War effort came from all corners - not least among the equine world

LAST Friday brought us events in France from polar opposites of the emotional spectrum.

The morning belonged to the wrenching solemnity of the 100-year anniversary of the first day on the Somme, July 1, 1916.

Formal proceedings centred on Lutyen’s memorial to the missing at Thiepval which was constructed on the site of a fearsome German strongpoint that inflicted carnage on a scale unparalleled. The vast brick and stone edifice on 16 massive pillars was officially opened in 1932 and lists the names of over 72,000 missing with no known grave.