TheNewsletter of theDugout Dorset and South Wiltshire Branch of the Western Front Association www.wfa-dorsetswilts.org.uk Parish Notes Chairman’s Chat extremely well supported and was a great success. Our 2011 Field Chairman: For Issue 7 ofThe Dugout it is aptTrip will be to the CWGC HQ and Martin Willoughby for me to summarise the past yearthe Museum of Army Chaplaincy, Telephone: 01929 553060 and look forward to 2011. travelling on Friday, 18 March this [email protected] promises to be a busy but Meetings: In 2010 the Branch had ainteresting trip. particularly busy year with a full Saturday, 12 February calendar of monthly meetings,The Chairman and Secretary Martin Brown - Chocolate, Charms participation in a number of outsiderepresented the branch at the and HP Sauce - Archeology of the events and the continuingAubers Ridge Memorial Service in Great War development and implementationMay and were present at the of a number of projects. dedication of Fromelles (Pheasant Saturday, 12 March Mark Smith - The Will Townend Wood) CWGC cemetery in July. Memorial Lecture The quality and calibre of speakersAlso in May several members at our monthly meetings continuesvisited Gallipoli in association with Saturday, 9 April be of a very high standard and it isRND tours. Our seminar in June Victoria Burbidge - Tracing the imperative but not easy to ensurewas a great success followed Missing - Fromelles 1916 this remains the case for the future.closely by Tank Fest which was Saturday, 14 May We have managed to achieve anotable for a tangible increase in Peter Caddick Adams - Monty and great variety of topics for 2011 andinterest in WW1. Rommel in the Great War the year got off to a very good start with Alan Leakey’s talk on NavalOctober 2010 was a high point with Saturday 11 June Wonder Weapons of WW1.over 100 members and guests John Stanyard - Under Two Flags - Attendances at our meetings haveattending Peter Barton’s talk on The Salvation Army in WW1 increased significantly and this isthe Red Cross Records. This At Pimperne Village Hall, Blandford - indicative of a varied andmeeting saw the launch of the 2pm for 2.30pm start. interesting programme. By theBritish Memorial Association - time you read this our list ofFromelles (BMA-F), the branch Further details on WFA website speakers, their talks and othermaking the initial donation to www.wfa-dorsetswilts.org.uk events will be published on theVictoria Burbidge the driving force www.westernfrontassociation.com branch website. behind the BMA-F and a donation Field Trips / Battle Field Tour: to Peter Barton for the Tunnellers’ Events where the branch wasMemorial. Saturday, 4 June (tbc) represented in 2010 include; IWM - Ashcroft VC-GC exhibition Dorset Family History Great WarOur second annual School Prize Workshop over two days inAward Scheme was an Friday, 18 March (note day) Commonwealth War Graves Com- September, Several of the Tankoutstanding success with a 50% mission / Army Chaplains Museum Museum’s Out of Hours Eventsincrease in participation and the promoting the branch, our regionalentries were imaginative and of Friday, 2 - Monday 5 September seminar and the Association, Tankoutstanding quality. The Prize ‘From Mons to the Marne and back’ Fest and Local exhibitions atscheme for 2011 is on track to Poole, Wareham and Upton. cement the award scheme as a Further details from the Secretary, Judy Willoughby, or the Chairman milestone event with more schools ~~~~~~ The branch field trip to the AMSexpressing an interest in taking Newsletter Editor: Helen Kerridge: and RLC Museum’s (twopart. [email protected] fascinating museums) was Page 1 January 2011 - Issue 7 Our 2009 Battlefield Tour was in my opinion pretty Battlefield Tour September 2010 exceptional, the 2010 tour even more so. We were blessed with the continued excellence of our guides The Yser Front Idi and Nige and further blessed with the help of local and the Northern Salient expertise in the form of Herman Declerke (The Cellar House, Pervyse), Charlotte Descamps (Varlet Farm)An early Friday morning departure from Pimperne and Johan van Besaelare (Tanks in the Salient andwith the mist promising a fine day later, at least on this the Moraine Saulnier) The 2011 tour ‘Mons to theside of the Channel! Our progress through south- Marne and Back’ is shaping up nicely and willeastern England was only broken by breakfast and hopefully continue to raise the bar. coffee stops before we boarded the train that was to take us through the tunnel to France. The Dorset War Memorial project is approaching the final stages with dedication due in May 2011 and weFrom Calais we sped north on the motorway towards have been able to support Child Okeford Roll ofBrussels and turned off for Lille before making our Honour and Shapwick War memorial refurbishment. way on local roads to visit Dozinghem