13/03/2020
Today First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours came to a premature close. I’ve been involved with the programme since 2015 as a representative of the Army and as an employee. It has been an immense pleasure to be involved with the almost 60 trips I have accompanied to France and Belgium.
It is perhaps ironic that the Programme ends, as the Great War ended, with a global pandemic. Over six years, the programme has taken 8,500 secondary school students to the battlefields of the Western Front, those students have subsequently spread the word to over 18 million people through the Legacy 110 project.
All good things come to an end. The leader of this programme, Mr Simon Bendry has been utterly selfless and has received no reward. This is a travesty and one I’m determined to try to rectify. Thank you Simon, my friend, my mentor, for the joy this opportunity has brought me, but more importantly, for giving children the knowledge to keep the memory of the Great War generation.