36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours

09/09/2024

Final Preparations are underway as we will welcome Monkstown YCV Flute Band to the Battlefields next week as part of the bands 50th Anniversary

08/09/2024

Heading back after two weeks of pilgrimages around the Battlefields. We would like to thank Rathcoole Protestant Boys Official Linfield Football Club (Official) & Blues & Royals Flute Band Sydenham East Belfast for putting their trust in us. It’s a weeks preparation then it’s back to the Battlefields for another two pilgrimages with Monkstown YCV Flute Band & Drumchapel Friends of The Somme. Here is a snippet of the past two weeks

07/09/2024

Thank so much for the feedback folks, great bunch and we will see you soon

Well what can we say.. all home safe and sound with memories for a lifetime.
First up massive thank you to Strandtown Somme for inviting us to accompany them to the Somme it was 14 years since we first went but over half the band had never been so thank you for having us, and our friends from Cooke’s Defenders LOL 609.
Secondly thank you to the representatives of Dundela fc for coming along on the trip to represent the football club also the visitors who came along and took videos and pictures.
Lastly but by no means least to, Phil from 36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours you made the trip so special, and the band has made a very good friend also to members Ian and Paul who worked endlessly organising us we all no you had a nightmare at times 😂 and finally to Stuarty and his wife for driving the gear over …

07/09/2024

What a pilgrimage

07/09/2024

07/09/2024

What a day around the Battlefields with the Blues & Royals Flute Band Sydenham East Belfast. Memories that will last forever

06/09/2024

A snippet of our day with Blues & Royals Flute Band Sydenham East Belfast on their pilgrimage

05/09/2024

Day 1 with the Blues & Royals

03/09/2024

Well, that’s what I’m partnership we do best 36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours

03/09/2024

Today we welcome the Officers and members of Blues & Royals Flute Band Sydenham East Belfast to the Somme and Flanders Battlefields

03/09/2024

On Sunday along with Alex Hup & Johnny Jamison, we guided
Linfield Football Club (Official) &
Leyton Orient Football Club around the Battlefields. Our theme was remembering both football clubs Fallen during World War One. Both clubs remember their Fallen at their memorials, the only two football clubs to have a memorial on the Western Front. Well done to both youth teams for their participation and interaction, both teams are a credit to your clubs

03/09/2024

On Saturday we had the pleasure of helping organising the Somme youth Football tournament on the Somme Battlefields. Linfield Football Club (Official) Leyton Orient Football Club and Usoaas Football under 16’s all played in the friendly competition and we all received great hospitality from the local people. Special thanks to Alex Hup, Celine Jasiak, Johnny Jamison and everyone who made this a lifetime experience.

02/09/2024

Tour 2 completed ✔️
Tomorrow tour 3

02/09/2024

On Friday we welcomed Linfield Football Club (Official) youth academy to the Battlefields. Both Linfield and Leyton Orient Football Club participated in the Last Post ceremony. We would like to thank Johnny Jamison & Alex for making this possible

Lest We Forget

02/09/2024

01/09/2024

Our last day with Rathcoole Protestant Boys Official on their 15th Anniversary pilgrimage, we hope to see you soon folks

30/08/2024

Today we welcome Linfield Football Club (Official) to the Battlefields.

Linfield Media Post

“The Boys Academy Visit to Flanders and Somme Regions

The Linfield Under 15 squad will be travelling to Belgium and France this weekend to participate in a youth tournament and to commemorate those who lost their lives in Flanders and at the Somme during the First World War.

The group leave early on Friday morning and will tour the Flanders region before participating in the Menin Gate Remembrance ceremony on Friday evening. They will then travel to their base in Arras ahead of the three-team Somme Memorial youth tournament on Saturday. Linfield U-15s will be joined by teams from Leyton Orient and USOAA from Albert in France.

On Sunday the group will visit a number of memorials in the Somme region including the Theipval Memorial to the Missing. The Linfield party will join up with the Leyton Orient group to visit their Footballers’ Battalion Memorial at Flers before travelling to our own Memorial to the Linfield Fallen in the village of Bertrancourt. The 2024 visit will conclude on Monday with a visit to the Ulster Memorial Tower and a tour of Thiepval wood before the group returns to Belfast.

This is the latest in a series of Academy visits to the Flanders and Somme regions as the club develops this important sporting and educational project for our young players. This visit is particularly significant as we mark two years since the Linfield Memorial in Bertrancourt was unveiled and dedicated and also take forward a new partnership with Leyton Orient FC and the O’s Memorial Group.