Military Ceme- tery just north of Poperinge. Until 1917 this was Our newsletter as you will see from this issueoutside the front held by British and Commonwealth continues to grow in content and quality and is aforces in Belgium. However, in preparation for the fundamental element in the way the branchThird Battle of Ypres, groups of casualty clearing disseminates information. The branch website hasstations were set up in the area. Three were located been in operation for a full year and feedbackat Dozinghem – a name coined by British troops to indicates it is a model of excellence in terms ofsound like local Flemish ones. They opened the structure, navigation, presentation and content. Bymilitary cemetery and used it through to early 1918. this means communication and informationThe cemetery also contains 73 burials from the Sec- availability will continue to be enhanced. It remainsond World War associated with the withdrawal to vital that the Secretary has up to date e-mails and IDunkirk in 1940. can only urge those who are not wired to become so as printing and postal costs continue to be aOur route then took us through Poperinge and on to significant drain on the resources of the branch. Ieper, our base for this tour. After a quick “wash and brush-up” at our hotel, we were on our way again, 2011 will bring a programme as varied, interestingheading south across the Messines Ridge to Ploegs- and of the same high quality as 2010. We continueteert. Here we participated in the monthly Last Post to develop links to local schools, local military museums and society’s, as well as support to a range of projects that meet the criteria of our business plan and associated policies. Our success has necessitated change in the way the branch manages its affairs and guidance from HM Revenue & Customs advises the branch to register as a charity. Although this decision was deferred at the 2009 AGM our treasurer’s concise dissertation at the 2010 AGM allayed any fears about this significant but beneficial move. This will bring benefit to the Branch, i.e. the ability to claim Gift Aid and will also stand us in good stead when seeking funding and or sponsorship in support of future projects, but also imposes some conditions that must be met in terms of the way we do business. None of what we do Wreath layers - Graham Kerridge and Roger Coleman would be achievable without the support and expertise of your committee and I thank them unreservedly for their continuing support. I must alsoCeremony held at the Ploegsteert Memorial, a poppy thank those members who give their time and supportwreath being laid on behalf of the Branch. The behind the scenes and of course to you dear readerceremony was very well attended. The Memorial for being there and supporting your local branch.commemorates British soldiers but in this francoph- Finally my best wishes to you all for a happy andone area of Belgium the atmosphere seemed more prosperous New Year. “international” than the predominantly British “feel” of ceremonies at the Menin Gate back in Ieper. Page 2 January 2011 - Issue 7 Saturday also started misty but bright. Our first callAn excellent buffet lunch was provided at the present was at White House Cemetery just outside Ieper tofarm and Charlotte Cardoen-Descamps, the wife of enable one member of our party to pay his respectsthe farmer told us about living on and farming a to two casualties of the April 1918 fighting in the area.battlefield. Afterwards we were able to visit the on-site We moved on to the Yorkshire Trench and Dugoutmuseum of finds made on the farm. Charlotte left us near the Ieper-Ijzer Canal. This was originally ain no doubt of her extensive knowledge of Great War second-line trench, but in July 1917 the dugoutmunitions! served as a command post for 13th and 16th Battal- ions, Royal Welsh Fusiliers (38th [Welsh] Division) forParking near the memorial to the French air ace the attack on Pilkem Ridge. The site was discoveredCapitaine Georges Guynemer in Poelkapelle, we in 1992 and has since been explored by the Diggersvisited the Tank Memorial Ypres Salient inaugurated Belgian archaeological group. The name Yorkshirein 2009. The memorial commemorates the tank Trench reflects the presence in the area of the 49th crewmen of the Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps (West Yorkshire) Division in 1915. Here the curatorand the Tank Corps who fell in the Salient during the of The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester, producedGreat War. The memorial is located where the re- a German officer’s leather pistol holster found in themains of the tank Damon II (D29), knocked out at area by a Tommy and “souvenired”. This had re-Poelkapelle crossroads on 9th October 1917, stood cently been acquired by the Museum. The pistol wasuntil it was removed by the Germans in 1941.