Annual Northern Gunners St Barbara Day's Commemoration.... Cadet to Vet. Serving members of 101 (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery, affiliated Royal Artillery Branches and ACF / CCF supported Detachments paraded at the Regimental HQ in Gateshead.
Serving 101 RA and RAA Standards
ACF / CCF Detachments
21C / Honorary Colonel 101 RA
The event included a service of remembrance led by the Padre 101 RA with the Commanding Officer laying a wreath at the 250th Brigade Royal Field Artillery War Memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives during the First World War.
Padre 101 RA leading the service
CO 101 receiving wreath from Cadet wreath bearer
CO 101 lays wreath at the 250 Bde RFA War Memorial
Tyneside Scottish Branch Royal Artillery Association act remembrance at Jesmond United Reformed Church the Colour of the 23rd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Battalion Tyneside Scottish) was laid up after the First World War.
Enjoying the comradeship after the service in the Carriage Jesmond.
Beaumont Hamel Cemetery is located between the Sunken Lane, the line of departure of the Lancashire Fusiliers on 1st July 1916, and Beaumont Hamel their objective. On that date the attacking British Infantry could not hold onto the objective, Beaumont Hamel being finally secured in November 1916.
The Cemetery was constructed in November 1916 for more casualties from that time and during subsequent fighting in February 1917. After the war casualties were added from the surrounding battlefield. The cemetery contains 179 Commonwealth burials of which 82 are unidentified.
Beaumont Hamel Cemetery Sunken Lane left Beaumont Hamel Right
Peter McCorkindale enlisted into the British Army on 25th June 1904, serving mainly in India. On leaving the Army he was employed as a miner and was recalled as a Reservist for service in World War One.
He entered France on 12th March 1915 and posted to 458 Battery in 118 Brigade Royal Field Artillery. Acting Corporal P. McCorkindale was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) in January 1916. That same month he was Mentioned in Despatches. His DCM citation (London Gazette 10 March 1916 Supplement:29503 Page:2698) recorded his actions;
Segreant Peter McCorkindale was killed on the 2nd March 1917 by a German 5.9" shell as he was going down Waggon Road, near Beaumont-Hamel.
On 1st July 1916 over 100,000 men went 'over the top', leaving their trenches to assault the German defensive line, the start of the Battles of the Somme.
Lieutenant Geoffrey Malins was attached to the 29th Division to film the battle opposite the Hawthorn Ridge.
Geoffrey Malins
Geoffrey Malins Filming Hawthorn Ridge
Geoffrey Malins Filming Location
The Germans had built a redoubt on the Hawthorn Ridge. In preparation for the battle the 252nd Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers had covertly mined underneath the defensive position and planted 40,000 lb (18,000 kg) of explosives.
Hawthorn Ridge Mine Tunnel
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Hawthorn Ridge Mine Tunnel
To aid the assault on Beaumont Hamel, a sap was dug from the British Lines to a sunken lane which lay between the British and German Lines in no mans land. The lane was occupied by the men of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers in the early hours of 1st July 1916 ready for the assault.
Sunken Lane across No Mans Land to Beaumont Hamel
Sunken Lane across No Mans Land to Beaumont Hamel
IJ No Mans Land to Beaumont Hamel
Lt Geoffrey Malins arrived in the Sunken Lane around 6:30 am and filmed the men preparing to attack from the lane at 07:30, zero hour.
Men of 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers Sunken Lane 1st July 1916
Sunken Lane 11th September 2025
At 07:20 am, 10 minutes prior to zero hour the mine under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt was detonated.
Hawthorn Ridge Mine detonation 1st July 1916
Malins recorded after the battle;
“The ground where I stood gave a mighty convulsion. It rocked and swayed. I gripped hold of my tripod to steady myself. Then for all the world like a gigantic sponge, the earth rose high in the air to the height of hundreds of feet. Higher and higher it rose, and with a horrible grinding roar the earth settles back upon itself, leaving in its place a mountain of smoke.”
Malan's filming of the detonation is one of the most iconic records of the events of the first day of the Battles of the Somme.
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