Members of the Royal Naval Association and partners pose by their coach.

The National Lottery Fund helped 37 members and wives from the Rayleigh and Basildon branches of the Royal Naval Association take a five-day trip to France and Belgium recently to visit the battlefields of World War One. Len Hobbs, Chairman of the Rayleigh branch organised the trip. He explains, “I successfully applied for a grant from the National Lottery Fund to help finance the trip and made the arrangements through Cook’s Coaches of Southend. We often use the company for our trips and always find them very reliable.”

The group stayed at the Novotel Lille Ouest Englos just outside the city, which Len describes as “great”. During their break, they managed to include visits to the memorial and beaches at Dunkerque/Malo les Bains, the Somme Battlefields of Thiepval, Longueval and Beamont Hamal and stop in Ypres. “Attractions such as St Georges Church were of great interest in Ypres and we also assembled at the Menin Gate for the Last Post ceremony in the evening,” says Len. “The memorials were outstanding and it was very moving to consider how many people died. We all had a memorable adventure and our driver Derek was excellent.”