Somme Commemoration Bedlington

To commemorate the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme, and in particular to remember the losses of the Tyneside Scottish, a parade and church service was held in Bedlington, on 10 July 2016.

Bedlington lay in the heart of the SE Northumberland Coalfield and provided many recruits to the Tyneside Scottish. The effect of the 1st July would have started to arrive in the communities around that time 100 years ago. The notifications of death on the impersonal Army Form B104, the last letters home, would cause grief for many families, whilst for others relief as they find that their loved ones survived. One of the biggest concentration of causalities in the country was Bedlington  where over 60 men was lost from a small community.

Anxious families awaiting the postman
West Sleekburn July 1916

 The parade, led by the City of Newcastle Pipe Band Battery, had representation from 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery, the Tyneside Scottish Branch Royal Artillery Association, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Association, Northumbria Army Cadet Force and the Air Training Corps.
 

City of Newcastle Pipe Band
lead the Parade

Bedlingtom Somme Commemoration Parade

  The church service in Bedlington St Cuthbert's Church included civic and military leaders, local community as well as families from those who fought with the Tyneside Scottish on the Somme.
 

St Cuthbert's Bedlington
Northumbria ACF