Each soldier represents a man who lost his life 100 years ago today, and as curious onlookers asked what they were doing, they simply smiled sad smiles, and gave out their cards.
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The main ceremony will start Friday at noon (1000 GMT) with the sound of cannon shots at the Memorial of Thiepval, built in 1932 by the British government and is dedicated to the 73,367 British and South African soldiers missing in the Somme area during World War I.
Chairman of the group James Nuttall said: “We will continue to do this until the centenary of the First World War ends”.
The close of the vigil at the Grave of the Unknown Solider in Westminster Abbey, London, as the nation honours thousands of soldiers killed in the Battle of the Somme, 100 years after its bloody beginning, Britain Friday July 1, 2016.
At 3pm, a remembrance service will be held at Manchester Cathedral.
“But today is also a chance to stand as friends with the representatives of all the countries who are here today”, said Cameron, whose country voted last week to leave the European Union, an worldwide alliance set up in the aftermath of another conflict, World War II. We are looking at them, and what life was like beforehand.
Exhibitions have gone on display at 21 libraries around the county, including Droitwich, Warndon and Malvern.
William paid respects to the more than 72,000 men whose names adorn the Thiepval monument, whose bodies have never been found. “I’m hoping people will realise what these men sacrificed for our future”.
The church was decorated with poppies, whistles were blown at 7.28am and there was a two minutes silence to remember the fallen.
On the night before the attack, the BBC recounts, Second Lieutenant Percy Boswell wrote about the day to come: “I am absolutely certain that I shall get through alright but in case the unexpected does happen, I shall rest content with the knowledge that I have done my duty and one can’t do more”.
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Whilst the event was curated and planned by theatres, the men who took to the streets were not all actors, but from a huge range of professions from sheep farmer to doctor, shop assistant to lawyer, all aged between 16-52, the age that men would have been to be able to fight.
