.REMEMBERING BURNHAM’S NINE WHO DIED 
Alfred Herapath, 28, of Homebush, Burnham
Leslie Knight, 18, of Victoria Street, Burnham;
Ronald Young, 19, of Eton Road, Burnham;
John Bevan, 24, of The Grove, Burnham;
William Farthing, 20, of Adam Street, Burnham;
James Gulliford, 18, of Edithmead
Robert Dryerre, 23, of Burnham
William Wooley, 18, of Burnham
Eustace Turner, 22, of Burnham
Dozens of people have attended a special church service in Burnham-On-Sea where nine candles were lit in memory of local soldiers who died in the Battle of the Somme exactly 100 years ago this week.
An emotional service was held at Burnham’s St Andrew’s Church on Friday (July 1st) to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Battle of the Somme.
The service included a roll-call of the nine local people who died in the battle, named here, alongside stories from the survivors.
Candles were lit for each of the nine along. Two further candles were also lit in metal holders made from the remains of gun shells that were brought back to Burnham from the Somme warfield.
Rev’d Graham Witts, the Vicar of Burnham, who led the service, said: “The Battle of the Somme began with whistles being blown at 7.30am on the morning of 1st July 1916. By the end of the day 19,240 British soldiers had died.”
“Among these were nine from Burnham whose names are recorded on our War Memorial boards in St Andrew’s Church.”
He added: “One may wonder why we recalled this event. There are a number of reasons – not least to remember that ordinary, often frightened, young men, gave their lives in the cause of peace.”
“War was waged by the politicians of the day and the peace was signed by politicians – but, it was the ordinary soldier who daily pressed the case to bring about that peace – and often at horrific cost.”
“We did not know them, but they were the children of ordinary families from Burnham like you and I. In a small and seemingly wasteful way, they played their part that enables us to live as we do in a freely democratic society. We should remember them.”
