Christmas Message from the Chair

On behalf of the Committee, I’d like to wish all members and supporters of the SCS, their families and friends, a Merry Christmas. We hope that you all have an enjoyable festive period and can welcome 2026 in with good spirits.   

Once again, I am pleased to report that the past year has been good one for the Society. Membership numbers remain strong, which is heartening to see, as your continued support is an indicator that the Committee are working in the right way to fulfil the Society’s objective of keeping alive the memory of all those who served in the Salonika Campaign through Remembrance activities, research and public facing outputs ranging from history talks, publications and social media to battlefield tours.

This year saw the successful trialling of a new format for our annual meeting and AGM. The problem over recent years of getting the majority of the Committee together in person was overcome by taking the AGM online. This proved a success with a wider range of members attending, including some from outside the UK. Several action points were forthcoming from the meeting, on which the Committee are now working. I would like to thank members for contributing ideas and volunteering for aspects of Society work both during the AGM and in subsequent email follow ups. At the annual meeting in London, members attending were treated to three excellent talks on a range of Salonika Campaign topics. I was pleased to welcome several new faces to the meeting, among them a few folk from this year’s battlefield tour. An in-person meeting in London is a good opportunity for members to get together and a way of maintaining the tradition, started by the SRA, of laying a wreath at The Cenotaph. Plans for next year are in progress.

In terms of our other commemorative events, the Society was represented by a plot at the RBL Field of Remembrance outside Westminster Abbey. Thanks to members Darren Rolfe, David Tarn and Jonathan Saunders for joining me at the opening. I hope members are taking the opportunity over the two-week lifespan of the Field to visit and plant a cross of Remembrance. The Field is an impressive spectacle, and a walk around really does bring home the sacrifice made in conflicts since 1914. A few days after the opening of the Field of Remembrance, SCS members gathered with staff and volunteers from the National Trust on 11 November at the Sandham Memorial Chapel for a Remembrance service. This event is now a fixture in the SCS calendar, is increasingly popular with SCS members and is a fitting way to round off our commemorations for the year. The Chapel is the nearest thing in the UK to a memorial to the BSF, which makes the active relationship between the team at the Chapel and the SCS something we should work hard to maintain.

Overseas we had a very successful battlefield tour that had as it’s theme the role of artillery with the BSF. A tour group of 27 visited key ground associated with British operations in the Salonika Campaign. This included new locations near the River Vardar (Axios) around Machukovo (Evzoni) and Smol (Mikro Dassos). Thanks to members Apostolos Nalmpantis, Graham Winton and Keith Roberts for assisting with a pre-tour recce to the area and again to Graham for taking on a couple of the associated stands. It was interesting to see that the SCS contingent formed the largest contingent of representatives of any of the commemorative associations/societies present at the official Remembrance ceremony at Polykastro. Members may be interested to know that I am now in touch with representatives from the Association Nationale Pour Le Souvenir Des Dardanelles Et Fronts d’Orient, who plan to be at Polykastro next year.

For 2026, as well as another battlefield tour, it is planned to restart work on the map cataloguing project at the National Archives and to run the Philip Barnes Bursary for a second time, which will allow a university student or early career researcher to accompany the 2027 battlefield tour. The Society will also look at the feasibility of running another Salonika Study Day at a venue outside London in 2027. The Committee would welcome ideas for potential venues for a study day or to hear from members wishing to get involved with the map project.

Now, as I close and turn to eat another mince pie, I’d just like to thank my fellow Committee members for their work over the past year. We work as a team to keep the Society moving on the right track for the benefit of all members. Thanks also go to various members who have actively participated in events and projects run by the Society and those who have made suggestions and volunteered to assist the Committee in numerous ways.

It just remains for me to wish you all the best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. I hope 2026 gives us as many chances as possible to meet to remember all those men and women of the BSF who remain firmly at the heart of our fellowship.

Society Battlefield Tour 2026 – The ‘Sappers in Salonika’ Tour

Whilst having the central theme of the role of the Royal Engineers in the Salonika Campaign, the tour will visit all the key locations associated with the British Salonika Force and look to break some new ground:

• The Birdcage Line
• Kosturino
• Doiran Battlefield
• Struma Valley
• The Vardar Sector (west of Pip Ridge)

Several CWGC sites will also be visited:

• Lembet Road; Doiran (inc Memorial); Karasouli; Struma; Kirechkoi-Hortakoi

Proposed dates for the tour are Sunday 20 – Tuesday 29 September

If you are interested in joining the tour please contact SCS Chair, Alan Wakefield, to get your name on the emailing list for further details.

Other Opportunities to visit the Salonika Battlefields in 2026

The battlefield tour operator The Cultural Experience is planning a tour (25 – 30 April) to key British related Salonika Campaign sites. The tour will be accompanied by SCS Chair, Alan Wakefield. Details here.