Flanders Battlefield Tours - Genevra Charsley & Jacques Ryckebosch

27/01/2025

Holocaust Memorial Day.

08/01/2025

I’ve come across many things when out guiding some funny, some not so funny, a goat peering at me in the German Cemetery has to be a first for me…🙄

28/12/2024

Back on hallowed ground earlier today and our last tour for 2024. It’s been a strange year one that was not expected but pleased to be ending it with a battlefield tour even at a starting temperature of -3

23/12/2024

Foch on horseback for a Christmas present..? By Georges Malissard, known mainly for equestrian pieces, but also Foch, Petain & Lyautey. A life size version of Foch by Malissard on horseback can be found at Cassel & London. This one could be yours for only £4300.00.

12/11/2024

Aches & pains this Winter? Look no further, and yes you can still buy Zam-Buk…

10/11/2024

A simple remembrance service at our village church & war memorial in Temple Grafton earlier today. Each of the names read out from the memorials at Exhall, Wixford & the Graftons. Marked by being asked to say the exhortation, a Remembrance Sunday that will stay with me forever.

10/11/2024

Nice archived footage of Old Contemptibles on Remembrance Sunday 👇

09/11/2024

At this time of year, Remembrance weekend village churches really come into their own each with distinct displays with the aim of remembering those who served and fell. One such church is in the very small hamlet of Arrow close to where my parents lived.

The first window honouring animals.

The second window honouring those who served in the Army.

The third window honouring those who served in the Navy.

The final window honouring those who served in the Air Force.

Nicely done Arrow.

We will remember them…

31/10/2024

Can't let tonight pass without a nod to the London Scottish on Halloween night, 31st October 1914...Battle of Messines.

17/10/2024

Tribute paid by ESM 2 and ESM 3 to their former Dead for France during the Battle of Verdun.

A sacrifice which nourishes the reflection of our cadets on the scope of their commitment.

A big thank you to the 1st Hunter Regiment for its welcome on this Earth scarred by the battles of the Great War.

25/09/2024

Remembering the Battle of Loos, 25th September 1915.

"Take then our sons: ours for a day,
Thine while the ages blossom;
Their gallant shining heads we lay
In the Redeemer's bosom."

08/09/2024

The dawn this morning was absolutely sublime. I can’t begin to describe the variety of blues of the sky that came through the rising of the sun. The differing greens of the trees and the colour of the land prominently standing out against the sky. Breathtakingly beautiful!

03/09/2024

A flush of colour at the German Cemetery of Langemarck.

24/08/2024

Call to action 👇

Help us find the Ypres League standard

The original Ypres League standard was consecrated on June 1st 1929. The flag can be recognised by its cornflower blue color, which was sir John French’s favourite colour. Next to that the flag is characterised by its gold fringe and the scarlet colour of the centre circle. Sir Charles C. Wakefield gifted the standard to the Ypres League.

The standard has been lost for many years. As the New Ypres League we are trying to find out more about its current whereabouts. Can you help us? Do not hesitate to share any information by contacting us via [email protected]

10/08/2024

In the ruins of Alt St. Alban church in Cologne you can find replicas of the Grieving Parents. The ruins of the church date from the Second World War. Here in West Flanders, Belgium is the Vladslo German Cemetery where the original statues are by Käthe Kollwitz who lost her son Peter in the First World War and is laid to rest in front of the mother & father powerfully showing their despair at the loss of their son.

31/07/2024

How different a scene and sounds we would be looking at and hearing 107 years ago. German blockhouses, pillboxes etc…the beauty of the cemetery & the peace of today belies the awfulness of the Third Battle of Ypres 1917.

31/07/2024

"Pilckem, 1917"
On Pilckem Ridge's battered clay
In Hell's own fury -
The victors and their trophies stay
To tell the story;
But those that lie, their conflict done,
To them the honour, for they won
Life's Grand Objective."

31st July 1917 - Battle of Pilckem Ridge, Third Ypres

21/07/2024

Golden Hour in Ypres - the Ypres Salient…

A melancholy moment to pause, reflect on how lucky we are and to remember…