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Personal appeal by Martin Clift on behalf of

Bellewaarde 1915 Memorial (Charity)

I am writing to you personally to appeal for your support for the Bellewaarde 1915 (Charity), which  will make a difference to many people who wish to remember the fallen of the Great War and also help cement the heritage of Britain, Germany and Belgium with a joint memorial service.

As the centenary of the start of the Great War gets ever closer, you will read, hear and watch programmes about how this conflict started, who was responsible and be very aware of the statistics of how many fell. Many of you will be unaware that your family was likely to be affected in some way as it would appear that almost everyone was related to someone who fell. Many soldiers who fought in Flanders were lost forever with no grave for mourning and remembrance. For the lost soldiers monuments were constructed, such as the Menin Gate at Ypres, where every man who fell and was lost would have his name inscribed alongside more than 54,000 others.

These soldiers will be remembered, but in some cases they will be remembered as a statistic, a number, not a human being who once had a family, mother and father, wife and child and siblings. 

On 16^th June 1915 at Bellewaarde, east of Ypres, a battle took place. The field was approximately half mile square, most of which was covered with German trenches. The Germans held Bellewaarde Ridge, which needed to be captured by the British as it gave the Germans a view of all movement westward to Ypres and of course easy targets.

The British shelled the German positions from 2.50 a.m. until 4.00 a.m., when the whistles were blown for the start of the attack and soldiers from the 3^rd Division left their trenches and headed for the German front line and in some sectors made good ground, but once the enemy recovered the fighting became a hand to hand affair. The area was shelled by the British and Germans and the latter used some gas. Men from both sides were running into machine-gun bullets and being hit by blast or shrapnel. Two more waves of British troops went in, some captured the farm, but this became difficult to hold as more German troops arrived.

At the end of the day one would say that nothing was achieved as almost all of the ground taken by the British was regained by the Germans

In less than 12 hours almost 1000 British and probably 600 – 700 German soldiers lay dead and many more would die later of wounds and infection.

We will not allow these soldiers to be remembered as statistics anymore. We are raising funds to place a battlefield memorial at the southern edge of the field at ‘The Hooge Crater Museum’ on the Menin Road. This means that there will be a place for remembrance where family can visit and see what happened on that day. The museum will give a large amount of space to this battle so that visitors will be able to view the uniforms, weapons and trenches. The Local Authority will also have a visitor centre to support this and other WW1 projects.

Other related projects that will raise funds for the memorial are under way. The book, The Battle of Bellewaarde, June 1915, by Carole McEntee-Taylor will be available through Amazon from August 2014, authors royalties will go to the fund. There are also shirts available sporting a regimental badge from one of those who were there that day and a donation will be paid to the charity. A DVD documentary will also be available and also art relating to this battle, again supporting the charity.

To be able to achieve our goal we need your support. Donations can be made through PayPal via the Bellewaarde 1915 website at www.bellewaarde1915.co.uk  or you can donate via our Facebook Group page at www.facebook.com/#!/groups/Bellewaarde1915/

Many of you may hold senior positions within companies and feel you would like to support us in other ways, but not quite sure of how and what difference it could make, so I would like to give you one example of how any support can make a difference. One of the soldiers who fell at Bellewaarde played for Tottenham Hotspur in the 1913-14 season, but left to do his duty at the outbreak of war. I approached Tottenham and asked if they could support our cause. They have been brilliant and let us have an image of the lad and the group he played with along with a large amount of information which we can use. They have also offered the use of their media, which includes, match-day programmes and website to promote what we are doing and help raise awareness. That gives us a potential audience of just under 36,000, per home game, who may donate to this wonderful cause. Your company can also make a substantial difference.

So, please contact me by email at bellewaarde1915@btinternet.com to discuss what kind of support you may be able to offer.

Thank you for taking the time to read this appeal, I can assure you, it is very much appreciated.

My kindest regards

Martin Clift C.I.P.D.

Bellewaarde 1915