Thursday, 22 March 2018

We also welcomed the return of Geoff Carter. Geoff has spoken to us about Antarctica and Yellowstone in the past, but this time his subject was more sobering:  the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Geoff’s command of his subject was authoritative and his amassing of the facts compelling.

In 1914 and 1915 Kitchener set about recruiting a ‘New Army’ of 500,000 that required a good year to kit out with uniform and equipment and to train.

Locally, Yorkshire and Lancashire provided almost 100,000 soldiers, including several Pals’ Battalions. 

With the army in place in France, in 1916 Marshal Petain petitioned Field Marshal Haig to create a diversion that would distract the Germans from their offensive that was slowly obliterating Verdun.

Haig planned his campaign to the north in the area of the Somme river.

The Germans, however, from their high ground, seeing the British planning an offensive, took pains to defend their ground with reinforced concrete machine gun posts, and built themselves well-appointed dugouts 40 feet underground that British shells could not penetrate.

On 1st July, 1916, British Headquarters ignored intelligence, and sent their troops laden with seventy pounds of equipment walking across muddy shell-pocked ground at 2 mph in full daylight without cover towards well-positioned enemy machine guns. 

Moreover, the Germans had already placed gunners in the craters left by British mine explosions.

Additionally, the Germans had tapped into British telephone communication wires, and knew the plan of attack.

In spite of General Rawlinson’s massive, but inadequate and ineffective bombardment German machine gunners efficiently cut down the British troops.  Of the 66,000 men who went over the top, 57,470 were dead or wounded by the end of the day.

At the end of the war, Haig was given £100,000 by a grateful nation and an earldom; Rawlinson received a mere £30,000 but was also made a baron and was appointed C-in-C of the army in India. The ordinary Tommy returned home to poverty and, as likely as not, unemployment.

This résumé cannot do justice to Geoff’s well-researched and illuminatingly illustrated presentation delivered in a style that allowed the facts to speak disturbingly for themselves.

Our other presentation was given by Pam Ball who sang the well-merited praises of the Practical Art Group that meets on alternate Fridays in the Fielden Centre between 11.00 and 1.30. 

Like Geoff, Pam let the group speak for itself with a musically-enhanced slide show of its work, displaying a wide variety of different media and styles. Subjects covered land- and seascape, portraiture, still life, and animals. A terrific virtual exhibition.

U3A Todmorden’s next meeting will be on Thursday, April 19th, 2018 in the Central Methodist Church Hall in Todmorden. Our speaker will once again be Granville Dobson whose talk this time will not be about the railways but about ‘Fifteen Years as a Magistrate’. Our contact details are www.u3atod.org.uk (website), enquiries@u3atod.org.uk (email), or 01706 812015 (phone).

Our contact details are (website) www.u3atod.org.uk, (email) enquiries@u3atod.org.uk, or (phone) 01706 812015.

Many thanks to Anthony Peter for this report

 

Previous U3A reports on the HebWeb

HebWeb News: Celebrating Calderdale in Film with speaker Dr Peter Thornton and Ray Riches (7 March 2018)

HebWeb News: Nemesis with speaker Dr Emma Stafford (30 Jan 2018)

HebWeb News: Picking Sticks, Patents and Power Looms with Ian Gibson (16 Dec 2017)

HebWeb News: One Woman Antiques Roadshow with Sheila Antrobus (5 Nov 2017)

HebWeb News: Greenwode to Gibson to National Trust with speaker Trevor Moody (10 Oct 2017)

HebWeb News: Music for Pleasure and Food for Thought with speakers Neil Smith and Geoff Tansey (13 Aug 2017)

HebWeb News: The Political and Social satire of Gilbert and Sullivan (7 July 2017)

HebWeb News: Professor Scott Scores a Euro-Hit with speaker Professor Derek Scott of Leeds University (10 May 2017)

HebWeb News: Old Flames and Steamy Memories. With speaker Granville Dobson (9 April 2017)