The Linfield group will be led by Chairman Roy McGivern along with Directors Ronnie Morrison and David Sales, Vice Presidents Robert Foster and Robert Neill and Academy coach Jonny Jameson who designed the club’s Somme Memorial. Academy Director Glenn Ferguson and Media and Marketing Officer Matt Wright will also attend along with former players Lee Doherty and William Murphy. A number of supporters will also join the official party, many of whom were donors to the Memorial Fund project. The group will be facilitated by Philip Hamilton from the 36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours.

Lest we Forget

30/08/2024

What another great day guiding Rathcoole Protestant Boys Official around the Battlefields playing music to our Glorious Fallen. It was another packed day, it was many first times playing in Neuville-Saint-Vaast German Cenetery, La Targette French and Vimy Ridge Memorial. Today is our last day of the pilgrimage

29/08/2024

🌹 Boys Academy Visit to Flanders and Somme Regions

The Linfield Under 15 squad will be travelling to Belgium and France this weekend to participate in a youth tournament and to commemorate those who lost their lives in Flanders and at the Somme during the First World War.

The group leave early on Friday morning and will tour the Flanders region before participating in the Menin Gate Remembrance ceremony on Friday evening. They will then travel to their base in Arras ahead of the three-team Somme Memorial youth tournament on Saturday. Linfield U-15s will be joined by teams from Leyton Orient and USOAA from Albert in France.

On Sunday the group will visit a number of memorials in the Somme region including the Theipval Memorial to the Missing. The Linfield party will join up with the Leyton Orient group to visit their Footballers’ Battalion Memorial at Flers before travelling to our own Memorial to the Linfield Fallen in the village of Bertrancourt. The 2024 visit will conclude on Monday with a visit to the Ulster Memorial Tower and a tour of Thiepval wood before the group returns to Belfast.

This is the latest in a series of Academy visits to the Flanders and Somme regions as the club develops this important sporting and educational project for our young players. This visit is particularly significant as we mark two years since the Linfield Memorial in Bertrancourt was unveiled and dedicated and also take forward a new partnership with Leyton Orient FC and the O’s Memorial Group.

The Linfield group will be led by Chairman Roy McGivern along with Directors Ronnie Morrison and David Sales, Vice Presidents Robert Foster and Robert Neill and Academy coach Jonny Jameson who designed the club’s Somme Memorial. Academy Director Glenn Ferguson and Media and Marketing Officer Matt Wright will also attend along with former players Lee Doherty and William Murphy. A number of supporters will also join the official party, many of whom were donors to the Memorial Fund project. The group will be facilitated by Philip Hamilton from the 36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours.

Lest we Forget

29/08/2024

On compte sur vous !!! 💙⚽🇬🇧🇨🇵

29/08/2024

It was a hot day for Rathcoole Protestant Boys Official on the Battlefields as the heat rose to 33 degrees! 🥵

Our first stop was the 36th (Ulster) Division Lys River Memorial then onto Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial as well as various other stops as they remembered the Fallen. The band has two members who have relatives who gave their lives for the freedom we enjoy today. What an emotional moment to play music and hold a short memorial service in their memory.

25/08/2024

It’s a busy two weeks for us at 36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours. Our first pilgrimage starts with Rathcoole Protestant Boys Official as they celebrate their 15th Anniversary as a band. A full packed itinerary and a focus on remembrance, our glorious Fallen and former band members

20/08/2024

Remembering Sgt James Spiers

Lest We Forget

19/08/2024

Just over a week to go until Rathcoole Protestant Boys Official pilgrimage to the Somme and Flanders Battlefields. Finial preparations are underway for a full packed itinerary

09/08/2024

Day three of the “Beyond the Battlefields” youth programme

09/08/2024

Day 2 of the youth Program

07/08/2024

Our first full day around the Battlefields with the young people from “Beyond the Battlefields’. What a warm day with the heat reaching 32. The group explored the role of both the Chinese and Indian Labour Corps during WW1. We looked at the pre-Somme role of the 36th (Ulster) Division looking at some of the young candidates, one soldier from the Ulster Division being 15 years of age. Later we looked at the aftermath of the Battles of the Somme at Centre d'Accueil de Thiepval and a guided tour of Thiepval Wood by The Somme Association & Somme Museum. Our evening was spent at Bertrancourt paying homage at the Linfield Bertrancourt Somme Memorial and French memorials, followed by dinner and a warm welcome from the Village of Quoi de neuf à Bertrancourt ?

06/08/2024

We have arrived in France 🇫🇷

What a five day intineary ahead

06/08/2024

Nice to see battlefield guide Phil Hamilton at Thiepval today with the youth group "Beyond the Battlefields"

04/08/2024

Final preparations are now complete and tomorrow we depart for our 3rd Battlefield Pilgrimage of 2024. We have included new material as we educate the young people from East, North and West Belfast. This tour will bring us over 260 people putting their trust in 36th Ulster Division Battlefield Tours. 260 people so far cannot be wrong! With 6 more pilgrimages to follow