In June of this year, a group of over twenty people from Springdale BSC went on a trip to France and Belgium in order to honour those that had made the supreme sacrifice in World War 1.

As a Linfield Supporters Club, the trip was Linfield focused and we visited a number of graves of former Linfield players that fought and died in the course of the war. We did though take in a number of other memorials. The most notable of these was a trip to the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. The Menin Gate is a memorial that is dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War who died in Ypres Salient and have no known grave. There are over 54,000 names listed on the memorial and each evening at 8pm the Last Post ceremony is held where a bugle is played to remember the fallen. We were honoured as a club to take part in this ceremony and our chairman, Craig Milne had the great honour of laying a wreath during the service, flanked by members Harry McFarland and Stein Irvine.

Another highlight of the trip, and one of the main reasons for us travelling, was a visit to the Linfield Memorial in Bertrancourt in France. Unfortunately, the weather when we were there was less than pleasant. A short service was held and a poppy wreath was laid at the memorial by Springdale vice chairman, David Browne. This service was attended by the Lady Mayoress, Celine Jasiak and other local people. Local children also very movingly laid a wreath during the service and the ladies who were on the trip, Sally McKee, Barbara White and Jacqui Ferguson laid a wreath at the French memorial nearby.

After the service we were welcomed into the local bar for a meal and drinks. The welcome we received from Celine and other local people was beyond belief. The hospitality really was incredible and we at Linfield owe a great debt to these people for the work they put in to upkeep the memorial and the welcome that they give to the many people that make the trip to visit this fantastic memorial.

We also visited the Thiepval Memorial to the missing and laid a wreath there, spending quite a bit of time in the excellent Visitor Centre and museum that is there. A trip was also made to the Ulster Tower. We visited a number of Linfield graves including Wesley Maultsaid and Leslie Houston and also George McCracken whose brother played for Linfield. Numerous cemeteries were visited to pay our respects to those to whom we owe so much. We went to see the resting place of Willie McBride and took a few moments to play the famous song, The Green Fields of France. Our first visit of the trip was to Vimy Ridge, a very impressive memorial to the Canadian soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom.

We spent four days in France and Belgium, flying out to Paris on Thursday 5 June and returning on Monday 9 June. We stayed in Arras in France and used a Belgian coach company to travel to the various places we wanted to go. Special thanks must also go

to our coach driver Johan who was excellent and stayed with us for the duration of the trip as well as picking us up and returning to the airport. Thanks also to Phil Hamilton and Johnny Jamison from the Linfield Bertrancourt Committee for all their assistance in the lead up to the trip.