Acc Pals on TV tonight, if you have SKY

[Atarah]

WILLIAM JOSEPH AND MINNIE BROADLEY from Sultan Street, Accrington, lost three sons in The Great War.
On Monday, Simon Broadley, their great nephew, from Walsall, spent the day in the brothers’ hometown of Accrington with a film crew from Sky Arts: they visited the war memorial in Oak Hill Park that bears the brothers’ names; their modest terraced home in Sultan Street which they shared with eight siblings; our local studies library where their military exploits are recorded in back issues of the Accrington Observer and Times (and where they met local experts Les Bond who’s own uncle served with The Pals and lived to tell the tale) and our own Retlaw. They finally went to visit The Pals Chapel in St. John’s Church where the boys were christened, where they attended services prior to leaving for the front and where their sacrifice is commemorated in the Roll of Honour.

It was a very moving experience and included several revelations: officially Tom has no known grave and is simply commemorated by his name on the Menin Gate at Ypres, but they were able to find a letter to his parents from a comrade which explained how he had died, assuring his parents that he had been buried with due respect and describing how he would be missed by his comrades. They also found an extract of a letter from Owen which dramatically captured his own experience of the horror of the war: “You don’t know what it is to be as near to death as I have been” etc. It was amazing to see his own words set down like this.

The short film will be broadcast tonight as part of the weekly Clive Anderson fronted ONE AND OTHER programme which is broadcast live from Trafalgar Square on SKY ARTS 1 and SKY ARTS 1 HD at 7:00pm - 8:00pm.

Simon will be interviewed by Clive Anderson in the course of the hour and historian Dan Cruickshank will be adding his own historical perspective on the historic sacrifice of the ‘Accrington Pals’ in WW1.

The programme is repeated at 8:00am on Saturday 26th September on SKY ARTS 1 and SKY ARTS 1 HD and can be viewed at any time on the Sky player ( http://skyplayer.sky.com) FOC for Sky subscribers and 0.98p for any non subscribers.

[Retlaw]

On Monday, Simon Broadley, their great nephew, from Walsall, spent the day in the brothers’ hometown of Accrington with a film crew from Sky Arts: they visited the war memorial in Oak Hill Park that bears the brothers’ names; their modest terraced home in Sultan Street which they shared with eight siblings; our local studies library where their military exploits are recorded in back issues of the Accrington Observer and Times

All that in the libray was a setup. I had already given Simon Broadley all those articles from the Accrington Observer and pictures of his uncles he'd never seen before, a week before the Sky crew arrived.

Most of it is pure bull****e for the viewers.
I spent most of the time dodging the bloody cameras, after watching several retakes, I cleared off, had enough of all the waffle.

(and where they met local experts Les Bond EH He did'nt know his uncle Harrys service numbers till I told him who’s own uncle served with The Pals and lived to tell the tale) and our own Retlaw. They finally went to visit The Pals Chapel in St. John’s Church where the boys were christened, where they attended services prior to leaving for the front and where their sacrifice is commemorated in the Roll of Honour.

It was a very moving experience and included several revelations: officially Tom has no known grave and is simply commemorated by his name on the Menin Gate at Ypres, but they were able to find a letter (he already had it) to his parents from a comrade which explained how he had died, assuring his parents that he had been buried with due respect and describing how he would be missed by his comrades. They also found an extract of a letter from Owen which dramatically captured his own experience of the horror of the war: “You don’t know what it is to be as near to death as I have been” etc. It was amazing to see his own words set down like this.

The short film will be broadcast tonight as part of the weekly Clive Anderson fronted ONE AND OTHER programme which is broadcast live from Trafalgar Square on SKY ARTS 1 and SKY ARTS 1 HD at 7:00pm - 8:00pm.

Simon will be interviewed by Clive Anderson in the course of the hour and historian Dan Cruickshank will be adding his own historical perspective on the historic sacrifice of the ‘Accrington Pals’ in WW1. What the eck does cruickshank know about the pals. Only Bill Turner and I knew the full story about the 11th Battalion East Lancs, and the details of over 4000 men who eventually served in the Battalion.

Retlaw.