Posts Tagged ‘Battlefield Tours’


Following the success of the four years of Bristol and West Country based battlefield tours (2016-19) organised with fellow historian, Clive Burlton, we are pleased to announce another trip for autumn 2021. Our 2020 tour was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, hence we are carrying over our suggested plans for that tour to 2021. Our focus is not solely actions by units from the West Country but on this tour will look at the role of the Tunnelling Companies and their incredible underground war, fought deep beneath No Man’s Land. We will also visit sites and tell stories associated with the post-war reconstruction of French communities. 

Once again we are travelling with our partners at Bakers Dolphin. The three night, four day tour will visit key sites associated with the West Country. Travelling by executive coach we will depart from Bristol on 24 September and travel to Arras, stopping at sites of interest en route. 

The next day will be spent on the 1916 Somme battlefield with a look at the tunnelling exploits at such famous sites as Hawthorn Ridge, La Boisselle, Bois Francais and Carnoy. As ever we will ensure that we stop at key battlefield sites including the Thiepval Memorial. 

On 26 September we will journey northward to the sacred Ypres salient and Messines Ridge, a key battleground for the tunnelling war. En route we will visit Bethune and the Tunnellers Memorial at Givenchy-les-la-Bassée for the tale of Sapper William Hackett VC, the only tunneller recipient of the Victoria Cross. Whilst in Ypres we will attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate.  Other key sites around the salient will be explored. 

As ever, our tour will cover the stories of relatives of those who join us. Please do send details and we will endeavour to visit individual graves and battlefield sites if time permits.

Accommodation is based at the following 3-star hotels – Holiday Inn Express (Arras) and the Novotel (Ypres). Full details of cost, what is included and contact details to reserve a space can be found on the attached flyer and via our dedicated website: https://westernfrontfootsteps.com/.

We look forward to you joining us for another wonderful few days following in some Western Front Footsteps…

Following the success of the last three years of Bristol and West Country based battlefield tours organised with fellow historian, Clive Burlton, we are pleased to announce another trip for this coming autumn. This time our focus is not solely actions by units from the West Country but a look at associated stories of the postwar period of battlefield tourism and creation of Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries.

Once again we are travelling with our partners at Bakers Dolphin. The three night, four day tour will visit key sites associated with the West Country. Travelling by executive coach we will depart from Bristol on 27 September and travel to Arras, stopping at sites of interest en route. If time permits we will visit Fresnoy near Arras where the 12th Gloucesters (Bristol’s Own) fought with heavy losses in May 1917.

The next day will be spent on the 1916 Somme battlefield with a look at the Bristol Territorials at Hebuterne and a visit to key battlefield sites including the Thiepval Memorial. On our way down to the Somme we aim to stop at Mory Abbey Military Cemetery to hear a most moving story of a father’s love for his son.

On 29 September we will journey northward to the sacred Ypres salient , the wartime cauldron for so many of Britain’s soldiers. Whilst in Ypres we will attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate and walk in the footsteps of the 1st Somerset Light Infantry in December 1914 at Ploegsteert (known as Plugstreet to the Tommies). Other key sites around the salient will be explored. Throughout the trip we will be looking at the work of the war artists such as Nash, Levinson and Orpen.

As ever, our tour is based around the stories of relatives of those who join us. Please do send us details and we will endeavour to visit individual graves and battlefield sites.

Accommodation is based at the following 3-star hotels – Holiday Inn Express (Arras) and the Novotel (Ypres). Full details of cost, what is included and contact details to reserve a space can be found on the attached flyer.

We look forward to you joining us for another wonderful few days following in some Western Front Footsteps…

Following the success of 2016’s ‘Bristol on the Western Front’ and last year’s ‘The West Country at War’ tour trip that I organised with fellow historian, Clive Burlton, we are pleased to announce another trip for this coming autumn.

Stops will cover actions by units from Wiltshire, Somerset and South Wales as well as Bristol.  The tour is named ‘Western Front Footsteps’.

Once again we are travelling with our partners at Bakers Dolphin. The three night, four day tour will visit key sites where soldiers from the West Country fought, earned bravery awards and lost their lives.

