Lochnagar Crater

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A-Photo-a-Week-Challenge-Remembrance-Day

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In 2017 I visited the World War I…

…Western Front Battlefields in

France and Belgium.

My Paternal Grandfather served on

the Western Front during that conflict. 

 

 

Lochnagar is a privately owned ‘attraction’

created  after allied forces tunnelled

under Germany’s Army and detonated

25 tonnes of explosives.

 The crater is approximately 300 feet

in diameter by 90 feet deep

and is the only surviving crater

of many other such craters,

which are now filled in.

 

Along the boardwalk around the crater

are these small plaques commemorating

a family member who had served on

the Western Front during

The Great War. 

In 2017 each plaque cost

GBP25 or approximately $AUD45.

 

 

After several emails, the transfer of funds

and a few months waiting for

the ‘next batch‘ to  be placed,

I now have a small memorial

to my Grandfather on the battlefields

upon which he served.

 

 


Lest We Forget.

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A Photo a Week Challenge:….In-Memoriam

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Cee-BW-Challenge-Signs

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Signs which are

self explanatory,

I hope.

I don’t remember taking this shot

and have never before, or since,

laid eyes on this bus.

However, according to my filing system

it was taken in Melbourne.

This was about as far as a DSLR camera could go. 

Pocket size cameras and phones

were okay, I believe.

A Tea Room on the

Western Front Battlefields

of France.

.

Self explanatory? 

All day we were hearing about Whistler

and all day I was thinking

‘…I’ve heard that name before…’   

However, only made the connection upon arrival. 

Fun fact.

  We were told that recent summer sports had

overtaken, economically, winter sports

on/at Whistler.

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Cee’s Black & White Challenge:   Signs

Black_White

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Word-of-Day-Challenge-Tear

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tear

a hole or split in something caused by it
having been pulled apart forcefully.

This hole in the ground,

known as Lochnagar Crater,

was created after British soldiers 

detonated 27,000 tons of explosives

under German lines during

World War I.

The force created a tear in the ground

measuring 220 feet (67 metres) diameter

and 450 feet (137 metres) across

Debris from the explosion rose

about 4,000 feet into the air.

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Word of the Day Challenge: Tear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FOWChallenge-Tribute

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During my 2017 visit to

The Western Front Battlefields

in France and Belgium…

I came across the

Lochnagar Crater Memorial.

 

THe crater was created by detonating 27,000 tons

of explosives under the

German Front Line

Surrounding the crater are tributes and memorials

to many men and women who served…

on the Western Front during

the Great War.


The boardwalk around the crater is created by 4 inch planks. 

At either end of these planks a small tribute

can be placed to commemorate one’s relatives.

   

I placed/paid for this tribute to my Grandfather

who served all along the Western Front

after being part of the gun crew

which fired the First Allied Shot of World War I

from Point Nepean at the mouth of

Port Phillip Bay,

Victoria. 

The time was 1245, August 5th, 1914…   

a mere 2-3 hours after War had been declared in London

at 11 PM the previous night…August 4.

Lest We Forget.

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Fandango’s One Word Challenge:  Tribute

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THURSDAY’S SPECIAL-October-Words-Yr3

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Words from all over.  

And a bit late for October 

I have never seen so much water flowing, or gushing,

over Hopkins Falls as there was in August 2017.


This is what I think of when I see the word aperture.

That little hole in the centre of a lens.

  

Frontier…a line or border separating two countries.

At Hill 60 in Belgium, the white line in the foreground

indicates the British front line.

Most of our group are in No Man’s Land,

however our tour guide is standing on Germany’s Front line.

 

 

Perhaps not triplets in the truest sense of the word,

however, it was the best I could do.

A ‘normal’ tapered building,

Burj Khalifa, in Dubai.

 

Normally I think of some that is tapered as being thinner

at the far end, usually the top. 

Lochnagar Crater, on the Somme Battlefields,

is still thinner at the far end

it just happens to be the bottom

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Thursday’s Special: October Words-Yr3

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Cee-BW-Challenge-Tables-Chairs

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Cee’s

Black and White Challenge.

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I shall commence with probably the most unusal tables.A wool table…right foreground. 

No shearing taking place at this time.

Tables of any king was the brief????

Wool bales were often pushed on their side

so they could be used as a table or chair.

The thing which frustrated me most about this practice

was that the user never stood the bale upright after pushing it over.

 

Outdoor cafe seating in Arras, France.

 

If you can accept outdoor benches as chairs…

then we have some of Geelong’s

parklands and their tables and chairs.

Seating along

Promenade des Anglais

in Nice, France.

 

An eight seater, turn of thee century,

solid Tasmanian Blackwood dining table and chairs.

Belonging to MGW’s parents

and valued at $AUD 7000-$AUD 8000 restored, or

$AUD 1,500 – $AUD 1,700 as is.

And no-one showed any interest in it.  😦

 

The first or one of the few memorials to the Nurses

involved in the Great War.

It can be found at

Lochnagar Crater,

Somme Battlefields

in  France

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Cees-BW-Photo-Challenge: Tables-Chairs

Black_White

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THURSDAY’S SPECIAL-Best-2017-Picture

Best 2017 Picture

I have several pictures…all for differing reasons.This was a sunrise at Point Lonsdale Lighthouse.

The sun should have been rising to my right and behind.

In other words I am facing West roughly speaking.

I had packed my tripod and long lens away

and was about to walk back to the car

and breakfast..somewhere…

when this rainbow appeared.

For only two minutes.

Had I not had a back up camera, with a shorter lens,

I  would not have been able to capture the few shots I did.

A few months later I ventured over to Melbourne’s St Kilda Pier.

A draw-card for tourists and photographers alike.

I confess to editing this a bit to capture the stormy winter sky.

But I am pleased with the outcome.

 In between those two shots was our

wedding anniversary hot air balloon flight

over Melbourne.

I will probably never take this shot again

and it is one I would like to enlarge.

However, I will always remember

our 30th Wedding Anniversary by this shot.

However, the shot I am most pleased with is not one of mine.

  Followers may remember that I visited France and Belgium

and spent three days touring

the Western Front Battlefields of World War I.

Why?

Because my Grandfather served on the Western Front

and Fired the  First Allied Shot of World War I.

 

I created four posts about a place known as

Lochnagar Crater for Jo’s Monday Walk Challenge.

While there I discovered that for a modest fee the

Friends of Lochnagar Crater would create a plaque for one’s relative

as a means of raising money to keep the site maintained.

So, when this photo arrived via email,

to say that I was pleased, proud and happy

would be an understatement.

My Auntie, my Grandfather’s only surviving child,

(Dad passed away in 2001 and his other Sister in 2016)

was also extremely pleased and proud to know her Father

had been memorialised in the country where he had

served his country during The Great War.

Click on this link to read Lochnagar Part 4. 

Links to all other Lochnagar posts can be found there as well.

Happy New Year

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Thursday’s Special: Best 2017 Picture

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THURSDAY’S SPECIAL-July-August-Recap

Commencing in July…

Candi at play.

A Great White Egret.

Geelong Marina.

The Beaumont-Hammel,

Newfoundland Memorial

in France.

 

Sunrise on the You Yangs, which are located

about midway between Geelong and Melbourne.

 

Memories of a fog and -3 degrees outing in early August.

 

Lochnagar Crater on The Somme Battlefields.

 

Another Pea Soup fog in Geelong.

 

Same day playing with Photoshop levels.

One of my favourite shots form Torquay.

 

A memorial to my Grandfather,

now in place at Lochnagar Crater in France,

where he served in World War I.

An August sunrise on Geelong’s Corio Bay.

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Thursday’s Special: July-August-Recap

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Jo’s-Monday-Walk-Wk33_Lochnagar-Crater-Pt-4

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Jo’s Monday Walk

Week-33

Lochnagar Crater

 Part 1: Lochnagar Crater

 Part 2 The Moles of Lochnagar

Part 3: The Women of The Great War

Part 4: Being Involved

Approaching Lochnagar Crater,

the first thing to catch you eye is

a giant cross which overlooks the Crater.

DC Photography

Originally donated and erected in 1986 it suffered from lightning strikes and storm damage and yielded to the elements in August 2010.  Over 20 feet in length the original Cross was made from wood from ‘…a deconsecrated Northumberland church…’, with 6 feet of it being below ground level.

A new Cross made of ‘…new green English oak…’ wand was erected in 2011.

 

Click here for more information about the Cross.

As visitors commenced their walk around the Crater it is hard…

not to notice these plaques along the boardwalk.

My initial thought was that they were dedicated

to soldiers who fought in and around…

Lochnagar and the Ovillers-la-Boisselle area of France.

However, I began to notice these plaques

and signs as well and another thought 

began to take shape in my mind.  

A few emails and the exchange of some

Aussie dollars for British Pounds…

 and this photo arrived in my email.

Now I must point out that my Grandfather

was one of a dozen soldiers required to fire that shot.

He did not give the order to fire and as far as I know

he did not pull he trigger (so to speak),

but he was part of the crew that fired

the first allied shot in anger

a less than 4 hours after War had been declared

in London.

Now I have an excuse to revisit France one day.

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More information can be found at the below links,

or by Googling First Shot World War I

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/thousands-commemorate-first-shot-of-wwi-in-portsea-victoria/5647724

http://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/first-shot-fired/

Next week we move on!

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Jo’s Monday Walk