Tournament marked Somme anniversary

Tournament marked Somme anniversary

9 November 2016

YOUNG people have taken part in a special competition as part of the Somme 100 series of events in Killyleagh.

A football competition and workshop was organised by the Killyleagh Youth -In for young people from Killyleagh and Shrigley.

Matt Lynch was captain of the winning team and finished as top scorer in the tournament, which was sponsored by the Killyleagh Community Shop.

It was part of the recreation of the famous 1914 Christmas truce game when soldiers on opposing sides in the Great War came out of the trenches and met in no man’s land.

The 1st Royal Irish Rifles played a pivotal role in this Christmas truce — and Shrigley had a strong connection to this regiment. Two of its members, William Walker, from River Row, and Samuel Martin, from Bank Row, were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916.

The town’s commemoration of the Somme anniversary will end late this month with a poignant ceremony at the grave in 1st Killyleagh graveyard of William Samuel Montgomery, from the Toye. It will take place on the actual day, 100 years later, that the Battle of the Somme finally ended.

The act of remembrance at 12 noon on Friday, November 18, is open to everyone and will involve members of the Royal British Legion, accompanied by Montgomery’s relatives, laying a wreath at the grave. 

Meanwhile, consideration is being given to a suitable event to mark the 100th anniversary next June of the Battle of Messines, when soldiers of the 36th Ulster Division and 16th Irish Division fought side by side for the first time.