Menin Gate, Ypres

Travelling by executive coach we will depart from Bristol on 28 September and travel to Arras, stopping at sites of interest en route. The next day will be spent on the 1918 Somme battlefield on the centenary of the breaking of the Hindenburg Line – a momentous day that paved the way to allied victory. It is also the centenary of the last assault ever made by the 12th Gloucesters (Bristol’s Own) and we will walk their final attack. It will be special to visit this fascinating battlefield on such a poignant day.

On 30 September we will journey northward to the sacred Ypres salient , the wartime cauldron for so many of Britain’s soldiers. Whilst in Ypres we will attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate and visit the In Flanders Fields Museum in the Cloth Hall. Our time in Ypres will see us visiting sites around the salient including Ploegsteert (known as Plugstreet to the Tommies) to follow the 1st Somerset Light Infantry in December 1914, see where the Christmas Truce took place and visit the area in which Bristol’s Territorials first went into the trenches.

A key theme of this year’s tour will be looking into the wartime history of the Gibbs family from Tyntesfield (now a National Trust property) – their story is fascinating and heart-rending.

Ypres Cloth Hall – now the location for the In Flanders Fields Museum

Accommodation is based at the following 3-star hotels – Holiday Inn Express (Arras) and the Novotel (Ypres). Full details of cost, what is included and contact details to reserve a space can be found on the attached flyer.

We look forward to you joining us for another wonderful few days following in some Western Front Footsteps!  

Following the success of last year’s ‘Bristol on the Western Front’ trip that I organised with fellow historian, Clive Burlton, we are pleased to announce another trip for October 2017.

This year we are broadening the net with less of a Bristolian focus. Stops will cover actions by units from Wiltshire, Somerset and South Wales.  As such, we thought it apt to name the tour ‘The West Country at War’.

Once again we are travelling with our partners at Bakers Dolphin. The three night, four day tour will visit key sites where soldiers from the West Country fought, earned bravery awards and lost their lives.

Menin Gate, Ypres

Travelling by executive coach we will depart from Bristol on 13 October and travel to Arras, stopping at sites of interest en route. The next day will be spent on the Somme battlefields, visiting some well known (Mametz Wood) as well as lesser known sites on the 1917 battlefield!

The following day sees us journey northward to the sacred Ypres salient , the wartime cauldron for so many of Britain’s soldiers. Whilst in Ypres we will attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. Our time in Ypres will see us visiting sites around the salient including Ploegsteert (known as Plugstreet to the Tommies) to follow the 1st Somerset Light Infantry in December 1914, see where the Christmas Truce took place and visit the area in which Bristol’s Territorials first went into the trenches.

Accommodation is based at the following 3-star hotels – Holiday Inn Express (Arras) and the Novotel (Ypres). Evening meal and continental breakfast are included. If there is demand then Clive and I are happy to give evening talks. Last year we were heartened by the almost 100% attendance rate at our talks by those who had already had a long day on the battlefields.

Delville Wood Cemetery, Somme

Full details of cost and contact details to reserve a space can be found on the attached flyer.

We look forward to you joining us for another wonderful few days!  

 

Through my work for Historic England I have come to know many stories of Bristol’s soldiers in the war. A few years ago I met Clive Burlton, a local historian and writer with a superb knowledge of Bristol’s role in the war. Clive and I have given talks at the same venue on a number of occasions and over a post-talk beer often discussed the possibility of running a coach tour to the battlefields for people who want to find out more about Bristol’s wartime story.

So, here we are! I am pleased to announce that, with our partners at Bakers Dolphin, we are running a special tour:

Bristol on the Western Front with Jeremy Banning & Clive Burlton 1

The three night, four day tour will visit key sites where soldiers from Bristol fought, earned bravery awards and lost their lives.

Travelling by executive coach we will depart from Bristol on 7 October and travel to the sacred Ypres salient, the wartime cauldron for so many of Britain’s soldiers. That evening we will attend the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate that night. The next day sees us visiting sites around the salient including Ploegsteert (known as Plugstreet to the Tommies) to see where Bristol’s Territorials first went into the trenches before heading south to Arras, our base for the remainder of the trip.

