With Remembrance Sunday just observed, and the annual Poppy Appeal in full flow, it is a time of the year where we give a silent thanks to all those many brave men and women who sacrificed so much during WWI and WWII to ensure we live freely today.
A very important battle site is in need of your help to preserve it for future generations.
The Yorkshire trench just outside Ypres in Belgium is the only front-line trench in its original position on the salient, a very important battle site. It is visited by many of the realities of war exercises and battlefield tours. It was excavated in the 1990s by amateur archaeologists called The Diggers where 150 British, French and German soldiers’ bodies were found around the trench. Only one of these soldiers was ever identified.
It is called the Yorkshire Trench because it was manned and improved by the 49th West Riding of Yorkshire Division. The trench was completely restored and opened to the public in the early 2000’s.
However, recently due to the weather, and water table in Flanders it has fallen into serious disrepair, much as it did in The Great War, and has now become inaccessible to the public.
John Morrison, who is raising funds to restore the heritage site says, “I have visited with students many times, and have been asked by the Flanders Fields Museum to see if we might raise funds to put an important piece of Yorkshire heritage back into good repair.
“The people of the City of Ypres and the Flanders Field Museum in Belgium are also contributing towards this project and did so originally to keep this part of history accessible. Please give what you can to support this cause on our Just Giving Page”
