An Update from our Veterans Manager on his Recent Outreach Activity Within the Military Community

Shared Parenting Scotland fully recognises the unique lifestyle of those that serve or have served in our Armed Forces and the toll this can take on family life especially when children are involved.

This specialised service is supported by the Veterans Foundation and it is being managed by one of the Shared Parenting Scotland staff, Mark Downie. We’re very grateful to the Veterans Foundation – this support will allow us to build up the work we have already been doing with veterans and serving parents who need help after separation. Further down this page you can find updates on events that Mark has attended specifically relating to military veterans.

29/07/25 McCrae’s Battalion Battlefield Tour

A few weeks ago, I had the honour and privilege to be invited by the Lothians Veterans Centre to join the McCrae’s Battalion Trust’s Annual Pilgrimage to Contalmaison in France from 29th June to 4th July.

Day 1 – After being on my own Royal Marine Recruit Troop’s annual reunion at York races, I made my way (somewhat tenderly !) to the port of Hull where I met the coach that had travelled from Edinburgh that morning. Much to my delight, I found that there were many familiar faces aboard from across the Veterans world and suffice to say we shared a few ‘dits’ over some ‘refreshments’ that night as we sailed through the night to Rotterdam.

Day 2 – Consisted of a coach journey to Zonnebeke, Belgium, where we visited the Museum of Passchendaele which offered an insight into the history of the Battle of Passchendaele. We had the opportunity to walk through reconstructed British and German trenches that presented a powerful glimpse of life at the front, and the museum had a dugout where we experienced how British troops lived underground in 1917. In another room we saw projected historical images of the Battle of Passchendaele and the landscape of 1917 which depicted the horrors that so many young men had to endure. Afterwards the coach took us to our hotel in Arras, France, where we were able to explore the city, its square and vast array of restaurants and bars.

Day 3 – This was the day of the ceremony at Contalmaison, a small, picturesque village in France surrounded by lush green fields. On 1st July 1916 those fields were anything but, they were filled with young men of the 34th Division of the British Expeditionary Force and at the front was Lieutenant Colonel Sir George McCrae’s Battalion, the 16th Royal Scots – ‘The Pals Battalion’. The battalion was made up of players from Heart of Midlothian football team (who were at the top of the league in 1914 when they volunteered), their supporters, players from other teams including Hibernian and many other local men. On 1st July 1916, the opening and bloodiest day of the Battle of the Somme, British and Commonwealth casualties totalled 57,470. Of that number 19,240 were killed and 2,152 missing or captured. Entire battalions of pals, brothers, neighbours and workmates were wiped out in a matter of minutes. Amid the carnage it was the heroic 16th Royal Scots that penetrated furthest into the German’s defences. Almost three quarters of their fighting strength became casualties, despite this, a small party pressed on to reach the tiny, ruined village of Contalmaison, deep inside the German trench system.

In 2004 a commemorative Cairn was raised in Contalmaison in memory of McCrae’s Battalion. It was constructed by Scottish craftsmen using Scottish materials and has become the centrepiece for Scottish pilgrimages on the Somme ever since. This year the ceremony just happened to be on the hottest day the pilgrimage has ever experienced with temperatures reaching a sweltering 40 degrees. It culminated in the laying of wreaths and singing the French and British National Anthems. The Royal Scots Standard Bearers Party did well to stand for so long in such a heat !  Afterwards, we made the short walk to the Contalmaison Chateau Cemetery to pay our respects to the fallen before enjoying an afternoon of food, drink, singing and speeches.

Day 4 – Consisted of a morning visit to The Underground City at Naours, France. The original chalk mines were used as shelters for people and their property and then became underground hiding places. These were occupied from the Middle Ages until the 17th century when the underground passages fell into disuse until they were rediscovered in 1887. The Underground City became a very popular local curiosity after its rediscovery, especially during the First World War. Many Allied soldiers visited the site when they were back from the front lines and many wrote their names on the walls. The graffiti was discovered in 2014. No less than 3,200 graffiti have been catalogued, making this the largest known concentration of Great War graffiti.

The afternoon visit was to Vignacourt, France, which was the site of an important military base behind Allied lines during the Great War. Two local farmers, Louis and Antionette Thuillier owned their own camera, which was rare at that time, and they turned their farm into a studio. Civilians and soldiers would come to the farmhouse to have their photographs taken. When the war ended the photographic plates (negatives) were stored in the attic of the farmhouse and forgotten for over a century. They now form the Thuillier Collection, a unique set of images displayed in their original farmhouse.

Day 5 – Began with a visit to Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war and is located near Zonnebeke, Belgium. There are German concrete pill boxes on this site which formed part of a German fortified position and played an important tactical role during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. In the afternoon we headed for Ypres, Belgium, which was almost entirely destroyed during the Great War. The city was rebuilt using the original medieval plans and it’s hard to believe that you’re not walking through a genuine medieval townscape. We also visited the Menin Gate which is dedicated to the nearly 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. Then, sadly, it was onwards to Rotterdam and the overnight ferry to Hull where it ended as it began with us sharing some more ‘dits’ and ‘refreshments’ as we sailed home.

Day 6 – Was our return coach journey to Edinburgh where the good natured ‘banter’ continued throughout before we all said our goodbyes.

I would like to say a huge thank you once again to the Lothian’s Veterans Centre for giving me the opportunity to experience this trip and also to the members of McCrae’s Battalion Trust and to everyone on this poignant and thought-provoking pilgrimage.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM