Huge banners unfurled at Salford city council headquarters in Swinton pay tribute to the thousands of Salford men who died at the Somme.
The battle, which started on Friday 1 July 1916, saw 58,000 casualties in total. Around 1000 local men, including 650 from the Salford Pals regiments, died on the first day of fighting near the Thiepval village in France.
National and local celebrations of the 100 year anniversary of the battle begin this Friday.
Giant banners, created from historical photos of men who served in the war, have been unveiled at the Swinton Civic Centre.
A short memorial ceremony is planned at Swinton for 11am on Friday 1 July, when four public sector workers including a nurse and a firemen will appear on the steps of the Civic Centre, each carrying a photo in silent tribute to the men who served and fell.
A recording of music and poetry will be played before the Ceremonial Mayor of Salford, Councillor Karen Garrido lays a red, white and blue posie at the cenotaph in memory of the men and the public service workers who died as a result of the battle.
Councillor Garrido said: “Our four modern day volunteers could easily have gone to war 100 years ago.
“We chose them to represent the ordinary men and women who fought, supported the war effort or simply tried to carry on day to day living while worrying about loved ones at the Front.
“It’s our way of paying tribute to their courage and bravery and showing that Salford remembers now and forever.”
The four volunteers – office worker Tom Curran and labourer Paul Holt who both work for Salford City Council, nurse Louise Nutt and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service firefighter Lewis Jeffery, who is based in Salford and Trafford, will then lay maroon and yellow posies reflecting the colours of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Four 16-year-olds from Eccles Rugby Club will lay down photos of four Salford Pals who served in the First World War to mark the start of tributes they are planning to the Somme fallen. Members of the public will be invited to place their own tributes at the cenotaph after the ceremony.
Salford commemorated July 1 as Thiepval Day until the 1950s.
Thiepval today hosts the largest British battle memorial in the world, commemorating the 72,195 missing British and Commonwealth men who fell on the Somme battlefield and have no known grave.
On Friday July 1 there will be church services and commemorative events across the city including the memorial at Salford Civic Centre at 11am and musical performances at Salford University, including the world premiere of God’s Own Caught in No Man’s Land, a new composition to commemorate the Salford PALS and other soldiers who fell at The Somme.
Salford Museum and Art Gallery will be open all day screening the original 1916 record of The Battle of the Somme, courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, alongside a small display of World War One objects.
On Sunday July 3, the Salford Armed Forces Veterans Network will hold two services – one in the morning at St Clement’s Church, Ordsall which houses memorials to those who fell in the Somme and the second in the afternoon at the Royal British Legion, Pendleton.
