Church concert will mark centenary of the Somme

Llangollen will remember the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at a special concert in St Collen’s Parish Church on Thursday June 30.

Starting at 7.30 pm, the event is being staged on the eve of the start of the battle which has come to signify the horrors of the First World War.


The concert will reflect on the battle and the cataclysmic events of 1916.

The concert will feature the Glyndwr University Community Choir, conducted by Owen Roberts, performing Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem interspersed with war poetry and other readings by students from Dinas Brân High School.

The Rev Andrew Sully of St Collen's said: "At the end of June a century will have passed since the beginning of the Somme offensive, and it will be a fitting time to gather to acknowledge before God the service and sacrifice of so many people.

"Those 19 weeks of fierce warfare undoubtedly changed the course of history, and it is right to pay tribute to all those who had to bear the enormous human cost.

"During Thursday June 30 and Friday July 1, national and local services and events will be held to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, and to provide everyone with an opportunity to remember those who fought and survived as well as those who fell during the offensive."