1914-1918 Great War Commemorative Tour

[John Ponting]

Last Post.

Here Are Recorded Names Of Officers And Men Who Fell In Ypres Salient
But To Whom The Fortune Of War Denied The Known And Honoured Burial
Given To Their Comrades In Death by john ponting, on Flickr




Lijssenthoek Military Cemetary.

The full scale of the futility of war is seen when another cemetary appears round just about every corner.
Some have thousands of headstones, some have just tens. Most are at sites where individual actions were fought and bodies were found.
All are immaculately maintained and a major project is underway to refurbish or replace any stones showing signs of damage. by john ponting, on Flickr




Execution Site Poperinge by john ponting, on Flickr




Final instructions before Last Post by john ponting, on Flickr




The Last Post Association ensure everything goes to plan by john ponting, on Flickr




Shared moment of remembrance by john ponting, on Flickr

[John Ponting]

On The Waterfont maybe but no Brando by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4187-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4193-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4190-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4199-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




Ramskapelle by john ponting, on Flickr




Ramskapelle - known to many as the regular meeting point for The Day Before The Kemmpenrit by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4286-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4343-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4347-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




DSC_4349-1-2 [framed] by john ponting, on Flickr




Poperinge town square - perfect setting for MGs and a relaxed lunh break by john ponting, on Flickr




One of the many non-MGs that were joining the Centenary. There was a large contingent from The Oldtime Rally by john ponting, on Flickr




Chevrolet Corvette first generation 1958-1960 as seen on 'Route 66' by john ponting, on Flickr

[colintf]

great pics John

[adrianclifford]

Great job John, I haven't had time to even get the pictures out of the camera yet.

Dawn and I have taken part in close on 70 European Tours and rallies since 2004 in both the F and the TF. The organisation of this event, as John rightly says, was outstanding. To close off car parks in busy cities and towns just for our use, to have a police escort to get us through, to provide food and drink en route and the way the CREW looked after everything for us was outstanding and one of the best we have ever attended. I have never had a roadbook that was transferred from kilometres into miles and it was accurate the whole way to the tenth of a mile, quality all the way. 22 deg and sunny too, a bit windy on Friday night and Saturday morning, even Belgium had it's best for us and Jenny found her grandfathers grave in Tynecot cemetery.

Tony and Neil, we saw your cars several times in the car parks but we never once saw you, not even in the bar in the evening.

[colintf]

Sounds really really well run

Any of our mgf.be friends there .

[mgfsoldier]

We were around. Was a awesome weekend and a good 750 miles done each. Loads of images taken, must admit we were a bit Bar shy as the 0430 start in Friday did us in LOL.

[Pete & Lin]

We were around. Was a awesome weekend and a good 750 miles done each. Loads of images taken, must admit we were a bit Bar shy as the 0430 start in Friday did us in LOL.

Yes indeed it was an awesome weekend.

We met briefly in the lift Saturday morning

[colintf]

We were around. Was a awesome weekend and a good 750 miles done each. Loads of images taken, must admit we were a bit Bar shy as the 0430 start in Friday did us in LOL.

Yes indeed it was an awesome weekend.

We met briefly in the lift Saturday morning

Glad you both enjoyed it Pete & Lin

[mgfsoldier]

My Video, starts Thursday and is in chronological order.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/az3yegmx710mb ... .55.29.wmv

[adrianclifford]

Tony, don't tell me you missed the transvestite show in the Resort on Friday night

Colin, nobody from mgf.be a shame as it's so close. We followed the DayBeFore route to Ijssel so it must have been very close to where a number of them live.

[colintf]

Tony, don't tell me you missed the transvestite show in the Resort on Friday night

Colin, nobody from mgf.be a shame as it's so close. We followed the DayBeFore route to Ijssel so it must have been very close to where a number of them live.

That's a shame, it would of been great to catch up withthem again Adrian

[Pete & Lin]

Tony, don't tell me you missed the transvestite show in the Resort on Friday night

[adrianclifford]

What a laugh that was, we were huddled in the corner as far away as possible in case they "invited" us to join them. Dawn was jumping up and dancing to the music though.

[John Ponting]

I tried to hide in the closet but had to come out to get another drink ....



DSC_4167-1-2 by john ponting, on Flickr

DSC_4151-2048 by john ponting, on Flickr

[adrianclifford]

Aargh, scary

[austingarages]

Just got back from this event yesterday (Monday 19th)! We had planned to go on through Europe afterwards...
We had not attended any MG gatherings for some time and visiting wartime historic sites in Europe is now top of our to do list, so this event was perfect for us.
It was a real learning experience for both of us about WW1 as a whole and how important Belgium was strategically in the conflict. The scale of the war is still incomprehensible as everywhere in the area of the front lines are war graves - from mass graves of thousands to just a handful buried in a tiny graveyard, always immaculately kept after nearly 100 years.
We kept seeing various MGFs and TFs, but bad timing meant for us we never got to talk to the owners! We did get to know a very nice couple from Wales with their MGB, they also happened to be in the same hotel as us!
The event was unbelievably well organised and run, we would like to thank MGCC Belgium staff for devoting the amount of time and effort to make this the most memorable European trip for us, in so many ways.

[adrianclifford]

I'm amazed we never met you Nick, we were hoping you would find us. I saw a car like yours but I never saw anybody driving it.