St Michael’s Church remembers the Battle of the Somme



100 years ago, at 7.30 am on 1st July 1916, the Battle of the Somme started. British casualties were some 20,000 men killed in action. It remains the most costly day in Britain’s military history. That day, 5 of the 33 men on St Michael’s Roll of Honour were killed in the diversionary attack on the hamlet of Gommecourt, London Regiments being prominent in that attack.

At the Holy Communion Service on Sunday 26th June 2016, the congregation remembered these men and a special Somme wreath composed of the traditional red poppies interspersed with four cornflowers, was laid at the altar during the service and thereafter by the Roll of Honour inside the Church.