South Gloucestershire Council

Follow @TheSomme_SG

This is an inspired dramatic interpretation of the Battle of the Somme. The drama shows the impact for the individuals both on the battlefield and at home in South Gloucestershire using the medium of Twitter.

Scriptwriter Adrian Harris has created 10 fictional characters to follow on twitter on the 24 June in the lead up to the start of the battle on the 1 July. The story will run on twitter for three weeks. With the social network acting as a window on the thoughts, hopes and fears of these ordinary people, you can experience each characters’ story. You will be able to explore life in the trenches for soldiers as well as the contribution of local men, women and children on the Home Front who supported their loved ones through letters and parcels and endured the loss of those killed or injured.

During the First World War, the Somme Offensive began with the largest bombardment the world had ever witnessed, with Allied guns firing 1.7 million shells at the German lines across a front of less than 20 miles. The battle itself took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the River Somme in Picardy, France and become synonymous with the futility and devastation of war.

It has a unique place in British military history because on the first day of combat on 1 July, 57,470 British soldiers were dead, wounded or missing.  It was one of the largest battles of the First World War in which more than 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed.

Follow the links below to learn more about each character and join us on twitter by following @TheSomme_SG and read the live tweets as they happen exactly one hundred years on from this devastating event in our recent history.

Story characters

John Richards – Head teacher	Elizabeth Tucker – Munitions worker	Francis Bingham – RFC pilot
Fredrick Mills – Cavalry officer	Hilda Thorne – Nurse	Jack Hubert – British Army private
Alf Pyke – School boy	Mary Hubert – Postmistress	Bob Radford – Farmer
	Bill Thomas – British Army miner

Please note that This project ended on 24 July 2016. Characters created in @theSomme-sg are fictional. However, real images are used for illustrative purposes only.