HebWeb News: Titus Salt – Philanthropic Paternalist or Capitalist Villain? With speaker Maria Glot (2 March 2017)

HebWeb News: Shaking Hitler's Hand (by proxy) - with speaker Alun Pugh (12 Feb 2017)

HebWeb News: Masterclass on Gilbert and Sullivan at U3A Todmorden - with speaker Bernard Lockett (28 Oct 2016)

HebWeb News: Moses Holden, Autodidact of Preston - with speaker Steve Halliwell (7 Oct 2016)

HebWeb News: Volunteering in Palestine and Guatemala - with speaker David Gilman (9 Aug 2016)

HebWeb News: Snow, Permafrost, Insects, Iron - with speaker Dr Frank Nicholson (7 July 2016)

HebWeb News:Stranger in a Strange Land - with speaker Gill Russell (7 May 2016)

HebWeb News:Life with polio and a career as a TV and Radio presenter. with speaker Jane Shepherd (12 June 2016)

HebWeb News:Small in a Tall Person's World with speakers Hamish Willis and Penny Dean OBE (31 March 2016)

HebWeb News:In the Footsteps of Norbert Carteret (22 February 2016)

HebWeb News:Gallivanting on Public Transport - a Bus Pass from Berwick to Land's End (30 September 2015)

HebWeb News: Magna Carta - A (Mostly) Light-hearted look at 800 Years of History (1 September 2015)

HebWeb News: Summat a' Nowt - talk by Steve Murty (28 April 2015)

HebWeb News: My Convict Ancestors (12 April 2015)

HebWeb News: Aquaponics Lab - A Radical Solution (16 January 2015)

HebWeb News: British Professional Cycling – Tykes and Le Tour de France (11 December 2014)

HebWeb News: Life in La Serenissima, Venice - Kathryn Ogden (9 July 2014)

HebWeb News: University of the Third Age: The Machine that Changed the World (25 February 2014)

HebWeb News: University of the Third Age: Music and the Deaf (12 February 2014)

HebWeb News: University of the Third Age: Psychology and You - Part Two David Groves made a welcome return as a speaker at the October Todmorden U3A (26 October 2013)

HebWeb News: Hebden Bridge Little Theatre, A Short History was recounted by Ray Riches to the University of the Third Age. (28 Aug 2013)

HebWeb News: John Sheard, retired land agent to the Duke of Devonshire, gave his third talk to members of the U3A, this time on Sir Joseph Paxton, Knighted Gardener (26 July 2013)

HebWeb News: Off Stage Choices: Andrew Rawlinson recounts his theatre experience from Tod Operatic to General Manager of a leading Theatre Group. (18 July 2013)

HebWeb News: The Story of the Hebden Bridge Calendar (April 2013)

HebWeb News: Changing Times in the Press (March 2013)

HebWeb News: Cancer from Both Sides (Nov 2012)

HebWeb News: Steve Halliwell outlined the history of the Woodland Trust (Sept 2012)

HebWeb News: Ray Riches talks on Walking the Pacific Crest Trail (Aug 2012)

HebWeb News: Pitch and Pythagoras - Pulse and Prison (July 2012)

HebWeb News - Lord Shutt explains the workings of the House of Lords (May 2012)

HebWeb News - Claire Benedict talks acting to Todmorden U3A (April 2012)

HebWeb News - Kate Moreton-Deakin spoke about her day job as Associate Director - Corporate Social Responsibility with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Fair Trade Movement (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Fancy a cruise to the Antarctic? (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Gail Allaby, U3A's Queen of the Underworld (Dec 2011)

HebWeb News - September meeting report - Report of meeting about Walking the Pacific Crest Trail

HebWeb News - August meeting report - Bolton Abbey

HebWeb News - May and June meeting report - Keep Learning: Live long and prosper and the role of the Lord-Lieutenant

HebWeb News - April meeting report - Belt and Braces - An Everyday Guide to Risk and Chance

HebWeb News - March meeting report - Growing Old in the Twenty-First Century