Bristol on the Western Front with Jeremy Banning & Clive Burlton 2

On Saturday 9th we will spend a day on the Somme battlefields, visiting key sites such as Newfoundland Memorial Park, Thiepval Memorial and the Lochnagar Mine Crater. We will also look at the story of the 12th Gloucesters (Bristol’s Own) in their actions at Longueval and Guillemont. The morning of our final day will be spent on the Arras battlefield, looking at the events surrounding the 12th Gloucesters (Bristol’s Own) action at Fresnoy on 8-9 May 1917.

Recruiting card

Wartime recruiting card for local soldiers to enlist at Colston Hall, Bristol

Accommodation is based at the following 3-star hotels – Novotel (Ypres) and Holiday Inn Express (Arras). Evening meal and continental breakfast are included. If there is demand then I will give a talk on the tunnellers’ war after dinner one night and Clive on a particular Bristol story the next night.

Guillemont - 12th Gloucesters (Bristol's Own) attacked close to here on 3 September 1916

Guillemont – 12th Gloucesters (Bristol’s Own) attacked close to here on 3 September 1916

Individual visits can be accommodated if time permits and locations are close by.

The cost is a competitive £560pp, based on a shared room. For more details please contact me HERE or Mandy Havill, Group Travel Manager on 01934 415 000. I look forward to meeting you on the tour and sharing in Bristol’s fascinating history.

Delville Wood Cemetery, Somme

Delville Wood Cemetery, Somme

The maple leaf adorns Canadian graves

The maple leaf adorns Canadian graves

I recently returned from a fantastic three day trip guiding two Canadian gentlemen, Mark Sadler and Bill Teed around the Somme and Arras. Based in Arras at the Hotel Les Trois Luppars, our time was very much Canadian themed but interwoven were many of the key actions of the British and French armies.

The first day was spent on a general tour of the Somme taking in many of the well-known battlefield sites. Day two was much more bespoke, following Bill Teed’s great uncle Cyrus Inches around the Somme. Cyrus, whose letters have been published as ‘Uncle Cy’s War: The First World War Letters of Major Cyrus F. Inches’ was an officer in the 1st Canadian Heavy Battery operating on the Somme from June to November 1916. Prior to leaving Bristol I had marked out his battery positions on trench maps and modern maps.

Newfoundland Gueudecourt Memorial

Newfoundland Gueudecourt Memorial

This gave us an interesting afternoon following him as the battery moved forward with the British advance. Prior to 1 July his battery had been firing on the village of Fricourt and the small woods and copses nearby. With the fall of the village the battery moved forward, close to positions near Queen’s Nullah. Two subsequent moves saw the battery north-west of Montauban for two months and, finally, for two months from the end of September to end November 1916 to positions close to Longueval Road Cemetery. For Bill, these positions, taken in as we toured the Somme, offered a chance to see where Uncle Cyrus had been operating.

Further stops included a visit to the Somme’s lesser known Caribou Memorial at Gueudecourt commemorating the actions of the Newfoundland Regiment in October 1916 and a stop at the grave of Henry Hutton Scott, son of Canon Scott, Senior Chaplain to the 1st Canadian Division at Bapaume Post Cemetery. Our final halt of the day was at Mouquet Farm, looking not at Australian and British actions there but the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles attack on 15 September 1916.

Endless headstones at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery

Endless headstones at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery

The third day was spent around Vimy and Arras area, an area synonymous with the Canadian Corps. Cemeteries full of graves with the ubiquitous maple leaf are testament to huge Canadian efforts nearby in spring 1917. Stops included Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery to look at the grave where the remains of the Canadian Unknown Warrior were exhumed from in 2000.

CWGC staff re-engraving headstones at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery

CWGC staff re-engraving headstones at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery

These remains are now interred at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. It was good to see CWGC staff re-engraving headstones during our visit, part of the massive maintenance programme they undertake.

We then had a drive to a cemetery well off the beaten track which I had not visited before – Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension where we paid our respects at the grave of Lieutenant Hugh Mariner Teed, a great uncle of Bill’s.

Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension - final resting place of Hugh Mariner Teed and many other Canadians from the Vimy fighting

Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension – final resting place of Hugh Mariner Teed and many other Canadians from the Vimy fighting

Our stop at Bruay was followed with a visit to Villers Station Cemetery, looking into the disastrous 1 March 1917 gas attack against Vimy Ridge. Many men who were killed that night, including Battalion commanders Lieutenant Colonel Beckett and Kemball are buried there. The story of the gas raid was hugely important to Mark Sadler whose relative, L/Cpl Robert Moffat, 11th Field Company, Canadian Engineers was killed that night. We paid our respects at the grave of Robert at the beautiful Ecoivres Military Cemetery close to Mont-St. Eloi. Rather unusually, there are over 750 French burials in the cemetery giving it a very special order tramadol free shipping feel.

The beautiful Ecoivres Military Cemetery

The beautiful Ecoivres Military Cemetery

After a visit to the Vimy Memorial we headed down to the rarely visited site of The Pimple and 44th Battalion memorial. All three of us enjoyed walking through the nearby wood and finding trenches and shell holes, testament to the destructive artillery bombardments on the ridge.

44th Battalion Memorial at The Pimple - well off the beaten track for most of the visitors to Vimy

44th Battalion Memorial at The Pimple – well off the beaten track for most of the visitors to Vimy

Bill’s grandfather had witnessed the 9 April attack on Vimy Ridge, watching infantry from the Canadian 5th Brigade advancing. Standing on the slope next to Lichfield Crater Cemetery I read Bill’s grandfather’s letter describing the action. What made it unique was that I spoke with Bill’s mobile phone held up in front of me and my words reverberating around the breakfast table of the family back in Canada.

Lichfield Crater Cemetery, Vimy Ridge

Lichfield Crater Cemetery, Vimy Ridge

The afternoon was spent in the British sector of the Arras battlefield astride the Scarpe. After stops at Fampoux, Roeux and Monchy we headed up Infantry Hill to look at the Newfoundland Regiment’s disastrous attack on the morning of 14 April 1917.

Monchy British Cemetery. Daniel Teed's grave is in the foreground

Monchy British Cemetery. Daniel Teed’s grave is in the foreground

Our final stop was Monchy British Cemetery visiting another of Bill’s relatives, Lieutenant Daniel Lionel Teed MC, 36th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. Daniel Teed, along with two NCOs had been killed at his battery position in Boiry Notre-Dame on 1 September 1918. We had looked down to Boiry from the Mound, the highest point of Infantry Hill and visualised the journey with his body and those of the NCOs back to the cemetery. Having devoted three days to Canadian endeavours on the Somme in 1916 and on Vimy Ridge in 1917 it seemed right to end our trip at Monchy, cleared by Canadian forces in late August 1918 at the start of their magnificent advance to Cambrai. With the cemetery bathed in evening sunlight I really could think of no finer place to be. My thanks to Mark and Bill for their companionship, genuine interest and terrific sense of humour. Until the next time….

“My friend and I recently completed a remarkable and highly personalized tour of the Somme and Arras region with Jeremy Banning. Our first of many pleasant surprises was the discovery of the substantial preparatory research Jeremy had performed on several relatives who had served in the Canadian Army during the Great War. The accrued knowledge was slowly revealed, along with countless other facts (big and small), during our three day tour.

Jeremy conducted our tour as a master storyteller. Far from reciting dry facts and pointing out sites from a moving vehicle, his modus operandi was to give instructions to the driver (me) and we would arrive at a site often not really knowing why we were there. Upon arrival at a cemetary, village, or a farmer’s field we disembarked from the car and were treated to a short discourse on what happened at that spot with additional poignant comments on who was involved. Jeremy’s mastery of the history always allowed him to frame the event or individual soldier within a larger context.

Jeremy did his utmost to ensure we had a full experience. This adventure was not a 2-3 hour morning and afternoon bus excursion. These were 11-12 hour days of steady touring and instruction followed by mid-evening dinner. Jeremy is passionate about his area of expertise, articulate, knowledgeable, witty, energetic, and most of all great fun. A surfeit of superlatives does not convey how much we enjoyed ourselves. Anybody with a serious interest in The First World War should strongly consider an expedition with him.” Dr Mark Sadler

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Earlier this month I finished an extraordinary week’s work at La Boisselle followed by four days guiding a group of writers around the Somme and Arras battlefields. Last year I had taken Vanessa Gebbie on a bespoke tour following in the footsteps of the 14th Battalion Welsh Regiment (Swansea Pals). She had been extolling the virtues of the battlefields ever since and had cajoled other writers to join her for a few days away.

Somme

After picking up my passengers and hire car in Lille we headed south to the Somme. Our first port of call was to the Glory Hole at La Boisselle where I was able to take my group underground. BBC News were covering our work on site that day and it was exciting to stand at the top of W Shaft and hear the filming taking place below for that night’s Six O’Clock News. Vanessa has written about this on her blog here. After a visit to the Lochnagar Crater we stopped at Becourt Military Cemetery and Norfolk Cemetery en route to our comfortable accommodation at Chavasse Farm, Hardecourt-aux-Bois.

“I can’t tell you what an amazing time I had on our trip. You are a natural – to call you either a historian or a tour guide is to miss the point entirely, I think. You brought it alive for us, you animated the land, the people, the history, in a way I don’t think I’ve ever experienced. There wasn’t one minute when you were talking where I was bored, where I zoned out. You made me want to know everything. And more than that, you inspired me to think about identity, nationality, what I might be prepared to die for.” Tania Hershman

The next day was spent on the Somme starting in the southern sector at the junction of British & French forces between Maricourt & Montauban. Stops that morning included Suzanne Communal Cemetery Extension to visit the graves of 18th Manchester Regiment men killed in May 1916 when German mortar fire blocked their mine shaft at Maricourt, the Carnoy crater field where I explained about the use of the Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector on 1 July 1916, Devonshire Cemetery at Mametz and then down to the impressive Red Dragon of the 38th (Welsh) Division Memorial at Mametz Wood. Despite heavy rain most of us had a walk up the slope from Death Valley to look at positions occupied by the 11th South Wales Borders and 16th Welsh in their unsuccessful 7 July attack on the Hammerhead.  After a coffee and change of clothes we headed back out. Stops included Guillemont Road Cemetery, High Wood and the Nine Brave Men (82 Field Company RE) memorial in Bazentin-le-Petit before lunch at Old Blighty Tea Rooms, La Boisselle.

Aveluy Communal Cemetery Extension

The remains of the afternoon was spent at Aveluy Communal Cemetery Extension, Mash Valley and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme before stopping at Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz on our way back.

Over dinner that night I learnt one of my party had a relative with the 3rd Coldstream Guards who had been killed in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916. Our first stop the next morning was on the road between Ginchy and Lesboeufs to look at the starting positions for the attack. Guardsman Ernest Saye is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial so there was a chance his remains were still lying in the fields before us.

Guards Memorial, Lesboeufs

We paid our respects at the Guards Division Memorial, Lesboeufs before a stop specifically requested by Vanessa at Morval British Cemetery. This quiet spot contains 38th (Welsh) Division casualties killed in the capture of Morval on 31 August/1 September 1918. After stops at the Cedric Dickens Cross and Delville Wood Cemetery & Memorial we headed north of the Roman Road to Thiepval to pick up where we had left off the previous day. Stops included the Ulster Tower Newfoundland Memorial Park, the Sunken Lane at Beaumont Hamel and then over the Redan Ridge for a picnic lunch in the majesty of at Serre Road Cemetery No.2 where the Somme part of our tour ended.

Serre Road Cemetery No.2 - our choice for a picnic lunch

Arras

En route north we stopped at Ayette Indian & Chinese Cemetery before arriving at Neuville-Vitasse Road Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse where I set the scene for the Arras offensive. The elevated position offers a fine viewpoint from which to show the southern sector of the battlefield with Monchy-le-Preux, Henin Hill and the route of the Hindenburg Line clear to see.

Poring over maps of the Arras battlefield at Neuville-Vitasse Road Cemetery. Thanks to Vanessa Gebbie for her permission to use this image.

