Bradford Pals Memorial Service

Members of the Royal British Legion at the Bradford Pals Memorial Service yesterday morning.  The service is held every year in memory of the Bradford Pals, soldiers who were recruited from the Bradford area during the First World War, who then trained together and ultimately died together. Over 1700 were either killed or injured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Bradford Pals Commemoration Service 2012

A service was held yesterday to commemorate the sacrifice made during the first world war  by the Bradford Pals, recruited and trained together, and ultimately perishing in large numbers together at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.  The picture shows two members of a re-enactment group at the service.  The uniforms are from the first world war period, the left hand one is from the early part of the war with canvas belt and straps, there was aparently a shortage of canvas as the war went on and it was later replaced by leather which tended to rot in the wet conditions of the trenches.  The brass buttons are nicely polished on these uniforms, but soldiers in the trenches did not polish their buttons, glinting metal would draw attention from the enemy when they went over the top.  My thanks to the two 'Tommies' for the information on the uniforms.

Bradford Pals Commemoration Service

A service was held today to commemorate the sacrifice made by 'The Bradford Pals' on the first of July 1916 at the battle of the Somme. More than seventeen hundred men from the Bradford area were killed in the first hour of the battle, a battle which dragged on until November of that year without making any significant progress. The 'Pals' were soldiers that had volunteered together, trained together and had then been formed into battalions of soldiers from the same locality.
The picture was taken at this mornings service near the Bradford Pals Memorial Stone.