THE slaughter on July 1, 1916 – the first day of the infamous battle of the Somme – is to be explored in an illustrated lecture at Gargrave's St Andrew's Church.
It will be given by Ray Jones, a member of the village heritage group, on the exact anniversary of the opening day of the battle, when more than 19,000 British troops were killed.
Mr Jones will be armed with photographs, which he took on a visit to the Somme battlefield earlier this spring with his wife, Christine.
He said: "We visited sites where Craven men fought.
"Twenty-one lads from Craven were killed on the first day and 80 throughout the whole battle.
"I took photographs at all the places, including Serre, where the West Riding Regiment was decimated.
"You can still see remnants of the German trenches. It was an impossible position for the British to attack, but they did."
They visited Orvillers, near Albert, where the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry fought, and the enormous crater named Loch Nagar at La Boisselle, which was exploded by the British.
They saw the sunken road between Fricourt and Contalmaison, where many of the men from Craven in the 10th West Yorkshire's were on July 1, including Mr Jones' late wife's great uncle William Robert Smith, of Lothersdale, who was killed just outside Fricourt.
The talk will take place at 7.30pm and admission is £5.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here