Martin Roberts

Short Sunderland! Always good to see some Coastal Command kit. Unsung heroes.

Lots of cool Bomber Commmand related stuff at the RAF Museum in London, including S for Sugar (formerly Q-Queenie) a Lanc that completed 137 ops, a downed Halifax Mk II rescued from a fjord, tons of tech from the bombers, a Me110 with radar and Schräge Musik, flight suits & a GEE transmitter!

One of my Bomber Command days out last week: 2 Lancs, 1 Mossie, 9 Red Arrows (unexpected treat), 4 bases (Coningsby, East Kirkby, Woodhall Spa & Metheringham) and 1 happy member of the WW2 afflicted!

Last surviving intact Halifax bomber (to our national shame). Painted up (on one side) as F-Freddy AKA ‘Friday the 13th’ at the Yorkshire Air Museum, former RAF Elvington. The original completed 128 ops over enemy territory!

The main runway at RAF Burn. Cyril Barton in his 578 Squadron Halifax took off right here on the night of 30 March 1944 bound for Nuremberg, he wouldn’t return but would win a VC for his immense bravery. I’m certain the poppies I found growing on the perimeter track were for him.

Such an honour to represent my family again at Tyne Cot.

My great great granduncle John. A cockney boy just like me. Never got to come home to the East End from Flanders.

We never forgot you John. I know your sister Lily missed you greatly.

Lest we forget

VE Day 80!

Thinking of these men today. I’m deeply proud of them all.

Driver Arthur Roberts, Royal Engineers
Gunner Henry Finck, Royal Artillery
Corporal James Thomas, Reconnaissance Corps

From the escape at Dunkirk to Monte Cassino, my family played their part in the the defeat of fascism.

Best way to start today #VEDay80

Ken Hay, 4 Dorsets, 38 Div in VE Day: We Were There on BBC.

No Ken, you don’t need to be sorry. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

#VEday80

Was there two weeks ago visiting the grave of a former student of the school I teach at in Bakewell, Lady Manners School.

Second Lieutenant George Holmes of the 15th Sherwood Foresters.

Such an incredible place to visit.

Walked to Thiepval Memorial today. It was an honour to find where Samuel Sheldon is remembered. He was a baker from Baslow, born in Sheffield and a former student of Lady Manners School, Bakewell. He died at Serre on 1 July 1916. His body was never recovered.

Then and now. The Sunken Road in No Man’s Land in 1916 opposite Beaumont-Hamel. This was the jumping off point for these lads of the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, 29th Division. Such a humbling place to visit.

More images from the front line near the Sheffield Memorial Park. Lads from the industrial North of England lie side by side just as they advanced on 1 July 1916.

Sheffield Memorial Park on the Somme, including the beautiful Railway Hollow Cemetery. From here the northern pals battalions of the 31st Division attacked the German trenches in front of Serre, 1 July 1916. Many didn’t come home. Events on the Somme changed Britain forever.

Managed to find some 110yr old training trenches dug up on moors over Redmires Reservoir. This is where the volunteer soldiers of the 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment (Sheffield City Battalion) of ‘Kitchener’s Army’ prepared for war. They would eventually be sent to the Somme.

And a massive shout out to @sommecourt.bsky.social for the walks I’m planning to do from his magisterial ‘Walking the Somme’

I’m not a First World War buff but it does interest me and it’s significance to WW2 is plain to see. So I’m planning a trip to Picardy over the hols to walk the ground. Made myself an order of battle for the first day of the Battle of the Somme using Martin Middlebrook’s book.

My great grandfather Driver Arthur Roberts was evacuated of this very beach in May 1940. Words can’t express what an honour it was to finally visit Dunkirk today.

Best beers I’ve drunk for the first time in 2024:

▪️Thornbridge / The Kernel - Burton Ale (on the Union System!)
▪️Northern Monk / Timothy Taylor - Unity Stout

Uncle Jimmy laying down smoke with his 2in mortar at the River Sangro, Italy, 1943. Alongside his cousin who was also in 56 Recce, 78 Div.

Best places I visited in 2024:

Far too many to mention to be fair. However here are a just few I enjoyed:

▪️Tank Fest at Bovy
▪️Tyn Cot CWGC to find my great great uncle’s name
▪️Thorpe Abbots home of the ‘Bloody Hundredth’ of Masters of the Air Fame
▪️A trip down memory lane at the Boleyn!

Best gigs I went to in 2024:

▪️The Slackers at Corp, Sheffield
▪️Slam Dunk 2024, Leeds (The Interrupters, The Skints, The Selecter, Funeral for a Friend, Big D and the Kids Table, Pennywise)

Best sporting moment I witnessed in 2024 (and I was there for this one!)

▪️Luke Littler taking out 120 with treble tops in the Premier League at Sheffield Arena

Best albums I listened to in 2024:

▪️Alkaline Trio - Blood, Hair & Eyeballs
▪️The Calamatix - The Calamatix

Best thing I watched in 2024:

▪️Masters of the Air

Best books I read in 2024:

▪️Stephen Fisher - Sword Beach
▪️Al Murray - Arnhem Black Tuesday