by her father in law in May 1940 near Fervant in Northern France during the British retreat to Dunkirk. He hid it away in his attic fearing the Germans would not look too kindly on the holding of British Army equipment, and there it remained, forgotten, until 2010.



On the drum, a small plaque was dedicated to 2/Lt William Basil Catto, 4th Battalion Tyneside Scottish. Yves recognised the historical importance of the drum and began a quest to repatriate the drum back to the Tyneside Scottish.

Memorial Plaque on the Drum

The Tyneside Scottish were formed as part of Kitchener’s’ call to arms in 1914. The response for volunteers was so overwhelming that four service battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers formed the Tyneside Scottish Brigade.

 
Decimated on the opening day of the Somme, they were withdrawn to regenerate in the area of Armentieres. It was during this period that 2/Lt William Basil Catto was killed on the 11th September 1916 whilst commanding a working party. He was buried in the church yard at Erquninghem-Lys the following day. 

2/ Lt William Basil Catto
Tyneside Scottish
 

The Tyneside Scottish went on to fight at Arras and Paschendaele, going into suspended animation in 1919.

As the war clouds gathered over Europe in 1939, the Territorial Army was doubled in size and units were required to form duplicates. The 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry based at Alexander Road, Gateshead, formed the 12th Battalion Durham Light Infantry and adopted the honour title Tyneside Scottish. Their intelligence officer, Lt. Archie Catto would be a second generation of Catto’s to serve in the TS. The battalion sought to strengthen its Scottish links, and in February 1940 became 1st Battalion Tyneside Scottish (Black Watch).
 
Officers of the Tyneside Scottish 1940
Lt Archie Catto in glengarry - 2nd row left
They deployed to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, complete with pipe band. The battalion were tasked with the construction of airfields, their pipe band entertaining the local population. As the panzers rolled across France, the battalion formed a blocking position at Fichieux, near Arras. They held the advancing German armour for vital hours, sustaining heavy casualties, before withdrawing to Dunkirk. Amongst the equipment left behind was the drum dedicated to 2/Lt Catto. The battalion would return to France in 1944, before going into suspended animation.
On the reforming of the Territorial Army in 1947, the honour title was resurrected in the Royal Artillery. Today the title is held by 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery RA (V), former serving members having formed their own branch of the Royal Artillery Association.



In 2010, the Tyneside Scottish Association began their planning for the repatriation of the Catto drum back to Tyneside under the leadership of Major Ian Jones.

An initial meeting was held with Yves Holbecq in Albert during the Northumberland Volunteer Artillery Association’s Somme Battlefield tour in 2011.
 
Meeting with Yves Holbecq Albert 2011
 At this point the history of the drum took an interesting turn of fate. Amongst those on the tour was an officer from 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery RA (V) who had served with Major (now Lt. Col) John Catto in Afghanistan. It transpired that a third generation of Cattos had commanded Tyneside Scottish soldiers. 204 Battery RA (V) provide reinforcements to  5th Regiment Royal Artillery on Op Herrick.
 
The initial part of the drum’s journey back to Tyneside was a ceremonial handover at the grave of 2/Lt Catto at Erquinghem-Lys in France.
 
2 /Lt Catto's Grave
Equinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension Cemetery
On parade were the members of Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch and Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment Northumbria ACF, a fine representation of veterans and youth.
 
Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch on parade
 
Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment Northumbria ACF on parade
 
 The Somme Battlefield Pipe Band provided the skirl of the pipes, and a Belgian re-enactment group, the Flanders Jocks, formed an honour guard. 
 
Flanders Jocks and Somme Battlefield Pipe Band on parade
 
 Amongst the guests were Catto family members, Lt Col Ian Vere Nichol and Allan Solly of the Royal Artillery Association, as well as representatives from the Royal British Legion. 
On the 6th October 2012, Yves Holbecq and Madame Peitie, daughter in law of the gentleman who found the drum, handed it to Lt Col. John Catto who accepted it on behalf of the Tyneside Scottish.

Yves Holbecq & Madame Petite handover the drum to
Lt Col. John Catto RA


Lt Col. John Catto hands over the drum to
Tyneside Scottish Cadets
for it's onward journey to Tyneside

Catto Drum at the grave of 2/Lt William Basil Catto
 
 The final part of its journey will be a handover to the Regimental Museum of 101 (Northumbrian) Regiment RA (V).  The location of the museum…..Alexander Road, Gateshead, from where the Tyneside Scottish was resurrected in World War 2 and where the drum probably commenced its journey over 70 years ago.

Flanders Jocks / Lt Col. John Catto and Yves Holbecq


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Retrouvez les photos de la cérémonie sur la page photo/video du site