Legion duo in Great War remembrance event

It will culminate in a parade and ceremony in Ypres as part of the end of the Great War centenary commemorations.

Known as Great Pilgrimage 90 - GP90 - it takes place between August 5 and 9 and will be one of the largest in the charity’s history.

Local legion members Nick Taylor and Dennis Briggs will represent the Oakengates and District branch and the local community at the event, as Standard Bearer and wreath layer respectively.

GP90 will mark 90 years since the original legion pilgrimage in 1928 which saw 11,000 World War One veterans and war widows visit the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium, a decade after the conflict ended.

That pilgrimage culminated in a march through Ypres to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Menin Gate Memorial for a ceremony to commemorate the launch of The Hundred Days Offensive and in remembrance of those who never returned.

Nick and Dennis will tour some of the same battlefields and cemeteries visited by those on the 1928 Pilgrimage, before marching along the original route through Ypres to the Menin Gate on August 8, bearing their branch standard and a wreath.

They will join more than 2,200 other Legion representatives and dignitaries, including civic and military guests from the UK, Commonwealth and Northern Europe who are taking part. Once at the Menin Gate, Dennis will lay a wreath on behalf of the Oakengates community.

William Barnes, president of the Oakengates and District RBL branch, said: “Great Pilgrimage 90 is a unique opportunity for the legion community to come together and bear our standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of the First World War. The branch looks forward to proudly representing Oakengates at the event.”

As local champions of Remembrance, the Oakengates and District Branch of The Royal British Legion is looking to work in partnership with their community to bring their unique Remembrance message to the Menin Gate, on their wreath, where it will be displayed in a wreath installation for viewing by the general public until the end of August.

The parade will start at midday and we encourage the public to make the trip across to Ypres for the 8th August and fill the Market Square to watch the parade, One Hundred Days

ceremony and then enjoy an afternoon of musical entertainment including The Central Band of the Royal British Legion.