The great blue flame shot into the sky, it was 7:30, zero hour.

A poem read at Westminster Abbey...

Remember the day of the soldiers on the Somme as the biggest explosion changed their lives forever. Westminster Abbey and the whole of the country fell into a two minute silence as we remembered those brave soldiers of the Somme.

A whistle was blown and the soldiers became part of the bloodiest battle and loss of life that our country had seen - 19,240 soldiers died that day. A million more died over the next five months.

Published in IoC news