Mablethorpe set to mark 100th year since the Battle of the Somme

The Mablethorpe and District Branch of the Royal British Legion will commemorate the start of the battle with a service at the Mablethorpe War Memorial on Friday at 10.45am.

The branch are also participating in the Whistle for the Somme Campaign. At War Memorials all over the country at 7.30am, there will be three whistle blasts to mark the time that the soldiers went ‘over the top’. This will take place at both Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea.

The battle lasted for 141 days and ultimately cost the lives of over a million men.

On that first day, three local men were among the dead, Pte John Mountain of High Street Mablethorpe, L/Cpl Percy Stubbs from Victoria Road Mablethorpe and Pte Fredrick Smith from Trusthorpe.

All were serving with the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, ‘The Grimsby Chums.’