During this Salford Remembrance Day, we look back on the achievements and show respect to those that fought and in many cases laid down their lives for the country and for their local community.
Salford is an area with a rich history of local’s military involvement and today the Royal British Legion are out raising money for the care of veterans and their families, as they are every year during the Remembrance Day period.
Royal British Legion
Lieutenant Commander Kevin Heakin is a Salford born and bred volunteer for the Royal British Legion who helps in their efforts to raise funds and provide poppies for the locals during Salford Remembrance Day.
The Lieutenant Commander is the eldest of 9 children and has dedicated his life to the armed forces, doing 20 years with the Royal Naval Reserve, as well as teaching and is now 78 years of age.
He’s been impressed with the generosity of the community this year giving £5 and £10 donations at a time, which during a difficult financial period for many people in the local community and the country as a whole perhaps shows how much the work the Royal British Legion do means to the people of Salford.
“I’ll be in uniform, sword, and medal and I’ll be laying a wreath at Agecroft Cemetery for the mass grave of 200 Salford residents who got caught up in the Blitz in the Second World War at 11 am.
We’ll lay a wreath at the memorial for the Lancaster Bomber who crashed in Salford in the Second World War.
Then I go down and lay a wreath at Salford Quays for the Merchant Navy Association, and Sunday I’ll be laying a wreath at the Crescent with the Mayor.”
Salford Lads Club
Salford Lads Club is the last building left in the area where men enlisted during the First World War. The club is unchanged since its opening in 1903, giving it a unique atmosphere, showcasing Edwardian and Wartime life and the styles that existed at that time.
The club was commandeered by the British Army for two months during September and October of 1914 to allow a convenient location for local young men to enlist for the war.
The Salford Pals
The local history does not end with the Salford Lads Club by any means, teams of young lads from around Salford banded together to give themselves for their country.
The 15th Battalion (1st Salford Pals), 16th (2nd), 19th (3rd) and 20th (4th) of the Lancashire Fusiliers. After almost a year of training they arrived in France in November 1915, and the following year in 1916 they received their first bit of proper action during the Battle of the Somme where they were almost all sadly killed.
As a result of this new recruits were needed to replenish the Battalion, seeing much action for the next two years, they partook in pushing German soldiers back to the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy.
Below Eccles Rugby Club commemorated the Pals during the 2016 100 year anniversary of the Somme.
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