The Worshipful Company of Butchers and City Livery Events

Following our most successful battlefield trip to Ypres in October (Read News Article about this event here), Mark Smith from the Antiques Roadshow is again our tour guide as we head to the famous World War One battlefields and focus on The Battle of the Somme around the town of Albert, France on a special three-day tour on 24th - 26th October 2025. Come and join your fellow Liverymen and guests for a very memorable experience. Places are limited so please register your interest/book now.

The visit will include many of the infamous sites of a battle which claimed almost 60,000 casualties on the first day and lasted almost five months. The colossal Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval which bears the names of 73,000 soldiers with no known grave along with dozens of other cemeteries and memorials bear witness to the scale and the cost of the battle which bloodied Kitchener’s volunteers for the first time. 

Other notable sites we will visit include Serre, Beaumont Hamel, Newfoundland Park, Thiepval Wood, Lochnagar crater, Delville Wood, Mametz, La Boisselle and Longueval. We will stay in the comfortable Ibis Hotel just outside Albert and central to the battlefield which extends for some twenty-five miles.

A £100 deposit per person will be required by the end of February to confirm places, and to secure the hotel, coach travel and the tour company. 

Lunches and dinners are not included in the price, but the group will endeavour to book local restaurants for the Friday and Saturday evening for those who want to join in. Or you can choose to make your own arrangements. 

Note: the itinerary is subject to change in the event of unforeseen issues or weather. All travellers will need their own travel insurance and passports valid for at least three months beyond the travel date, and also less than ten years old.

Interested in joining the tour? Use the booking link below and send us your details.

Your Tour Guide:

Mark has been interested in military history all his life. He has been visiting the battlefields since 1986 and has led tours for over 20 years. For 14 years he was the curator of the Royal Artillery Museum in London and now directs the medals department of AH Baldwins and Sons Auctioneers located in the Strand, London.

He is one of the medals and militaria experts on the BBC’s long running programme the Antiques Roadshow and has appeared on many other programmes, such as Who Do You Think You Are, and Bargain Hunt.

He has written five books on WW1 and genealogical military research and appears in many associated magazines.

He has been a member for over 25 years of the Orders and Medals Research Society and the Western Front Association.

Book now