The Western Front

Expert-led Experiences with Barrie Friend

Barrie Friend

Both my grandfathers fought in the Great War; neither talked about their time on the Western Front. Only after their deaths did I discover that one was captured in March 1918 in the German March Offensive; the other served the army service corps.

What stories they could have told me. Their battlefield tours were for real. Because they didn’t tell me, and I wanted to know, I researched the Great War to discover for myself what they and all servicemen went through.

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Barrie Friend

Both my grandfathers fought in the Great War; neither talked about their time on the Western Front. Only after their deaths did I discover that one was captured in March 1918 in the German March Offensive; the other served the army service corps.

What stories they could have told me. Their battlefield tours were for real.
Because they didn’t tell me, and I wanted to know, I researched the Great War to discover for myself what they and all servicemen went through.

I now offer you this knowledge and so many stories when you join us. Let us bring it all alive for you when you join us on a battlefield tour exploring Flanders, the Somme and Arras, visiting the iconic landmarks including Messines Ridge, Lochnagar Crater, and Hell Fire Corner. Included are the moving memorials of The Menin Gate, Tyne Cot and Thiepval which are all supported by moving tales of personal courage and human endeavour.

Please contact me on 07796 633 516 for more details or to tailor a personal group tour over any number of days. If you have a relative who fought, fell or won a gallantry award, I’d be pleased to research his history and put a personal battlefield tour together for you.

An example of an approaching tailored battlefield tour for a group is:

Dorking and The Battle of The Somme.

A three day tour which follows the actions of the men from the Dorking area who marched away, and the stories of the 91 who remain on the Somme. We will visit the sites of action from Gommecourt to La Boiselle to ‘the woods’, including High Wood ‘ghastly by day, ghostly by night’ to Montauban. We will pay respects at the graves of many of the men, including the Hon HA Cubitt and his cousin WGC Chichester, killed on the same day, as well as the seven Dorking men lying in Dantzig Alley Cemetery. Laying a wreath at the awe inspiring Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme we will remember the 43 Dorking men whose names are inscribed on the panels.

Contact me on 07796 633 516 for details.  

I now offer you this knowledge and so many stories when you join us. Let us bring it all alive for you when you join us on a battlefield tour exploring Flanders, the Somme and Arras, visiting the iconic landmarks including Messines Ridge, Lochnagar Crater, and Hell Fire Corner. Included are the moving memorials of The Menin Gate, Tyne Cot and Thiepval which are all supported by moving tales of personal courage and human endeavour.

Please contact me on 07796 633 516 for more details or to tailor a personal group tour over any number of days. If you have a relative who fought, fell or won a gallantry award, I’d be pleased to research his history and put a personal battlefield tour together for you.

An example of an approaching tailored battlefield tour for a group is:

Dorking and The Battle of The Somme.

A three day tour which follows the actions of the men from the Dorking area who marched away, and the stories of the 91 who remain on the Somme. We will visit the sites of action from Gommecourt to La Boiselle to ‘the woods’, including High Wood ‘ghastly by day, ghostly by night’ to Montauban. We will pay respects at the graves of many of the men, including the Hon HA Cubitt and his cousin WGC Chichester, killed on the same day, as well as the seven Dorking men lying in Dantzig Alley Cemetery. Laying a wreath at the awe inspiring Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme we will remember the 43 Dorking men whose names are inscribed on the panels.

Contact me on 07796 633 516 for details.

New - Discover Your Grandfather’s War

Newly released Great War documents have uncovered information about soldiers who fought on the Western Front. 

With many years of research experience I am able to use these new records, alongside the numerous existing ones, to bring your grandfather’s story to life.

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Recent Reviews

‘Your background knowledge has helped us to understand more fully our last thirty years of exploration! You have a rare gift of teaching your audience and making it enjoyable. We appreciate this being ex teachers of many years’ H&B P.

‘You brought it so movingly to life. I enjoyed it greatly. Thank you so much’ SB

‘Thank you for your very enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour of the WW1 sites which brought them alive and added to ‘the pity of war’. You showed me places I didn’t know existed and it was all done with humour and sensitivity’ Susan

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