After a visit to Cojeul British Cemetery to pay our respects at the grave of two Victoria Cross winners, Private Horace Waller and Captain Arthur Henderson we headed up to the open windswept ground of Henin Hill where we had a good look around a surviving German ‘mebu’ concrete pillbox, part of the Hindenburg Line defences in the area. After repeatedly getting in and out of the car we were keen to stretch the legs and so took a walk to Heninel-Croisilles Road Cemetery where I read the poet Siegfried Sassoon’s account of being wounded nearby. We then walked down to Rookery Cemetery and Cuckoo Passage Cemetery.

Our next stop was on Wancourt Ridge outside Wancourt British Cemetery where I read John Glubb’s detailed account of the bridging work undertaken by 7 Field Company RE across the River Cojeul in the valley before us on 23-25 April 1917. The landscape is wonderfully easy to match up to Glubb’s descriptions and offers the chance to imagine the scene 95 years ago. Afterwards some of us walked up to the site of Wancourt Tower. Our final stop of the day was the rarely visited but rather beautiful Vis-en-Artois Memorial. One of our party Caroline had a relative commemorated on the panels. Percy Honeybill, 1st King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) was killed on 2 September 1918 attacking the Drocourt- Quéant defences.

Relief sculpture on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial

Our final day saw us head to Arras for a croissant and coffee breakfast in the Petite Place before a visit to the Arras Memorial to the Missing and Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery. We then headed out along the Arras-Cambrai road to find the spot between Guémappe and Cherisy where Third Army Panorama No.  556 was taken on 6 May 1917. Standing close to the spot where the image was taken it offers an ideal opportunity to visualise battlefield conditions in May 1917. Our next stop was at Kestrel Copse to see the new cross for Captain David Hirsch VC. We then headed north to Monchy-le-Preux where I explained the magnificent action which resulted in the capture of the village on 11 April 1917. One of our party’s grandfather had served in the Essex Yeomanry. I was able to show her Orange Hill and the fields which her grandfather would have galloped across on 11 April 1917. We then headed up Infantry Hill where I told of the disastrous Newfoundland and Essex Regiment attack on 14 April and the subsequent action by the “Men who saved Monchy”.

Captain Hirsch's replica cross at Kestrel Copse

Crossing the River Scarpe to Roeux, we visited the site of dreaded Chemical Works, now a benign Carrefour supermarket and garage. I always find it a pity that there is nothing on the site to show the ferocity of the fighting here in April and May 1917. Lunch was taken in Sunken Lane Cemetery at Fampoux (written about here by Vanessa Gebbie ). We discussed the terrible fighting for Roeux and the 11 April attack by the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders and 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers. After visiting Gavrelle we headed north to Vimy Ridge, visiting the trenches and Walter Allward’s masterpiece, the Vimy Memorial where we bumped into my brother Mark guiding a group. What a small place the battlefields are sometimes!  There followed an interesting journey back to Lille Europe station where the car was returned in a rather muddier state than it had been when picked up.

Vimy Memorial

My thanks to Vanessa, Tania, Zoe, Angela and Caroline for being such good company and making the trip such a delight. I am already planning the itinerary for 2013!

“Thank you is really an inadequate word to convey my feelings about the weekend. I still feel as if I’ve been to a different place and had my life changed. I’m not quite sure how you managed it but it felt as if you really took us back in time to 1914, 1916, 1917 and 1918 and that we were standing alongside the men waiting for the whistles to send them over the top and later dragging or rolling themselves back to the safety of their trenches. I thought I knew a bit about the First World War having done a history degree and having read the poetry. At an intellectual level I suppose I did know about the war but emotionally I had no idea what it was like for the men and that experience was what you gave us with the maps, the panoramas and all the stories. Over the last few days they lived and breathed again. It’s difficult to pick out my favourite moments as everything felt like a highlight. I can’t remember if it was Tania or Zoe who said they’d never before come across a guide who didn’t bore them for a second. Actually ‘guide’ isn’t the right word – the ‘expert’ comes closer but also the ‘enthusiast’ brimming over with things you wanted to share.” Caroline Davies

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