Sacrifices of Bradford Pals to be remembered at memorial service 108 years on

THE sacrifices made by the Bradford Pals on the first day of the Battle of the Somme will be remembered at a memorial service 108 years on.

Everyone is welcome to attend the service, which will take place at the Bradford Pals Memorial Stone, in the Memorial Gardens behind the Bradford Cenotaph, at 11am on July 1.

The Last Post will be played and a minute's silence will be observed, followed by the Reveille.

Wreaths will also be laid and prayers will be said.

The Bradford Pals formed part of the West Yorkshire Regiment, which took part in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916, during the First World War.

Of the 1,400 Bradford Pals who went over the top at 7.30am on that morning, an estimated 917 became casualties. More than 230 died on the battlefield or of wounds during the following days.

Cllr Beverley Mullaney, Lord Mayor of Bradford, said: "The sacrifices of those young men from Bradford who came together to form the Bradford Pals and who gave so much during the First World War, and particularly the Battle of the Somme, should never be forgotten."