Battle of Somme: Overnight vigil in Newtownards marks centenary

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum and Heritage Centre outside Newtownards. The sound of bagpipes filled the air at Helen's Tower, as lone piper, Grahame Harris, played a lament. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

An overnight vigil to mark the Battle of the Somme centenary is taking place at the Somme Museum near Newtownards in Co Down.

It is open to the public and began at 7pm on Thursday. Similar vigils are being held in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

The vigil will end with a service on Friday morning which will include the blowing of trench whistles at 7:28 am - the exact time when the signal was given to begin the bloodiest battle in British military history with almost 20,000 dead.

It was intended to be a decisive victory for the British and French against Germany's forces but by the end of the four-month campaign in northern France, more than a million soldiers had been killed and wounded on both sides and the First World War would drag on for another two years.

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum outside Newtownards. Pictured at the vigil is, Jim Shannon MP, John Morrison of the Royal British Legion, military bugler, Grahame Harris of Harris Piping, and Kingsley Donaldson, secretary of the Northern Ireland 1st World War centenary committee. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

Reconciliation

At Westminster Abbey the Bishop of London said the Somme's legacy should see people working towards reconciliation to ensure today's children never endure what the First World War soldiers faced.

The evening service in tribute to the fallen heralded the start of events in the UK and France commemorating the battle which began on July 1 1916.

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum and Heritage Centre outside Newtownardsy. Starting at 7pm on Thursday evening, the vigil will end at 7.28am on Friday morning, to the blowing of whistles. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

The Right Reverend Dr Richard Chartres told a Westminster Abbey congregation which included the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn that they should strive to reach an accord and reject "those who would stir up hatred and division".

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry paid their respects in France, attending a vigil at Thiepval Memorial where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated.

In his address Dr Chartres quoted the famous words of Irishman Thomas Kettle, a nationalist, economist and poet who was an officer with the 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was killed at the Somme.

A gun salute during the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Thiepval Memoria on July 1, 2016 in Thiepval, France. (Photo bt Yui Mok - Pool/Getty Images)

Britain's Prince Charles (R) and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron attend a a memorial ceremony on July 1, 2016 at the Thiepval Memorial, northern France, during which Britain and France mark the 100 years since soldiers emerged from their trenches to begin one of the bloodiest battles of World War I (WWI) at the River Somme. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Francois MoriFRANCOIS MORI/AFP/Getty Images

THIEPVAL, FRANCE - JULY 01: War graves at Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme during Somme Centenary Commemorations on July 1, 2016 in Thiepval, France. Today marks exactly 100 years since the beginning of the battle of the Somme. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

BEAUMONT-HAMEL, FRANCE - JULY 1: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales lays a wreath at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial during a Ceremony of Remembrance hosted by the Government of Canada to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the battle of the Somme on July 1, 2016 in Beaumont-Hamel, France. The event is part of the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Thiepval Memorial in Thiepval, France, where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated. (Photo by Niall Carson - Pool/Getty Images)

THIEPVAL, FRANCE - JULY 1: French President Francois Hollande meets British and French school children during the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Thiepval Memoria on July 1, 2016 in Thiepval, France. The event is part of the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Thiepval Memorial in Thiepval, France, where 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave are commemorated. (Photo bt Yui Mok - Pool/Getty Images)

The Bishop said: "'Used with the wisdom that is sown in tears and blood, this tragedy of Europe may be and must be the prologue to the two reconciliations of which all statesmen have dreamed; the reconciliation of Protestant Ulster with Ireland and the reconciliation of Ireland with Great Britain.'

"Our prayer must be that with the wisdom sown in blood and tears we may be agents of the reconciliation which is God's will, reconciliation wherever we live or from wherever we come, rejecting those who would stir up hatred and division and instead working for the reconciliation that will ensure that our children will never have to endure what the men of the Somme so bravely endured."

The first day of the Battle of the Somme became the bloodiest in British military history with more than 57,000 casualties recorded - of these 19,240 were fatalities.

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum outside Newtownards. Pictured at the vigil is, Jim Shannon MP, John Morrison of the Royal British Legion, military bugler, Grahame Harris of Harris Piping, and Kingsley Donaldson, secretary of the Northern Ireland 1st World War centenary committee. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

Among the worst hit were the "pals" battalions, volunteer units of limited fighting experience.

