Plans are progressing for a series of commemorative events in Killyleagh to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
The town is set to take part in the National Vigil on Friday 1st July, with 100 crosses being laid for 100 years.
Chris Hagan, event organiser, said: “The bloodiest battle of the First World War will be recalled, with an early morning vigil to mark the exact time, 100 years on, that the 13th RIR went over the top at 7.28am. Townspeople are being asked to gather at 7.10am at the Castle Square, the time the 13th went into the trenches.
“Later that evening at 7pm there will be a repeat of the cross-community town commemoration of August 2014 in which 100 individual crosses will be laid to honour the men of Killyleagh and Shrigley who fought and died.
“The Killyleagh and Shrigley men who died at the Somme included David Boyd, William James Calvert, Francis (Frank) Cheevers, John Kennedy, Samuel Martin, Moore McCleery, Samuel Montgomery, William Robert Moore, John Bennett Morrow and William Walker. Eight died in the first hours of going over the top,” explained Chris Hagan of the Killyleagh Remembers the Great War project.
“The organisers are keen to hear from relatives of these 10 men so they can lay the first individual crosses on the night.
“We would like one agreed representative from each family to take part. They will walk forward as a group to the War Memorial at the sounding of whistles, replicating events in the trenches that day.
“We will also be involving our surviving Second World War veterans lighting a candle to pass on the torch of memory to the next generation.
“The aim is to have as inclusive an event as possible so everyone with a connection to the Great War and to the Killyleagh community can take part and everyone can lay a cross or flowers,” added Chris Hagan.
The cross-community programme will begin with a special Voices of the Somme evening featuring music, poetry and drama readings a week earlier, on Friday 24th June.
This is to be held in 1st Killyleagh Presbyterian Church which had a close connection with the 36th Ulster Division. It was here the first memorial service was held in July 1917 and the minister of the time played a key role in recruitment for the Co Down Volunteers of the 13th RIR. His son, Moore McCleery, was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The church graveyard contains the grave of William Samuel Montgomery, who died from injuries he suffered at the Somme, as well as tributes on family graves to those who live in unmarked graves on the Somme.
The events will include history walking trails, a photographic exhibition, a workshop for young people, a primary schools event and three lectures and talks.
The opening talk will be given in the Lecture Hall on Monday 27th June at 7.30pm by Killyleagh-born Philip Orr, the author of the definitive history of men of the Ulster Division who fought at the Somme.
(Funding for the events has been secured from Newry Mourne and Down District Council’s Decade of Centenaries programme.)
