WhiskEy ... oh dear😱

Agreed, but unfortunately a huge proportion (probably over 95% ?) of battlefield visitors will be on a "generic" tour which will concentrate on major sites, - Thiepval, Lochnagar, Delville, Tyne Cot, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, etc. Even battlefields like Loos are largely ignored. Sad, but true😒

Not a difficult one though🫣

Looking at those photos of Haverskerque again, - that's what we used to see as "normal", respectful, a reflection of a cwgc that cared for their estate. That was before the accountants took over; the rebranders; the people who weren't died in the wool carers.

Haverskerque is NEVER going to see a coach or be on any "tourist trail" - too remote & too difficult to get to.
The "equality of treatment" narrative simply doesn't hold water.
But once people have proven themselves to be intrinsically dishonest then they have set the die.

This is how Haverskerque looked last time I was there.

A grave at Fleurbaix Military Cemetery is to be rededicated 24/4/26 - Lt Charles Henry MARTIN Australian RFC Kia 17/2/1918.
Can anybody tell me who identified him & what the evidence was ?

Delville Wood Cemetery today. Headstones, so-so, mainly clean, but you notice problems so much more nowadays. Borders good. Dandelion infestation is very bad & surely cannot be allowed to worsen.

Most of the debris in front of the cemetery seems to be the farmer's, but one pile does seem to be cwgc gardening debris.
That area immediately to the left of the frontage of the cemetery was originally the site of numerous German burials which were removed post-war.

Good to see a representation of women's contribution to the armed forces.

A nice commemoratio seen in Gordon Cemetery, Mametz, today.
"Bydand" is the regimental motto; essentially it means "steadfast".

Carnoy Military Cemetery this afternoon. Headstone & structure cleanliness - 9 / 10 (acceptable👍). Condition of lawn - very good - virtually weed free👍. Borders - colourful, well planted & neat👍
This is the standard which should be universal.

its a very different story, - & not a good one >

Delsaux Farm Cemetery today. Headstones 9.7 / 10👍 - why can't this be the universal standard🤔
Grass not good at all. Weed infestation never gets better without intervention, - it gets worse.
But, just a short distance away at Bancourt British Cemetery >cont>

I regretfully have a "problem" with the Salient(*) as I see it as being one great industrial estate / conurbation😒
(* My granddad was wounded 16-17th November 1917 just north of Passchendaele New British Cemetery. There are comrades of his buried towards the rear of that cemetery).

Thistle Dump Cemetery 14/4/2026, - "High Wood" to the right of the panoramic on the horizon. An area which my granddad would have been familiar with during the winter of 1916-17.

"New" environmentally friendly RBL wreath labels, - great idea, but three days' sunshine (or so) & whatever has been written on them is completely faded😒

Guards Cemetery Lesboeufs a couple of days ago. Headstones & structures say 8.5 out of 10 for cleanliness (acceptable👍) but weeds getting a firm grip in grass😒.

Weed infestation is a situation which can only worsen.

Guards Cemetery Leboeufs yesterday. 8.5 / 10 headstone & structure wise. Some green staining under trees & black spotting on headstones, but much improved. "Advice" from well placed cwgc sources in France is that treatment is selective depending upon cemetery "popularity".

First two photos - Devonshire Cemetery yesterday (has its own coach parking area & is on virtually every Somme itinerary).
Second two - Flatiron Copse Cemetery same day (rumour has it that a coach ventured down the lane in 1998, & a charabanc in 1934, but these reports are unverified).

This is the action during which my old friend Layton Alexander Davey of the Liverpool Scottish was awarded the MC AND Bar for events ten days apart at "Route 'A' Keep" near Festubert.
The events are detailed in "The Liverpool Scottish 1900-1919" by A. M. McGilchrist.

The main problem seems to be when they are presented with evidence which requires an ability to join the dots & / or apply knowledge of the subject matter. They cannot do either, - make knee-jerk rejections, & then flatly refuse to consider or accept detailed explanations as to why they are wrong.

but also their preparedness to lie through their teeth when they know they are wrong, - but it's their football & they'll take it home rather than concede a goal. Their repeated refusal to properly commemorate some of our military dead is beneath contempt.

"Useful men, who do useful things, don't mind being treated as useless. But the useless always judge themselves as being important and hide all their incompetence behind authority."
Paulo Coelho
Chris; you & I (& very many others) are painfully aware not only of these people's incompetence >cont>

who have spent their lives wandering between the dole office, the off-licence, & the bookie's, get it all for free. Not right, - & the fec*ing hippies can (before they start pontificating) go fe*k themselves👍

And yet governments are quite happy (no, keen) to flood our country with illegal immigrants at huge expense. They give billions to corrupt regimes in foreign aid, refuse to punish lawlessness, & throw millions at the feckless & the patently corrupt. Your mother's home would be sold, but those >cont>

Unfortunately "we" (our political classes, the "do gooders", etc) have a very distorted view of priorities in the UK. They throw money at the undeserving & ignore those who are "politically unfashionable".

Somebody somewhere knows what's behind this lunacy.
Whistleblower needed, urgently.

Free tours of Hawthorn Ridge, Beaumont Hamel, sunken lane area available by appointment from Thursday, the 9th of April to Monday 13th April. Please contact chairman@hawthornridgeca.com or on +44 (0)7841834370