ONE hundred years ago this week, the Battle of the Somme was in its horrific early stages. The beginning of The Great War launched the world into an unprecedented eruption of brutality and savage violence on a scale that leaves shock waves to this day.
The Battle of the Somme epitomised the horror of trench warfare and the long drawn out months of hell that was in cruel contrast to the swift glorious adventure to victory that so many of the men had been promised and believed they were embarking on in 1914.
Last weekend, as many countries paid respect and tribute to the fallen, the vast amount of deeply beautiful and poignant music and poetry generated by this momentous human tragedy came to mind.