SCHOOLCHILDREN who are visiting France have offered to take personal tributes to lay on the graves of East Lancashire's fallen war heroes.
And they will reflect on how 550 local lads gave their lives or were injured on July 1, 1916, at the Battle of the Somme.
Twenty-seven high school pupils from Blackburn and Darwen are visiting the battlefields and cemeteries of the Somme on a mini study tour at the end of October as part of their GCSE history course. And the 15 and 16-year-olds want to take personal messages, tributes or poppies from the families who lost soldiers in the First World War.
Accrington Pals historian Bill Turner said: "It will be an immensely moving experience for these youngsters to think about the trenches and how all those friends got out of their trenches for the Battle of the Somme and walked the 250 yards into a hail of gun fire and machine guns."
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