UP to 70 people attended a poignant ceremony at Wordsley War Memorial to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.
The event, on Friday July 1, was held to mark the moment 100 years ago when whistles blew along the Western Front as a signal to troops to go ‘over the top’ in what became one of the bloodiest battles of the Great War.
Jim Skidmore, organiser and Royal British Legion member, began with a prayer - followed at precisely 7.30am by three blasts on whistles.
Wreaths were then laid by West Midlands UKIP MEP James Carver and Andrew Perry, on behalf of the people of Wordsley, and a two-minute silence was held to honour brave servicemen who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Mr Skidmore said: “It was a very emotional time especially when everyone blew their whistles thinking then of what the young soldiers were feeling as they were ordered, by the blowing of the officers’ whistles, to go ‘over the top’. Several people shed tears.”
After the ceremony, which was attended by Wordsley councillors Paul Brothwood and Kerry Lewis and Bob Townsend from Kingswinford Royal British Legion, candles were lit inside Holy Trinity Church in memory of those who died.
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