World War One Trip March 2011
On Friday 25th March a band of Omnibus members set off on a visit to the Cambrai Region to discover some of the most poignant locations of the First World War including Loos, Neuve Chappelle, the new Commonwealth War Grave at Fromelles, Vimy Ridge and other key museums and battlefields. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the nearby village of Flesquieres , home to 'Deborah' a recovered WW1 tank, now registered as a National Monument. The group also visited Ypres to observe the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial.
Art lovers were able to visit the wonderful Musée Matisse at Le Cataeu-Cambresis.
To understand and to describe these battles requires the background knowledge of academic career soldiers who have seen active service as participants and this four-day, three-night tour was led by Lt Col TIM COURTENAY OBE DL assisted by M Philippe Gorczynski MBE (Battle of Cambrai historian and WW1 tank expert).
Here are a few photos for the moment. A full report was published in "The Loop" Vol 1 No 4 word version pdf version .
Our thanks as ever go to Margaret Pickering, the Omnibus tour organiser. Margaret has organised quite a number of these tours for staff and will be sorely missed when she retires from the University this year.
