I live in Accrington and am planning a visit to the Somme battlefields in October. Just want to see the place where they went over the top....I cannot imagine how they did it. I don't think I could have.
I first visited the Somme four years ago (90th anniversary of the start of the battle) and found it a very moving experience. I suggest you start by visiting the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel. There is a beautifully laid-out exhibition set in reproduction "Newfie" houses, which very clearly sets the scene and tells the story of that first day.
Having got that picture in your mind, then go and look at the actual trenches (still clearly visible) and the ground over which this one-sided "fight" took place. What staggered me was the tiny size of the area in which so many lives were fruitlessly thrown away.
Not far away is the towering Lutyens memorial at Thiepval, visible for miles around. Look at just some of the names recorded on it - over 73,000 of them. Not the toll of the four-month battle -
just those who have no known graves.
I came away understanding fully why that was to be "the war to end all wars". Sadly, the fighting still goes on. So long as there are fanatics (Fascists, Communists, Radical Islamists, Real IRA or whatever the label) who seek to overthrow our way of life by force, our guys and gals will continue to be needed in "foreign fields". Sadly, the loss of life will continue. Thankfully, it should never again be on the scale of the carnage of WW1 - and on the Somme in particular.
Do go waco - and tell your friends about it when you come back.