Many were told to walk slowly across no man's land, resulting in massive numbers of dead as they headed straight into German machine gun fire.

Germans 'astonished'

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum and Heritage Centre outside Newtownardsy. Starting at 7pm on Thursday evening, the vigil will end at 7.28am on Friday morning, to the blowing of whistles. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

The Bishop highlighted some of the facts from the military engagement - how the Allied bombardment before the attack, which failed to disrupt the enemy, could be heard from the south coast and how German forces were astonished by the Allied forces walking towards them when the battle began.

He added how Corporal Wood of the 16th battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, recalled the moment they went over the top: "'We were told that the wire had been cut in front of our front line, that there'd be no difficulty at all for us to get through and that there wouldn't be a German within miles.'"

Dr Chartres highlighted the Abbey's overnight vigil which followed the service and was centred on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior - the first time the place of worship had hosted such an event since the peace vigils for the Cuban Missile Crisis more than 50 years ago.

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum and Heritage Centre outside Newtownards. The sound of bagpipes filled the air at Helen's Tower, as lone piper, Grahame Harris, played a lament. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

He said: "As we keep our vigil by the graveside of the Unknown Warrior who represents all those who perished in the Great War, it is for us to remember the fearful beginning of the battle of the Somme and to salute the courage and sacrifice of those who went over the top."

During the service prayers were said for the First World War dead and hymns were sung by the congregation who included descendants of the men who fought at the Somme.

The Queen symbolically touched a wreath that was placed at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and the first watch took up its place - one person, head bowed as a mark of respect, at each corner of the tomb, with their numbers drawn throughout the all-night vigil from UK and Commonwealth military personnel and members of community groups representing those involved in the battle.

An overnight vigil at the Somme Museum and Heritage Centre outside Newtownards. The sound of bagpipes filled the air at Helen's Tower, as lone piper, Grahame Harris, played a lament. Picture: Philip Magowan / PressEye

During the service the Last Post was played with a bugle that had been used at the Somme.

Lantern Tower

Welsh Guardsman Lance Sergeant Stuart Laing, 39, sounded the moving tune from the Lantern Tower - the first time music had been performed from the eaves of the Abbey.

Soldiers take part in a vigil at Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme during Somme Centenary Commemorations on June 30, 2016 in Thiepval, France. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The soldier, who spent eight weeks practising with the 101-year-old instrument, said later: "It was an enormous privilege to be the person to sound the Last Post on the eve of the 100th anniversary.

"I'm very proud to have been chosen and I'm bursting with pride."

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Sergeant Rob Porteous, of 167 Catering Support Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, will take up his place in the vigil in the early hours of Friday morning.

His great-grandfather George Taylor was a sergeant with the Tyneside Scottish regiment - one of the "pals" units that featured friends that joined up together.

Sgt Porteous said: "My great-grandfather was a working man in the coal pits who was called up to do something extraordinary and after the war went back to his ordinary life down the pit.

"That's amazing what he did for democracy and peace in Europe."

The final watch around the grave will begin at 7.15am on Friday and just over 15 minutes later - at the moment the whistles blew to signal the start of the battle - a trench whistle will be blown in the Abbey before a short service begins.

Ulster Memorial Tower

Earlier today at the Ulster Memorial Tower in Thiepval, France troops were making final preparations for the commemerations.

A Royal Irish Regiment brass band practised martial tunes while stiff-backed riflemen paraded down the narrow entranceway to the building commemorating the First World War dead in Northern France.

Thousands of soldiers from across Ireland died at the Somme, including many from the 36th Ulster Division on the first day of battle.

The tower was built on land near the village of Thiepval donated by the French Government after the war in recognition of the war effort.

With massive amounts of blood spilt by soldiers from across Ireland, the dead have been memorialised as martyrs for their country by unionists who forged the new Northern Ireland some five years later.

On Friday, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall will attend ceremonies for Northern Irish and Canadian victims of the battle at the Ulster Tower and Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, respectively.

Camilla will also lay a wreath at the grave of her great-uncle, Captain Harry Cubitt, who was killed on the Somme in September 1916 while serving with the Coldstream Guards.

He was the eldest, and the first to die of three brothers killed serving on the Western Front.