1933 Recruiting Competition
212
THE YPRES TIMES
and Hill 63, then on to Ploegsteert Wood and Memorial to the Missing," Hyde
Park Corner, Strand Cemetery, London Rifle Brigade Cemetery and Le Bizet at
the French border where the custom officials do their stuff." We went on through
Armentières, La Bassée and Neuve Chapelle. Here we saw the famous Le
Christ des Trenches." It consists of a figure of Christ which was shot to pieces
during the war, with exception of the face, which was left untouched, and now
rests at the base of a new cross and restored by the Bouquet family in 1929.
Further down the road was the beautiful Indian Memorial, after which we passed
a Portuguese Cemetery, La Bassée Canal, Hulloch on the left, Hóhenzollen
Redoubt, Chalk Farm, Hill 70, and entered Lens. A vastly different Lens to the one
we knew in the war days; incidentally, the birthplace of Georges Carpentier, the
famous French boxer. We eventually arrived at the old Canadian trenches on
Vimy Ridge, and descended the Grange Tunnels and examined many names carved
in the chalk. At one place there is a nose of a German shell which had just pierced
the ceiling after having passed through 13 feet of chalk. Old barbed wire, tin hats,
shell craters, etc., are still to be seen in the vicinity. The Canadian Memorial, not
yet completed, is a massive structure and will be a magnificent work of art
occupying one of the most prominent positions on the Ridge.
We continued our tour past Thelus, Nine Elms Cemetery, St. Catherines, into
Arras where we lunched in true French style in a side-walk café. Like Lens,
Arras appears to be another thriving city. We now stopped at the old tunnels
at La Targette, which are of great interest. On the opposite side of the road is a
German cemetery containing 35,000 bodies. Then Notre Dame de Lorette with
its similar number of French bodies. Our return journey proceeded via
Souchez, rebuilt by the Borough of Kensington, and its Grande Place is named
Kensington Square. Then came Aix Noulette, Bully Grenay, Neux-le-Mines,
Béthune, Le Touret Cemetery and Memorial to 20,000 "Missing," Estaires and
Steenwerck, again reaching the Belgian border at Le Seau. Our route followed
through Neuve Eglise, Daylight Corner, Suicide Corner, Sackville Street, Lovers
Lane, Kemmel, Irish House Cemetery, La Laiterie Cemetery, also a memorial
to the 27th and 30th U.S.A. Divisions, and so on to Ypres.
For the benefit of relatives who have not visited the cemeteries in France
and Belgium, I can state without fear of contradiction that there are no better
kept cemeteries, and great credit is due to the work of the Imperial War Graves
Commission.
I cannot close without a word of appreciation to our genial friend, Capt.
de Trafford, the Secretary of the Ypres League, whose untiring efforts made the
trip such a huge success.
E. C. F.
IN view of the popularity and immense success of the past two recruiting competitions,
and in order to give recently-formed branches an opportunity to compete, we have
great pleasure to announce that A FURTHER PRIZE OF £5 will be awarded this
year as follows
TO THE BRANCH RECRUITING THE GREATEST NUMBER OF NEW MEMBERS
IN 1933.
All membership forms completed must be received at Headquarters bearing on
the top left-hand corner the name of the branch responsible for the recruitment.