British Advancing during a gas attack September 1915
8th to 9th September 2026
The Great War and, indeed, its centenary years are now behind us, but there are some major innovations to be seen on the Western Front, so this 2-day tour makes a point of visiting them, while also covering sites both new and familiar to those who have travelled with us before.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has been particularly active in promoting its work: public interest generated in the centenary years spurred them to create a visitor centre at Arras (opened in 2019) where the full range of their crafts is explained and on display in workshops; and at Loos in 2024 they opened an extension to the British Cemetery in the town to cater for the growing number of re-burials required as huge new infrastructure works in the region regularly give up more of our dead servicemen.
Also at Loos, the local history group has co-operated with Canadian authorities to open, in 2019, the Hill 70 Memorial Park which has been landscaped on previously abandoned ground: it commemorates Canadian success in capturing the hill on the south side of Loos in 1917. We visit the group’s upgraded museum, view the Loos battlefield – just as stark as it was in 1914 – and examine the fate of a number of soldiers from all walks of life.
After our overnight stay in the historic heart of Arras, we go underground, visit some unusual cemeteries, and end the tour on the panoramic heights of Vimy Ridge.
Cost: £450 plus £50 single room supplement (includes guides, handbook, travel, hotel, dinner, breakfast and two lunches.
Subject to Change