The Great Pilgrimage 90 (GP90) will be the Royal British Legion’s biggest membership event in our history, 100 years on from the end of the Great War. A tour to WWI battlefields and cemeteries will mark ninety years since the Great Pilgrimage of August, 1928.

A decade after the end of WWI, veterans, war widows and their families visited the battlefields of the Somme and Ypres before marching to the Menin Gate in Ypres on 8th August, 1928.

This year, the Royal British Legion is looking to recreate this incredible event and have invited two members from every branch or local community to participate. One will carry their branch standard, and the other will carry a specially-designed wreath. The parade will follow the same route as that taken in 1928 through Ypres to the Menin gate, representing an entire generation that served while heroically defending their country.

Over five days in August, Chris Fiddes, the Standard Bearer and Poppy Appeal organiser for Timsbury, and his son, Stephen, both ex-Royal Air Force Flight Sergeants, with 46 years’ service between them, will be representing Timsbury Royal British Legion, visiting these same battlefield memorial sites, trenches and cemeteries before marching in the official parade on Wednesday, 8th August.

Attendees will take part in a parade to the Menin Gate, where a specially-designed wreath for GP90 from each branch will be placed on the memorial. A march past will then take place, observed by civic and military guests from the UK, Europe and Commonwealth countries. Following the service, members will join spectators in the Great Square for an afternoon of comradeship, with exhibitions and musical performances.

Chairman of the Timsbury Branch of the Royal British Legion, Barry Sewell, said: “This will be a fantastic event, and provides a great opportunity for branches to work closely with each other and their local communities, raising the profile of their branch. It will also look to inspire the commitment of our current membership and encourage the recruitment of others. An event of this scale also provides a platform to create awareness of the Legion’s contemporary work across the wider country.”

Chris Fiddes added: “This will be a memorable occasion, and we are pleased to have been given the opportunity to participate in this historic event.”