The Mayor of Lisburn and Castlereagh has led a delegation to France to commemorate the Battle of the Somme

A group representing the Council travelled to France and Belgium to commemorate what was one of the largest and bloodiest of the First World War.

The Mayor of Lisburn & Castlereagh Council, Councillor Andrew Gowan, Councillor Sharon Lowry, and the Council’s Chief Executive, David Burns travelled to France and Belgium on behalf of Lisburn and Castlereagh, to honour the memory of those who fought in the Battle of the Somme.

They participated in memorial services and attended remembrance events, paying their respects to those soldiers who were killed in action.

Mayor Gowan’s great-grandfather, Richard Elliot (who was born in County Fermanagh), a Corporal in the Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment) was one of many brave soldiers who lost his life during this battle, aged just 32.

Councillor Sharon Lowry’s great- great-uncle Corporal Edward Barnes, of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles (Ulster Division) is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial Panel. He was killed in action at the Somme in 1918, aged 22, but has no known grave. Corporal Barnes was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in 1917.

The delegation laid a wreath on behalf of the Council at Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, which remembers British and Commonwealth soldiers whose graves are also unknown.

The Council representatives attended two Somme Association remembrance services and a Royal British Legion service of remembrance at The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. This memorial near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France commemorates 72,337 missing servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave.

The group also attended memorial services at the Ulster Tower in Thiepval, and Guillemont. The Ulster Tower is Northern Ireland's National War Memorial, built to commemorate the fallen of 36th Ulster Division and any other Ulstermen who served in the First World War. Guillemont memorial was erected to commemorate the fallen of the 16th Irish Division. The group also visited the Martinsart British Cemetery, where many soldiers are buried, including 10 from Royal Hillsborough.