Here you can find out news past and present which is related to the South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association, belfastsomme.com, the Somme Association ltd and anything that has a connection to the 36th (Ulster) Division that we feel would make interesting reading. Also featured here will be news of up-coming events and rememberance services.
Some of the news will be featured underneath its headline, but some will need to be linked to on a seperate page This news will be highlighted in red and underlined for you to click on and to be taken to its page.
If you have any related news or dates for an up-coming event or Remembrance Service, please email us at info@belfastsomme.com putting 'NEWS' in the subject field and we will add it to these pages along with a credit to yourself.

Click here to read all past news - 2003

22 Febuary 2004 - In Foreign Fields (Soldiers of Down in the Great War)
Down County Museum 24 January - 30 June 2004

This exhibition tells the story of men from County Down who joined up to fight in World War I. A touring exhibition from the Somme Heritage Centre traces the history of the 13th (Down) Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and the part they played in World War I.
A computer inter-active from the Nerve Centre in Derry focuses on one year, 1916, and gives the background to both the Battle of the Somme and the Easter Rising.
Objects from Down County Museum's own collection, along with a few loans from local people, bring the stories to life. All of these objects, some official, others personal, are very potent links with the tragic events of nearly 100 years ago.
Perhaps the most poignant object in the collection is a wooden cross, placed on the grave of Sapper John Malone, from Downpatrick, who was killed in Flanders in 1916. When they were replaced by stone grave markers, these temporary crosses were given to families of the deceased. Together with the photograph of John Malone, this reminds us of the 9 million soldiers and up to 50 million civilians who died in the Great War.
Another photograph shows the Love Family from Downpatrick whose eight sons, three of whom were killed, all fought in the First World War. A roll of honour from Drumaness Mill lists employees who served in the war.
There are medals in the collection which were awarded to Robert McClurg and James Roulston. Sergeant Robert McClurg's medals include the Croix de Guerre, while Sergeant James Roulston had already fought in India and South Africa. Both men went on to serve in the Home Guard in the Second World War.
The museum has two drawings dating to this period by famous Ulster artist William Conor. One shows an un-named soldier at the Newcastle camp while the other is of Major Hall of Narrowwater. Both are very evocative of the time.
Other items in the collection include some uniform, weapons, postcards and documents but the museum would welcome more, especially those with interesting local stories attached. Please contact the museum if you can help.

You can contact the Down County Museum at The Mall, Downpatrick, phone 028 44 615218 or visit the museum website www.downcountymuseum.com

1 January 2004 - Happy New Year

South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association wishes all the visitors to this site, our friends, family and loved ones a very happy New Year and good will in 2004.
After a small break for our website creator and designer Billy Bittles jnr (he has been working on the site almost every day for the past year), we are back again with more information and updates to keep you entertained and informed.
2003 was a wonderful year for the Association, for not only being able to get this website up and running, but because we also raised a large amount of cash through various fund raising activites, which we donated to various related charities. We were also able to help numerous vistors to this site with gathering information on their relatives who fought with the 36th and also in a number of cases, to locate the graves of relatives who were not known to have a final resting place, and to lay special tributes at these graves onbehalf of their family. We hope to continue this work through 2004 and to lay many tributes on our next trip to France and Belguim in July.
We would also like to thank all those who have left messages in our guestbook. At the moment there are 215 messages of encouragement and tribute in the guestbook and I would urge you to take a moment to read through these messages, many of which are from all around the world and if you have not already, please feel free to leave a message or tribute there for all to see, as this website was created for you the visitor. Also if you have anything that you would like to see appear on this site, such as stories, photographs or a tribute to a relative please send them to us at info@belfastsomme.com, so that we can add them to the Ulster Heroes section or the submissions page.
This year the Association also plans to approach local schools in the hope that they will use belfastsomme.com as a teaching tool to help our children gain some understanding into the role of the 36th (Ulster) Division in the Great War of 1914-1918 and in particular to expose the awful reality of that tragic and bloody summer of 1916 on the fields of the Somme and the devastating impact it had on a tight-knit community that has since become a core theme in the Ulster Protestant tradition and mythology.
Keep an eye out also for our special fund raising events that we shall be holding for the public in the months to come. We will keep you informed of these events as they take place.
Thank you once again and please pass the web address www.belfastsomme.com to friends and family, so that we can keep the memory of Ulsters finest, as fresh and proud and it should be. Also please call back on a regular basis to check for updates and if there haven’t been any new updates since your last visit, please just stay and take another look around the site and pay tribute once again to a brave generation, who gave their all for God and Ulster at 07.30am on 1st July 1916, a date and time that will be forevermore etched in the minds of Ulstermen and Women throughout the world...........

1 January 2004 - 10,000 visitors for belfastsomme.com

After only 6 months on-line, belfastsomme.com has reached it's first Ten Thousand visitors.
From first going on-line at 5pm on 1 June 2003, the number of visitors each month to the site gradualy increased meaning that by November 2003, the total numbers of visitors to the site had passed the 10,000 mark. The number of visitors for each month are as follows :

June - 1818 : July - 1465 : August - 1490 : September - 1509
October - 1902 : Novemeber - 2090 : December - 1735
Total number for our first 7 months on-line and 2003 - 12,009

This is all thanks to at first a small advertising campagin and then gradualy by word of mouth.
In 2004 South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association hope to increase the number of visitors to this site dramitacly by again introducing another advertising campagin and hopefully by using you the visitor to spread the word to friend, family and anyone whom you feel would enjoy learing about the sacrifice that their forefathers made for them.

Click here to read all past news - 2003

View and sign Guestbook
South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association and its website belfastsomme.com do not necessarily agree with all comments and statements made in the guest book, and cannot be held responsible for the content of external links placed on the guestbook. The guestbook is moderated and IP address recorded, so any vulgar, sectarian, degrading, raciast or bigoted comments will be removed and the violaters Internet Service Provider informed.