2nd May 2013 - La Boiselle Study Group - Surveying the Somme

The South East Region committee wish to advise that the presentation by Steven Thurgood on Manual and Automated monitoring of the Crossrail Paddington C405 project has been postponed to the 20th of June 2013. The presentation will take place at the University of East London at 6.30pm.

In place of Stevens presentation the committee have organised a presentation by members of the La Boiselle Study Group who are excavating a series of World War One fighting tunnels on the Somme.

On the 1st of July 1916 III Corps of the Fourth Army attacked the German line at Ovillers and La Boisselle The attack was aided by two mines which were exploded under the German strongholds, Y-Sap in Mash Valley and Lochnagar in Sausage Valley on the what was to be recognised as the first day of the Battle of the Somme, although it was only a small part of the fighting that raged in the area throughout the first world war. Nearly 100 years later, the trenches of the La Boisselle area and the Lochnagar Crater are once again revealing their secrets as they are excavated and explored by the La Boiselle Study Group, an Anglo-French study group which includes ex Royal Engineers. Members of the team will be explaining more about the project, including the use of laser scanning to record the crater, surrounding area and excavated fighting tunnel system on what will be an ongoing 10 year archaeological project. Further details of the project can be found at their website http://www.laboisselleproject.com/

Peter Barton is an established First World War historian, writer, filmmaker and consultant well-known for devising and leading archaeological excavations on the Western Front, especially those connected to tunnel warfare. His first venture underground was on the Somme in 1984.

Jeremy Banning is a former civil engineer and commercial diver. He worked for five years in investment banking in the City of London and completed his Masters in Modern History in 2000. He now works as a military historian, researcher and battlefield guide lecturing on the Great War.

The presentation will take place at the University of East London at 6.30pm for 7.00pm.

A British trench near the Albert-Bapaume road at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The men are from A Company, 11th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment