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Thiepval Visitor
Centre
Opening hours
0900 - 1700 1st
November to 28th February
1000 - 1800 1st March to 31st October.
The Centre is open every day
(except for
the Christmas - New Year closure)
The 2009 - 2010 closure will be from
MONDAY 21st December 2009 to SUNDAY 10th
January 2010
both days inclusive
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Events
A meeting of the Franco-British Advisory Committee was held on
Friday 16th October 2009
(see below)
Wednesday 11th
November 2009 at the Memorial
1030:
Service of Remembrance
with the Hampshire
Police Band
The Somme
Branch of the Royal British Legion are meeting at the Poppy
restaurant in La Boiselle at 1930 on Tuesday 10th. Supper
tickets
€20
The Hampshire
Police Band will be in attendance.
There are always exhibitions at the Historial de la Grande Guerre
in Péronne
Historial de la
Grande Guerre
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The Centre
The English-speaking members of staff,
Vincent, Dawn, Cathy and Emilie are there to
welcome you. They are also assisted by
other 'Historial' staff.
Tel: 00333 2274 6047
The Centre manager is Vincent Laude
thiepval@historial.org
The Historial de la Grande Guerre (museum)
of Péronne who manage the Centre on behalf of the Conseil Général
de la Somme is a first class international museum and well
worth a visit by anyone interested in the Great War.
www.historial.org
Guillaume de Fonclare is Director of the Historial
de la Grande Guerre. He is working to improve and
coordinate the facilities for visitors throughout the Somme
battlefields and has been instrumental in promoting a new air service from
Manchester.
Completion of the work of the Charity
On 1st June
2006 the Thiepval Project handed over the last vestiges of
their responsibility in respect of the new Visitor Centre to the Conseil Général de la Somme.
The Charity again took the opportunity of expressing their sincere
appreciation for all that our French friends have done and
will now continue to do in the creation and maintenance of a
Visitor Centre at Thiepval.
The British interest in the Centre has now devolved upon
a joint Franco-British Advisory Committee
LE CENTRE D’ACCUEIL ET D’INTERPRÉTATION DE
THIEPVAL
THE THIEPVAL VISITOR CENTRE
Membres du comité consultatif
franco-britannique
Members of the Franco-British advisory
committee
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le Président du
Conseil général |
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le Vice-Président
chargé de la Culture |
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le Conseiller général
délégué au Tourisme de mémoire |
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le Conseiller général
du canton d’Albert |
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le Directeur général
des services du Conceil général et ses collaborateurs concernés |
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le Directeur du
C.D.T. de la Somme |
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le Directeur de
l’Historial de la Grande Guerre |
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The British Consul General, Lille |
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The Director, France, Commonwealth
War Graves Commission |
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The Head of Remembrance Travel,
Royal British Legion |
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The Chairman, The Thiepval
Project |
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The Military Attaché, British
Embassy, Paris |
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The Director, Imperial War
Museum |
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The Lutyens Trust |
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The Charles Skey Trust |
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Interreg IIIA |
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New
Thiepval church clock with the hours now rung on by a
device donated by the Thiepval Project
On 30th March 2008 as a retirement gift
to her village, after many years as Mayor of Thiepval, Madame
Geneviève Potié MBE donated a clock which
has been placed in the
empty space left for one when the new church was rebuilt in 1930.
To accompany this clock the Thiepval Project has arranged for
the church bell to sound the hours. It is also rung for
five minutes at noon each day and should also ring for five
minutes at 0730 on each 1st July. This is one of the
final uses of Project funds which are now virtually
extinguished and it is hoped that the sounding of the bell
will be associated with all the men who suffered and died in
this area during the battles of the Somme.
The Thiepval Project
once again wishes to thank Madame
Potié for making the land available for the visitor centre and
hopes that she will grace many more 1st July ceremonies with
her presence and under a beautiful hat.
The new Mayor is
Monsieur Max Potié.
The
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
In June 2006 the Conseil Général de la Somme
awarded a contract to the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission to maintain the grounds around the Visitor
Centre. This news was welcomed by all concerned
with the Thiepval Project.
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For those travelling to the Somme or
planning visits to the Great War battlefields the following
websites may be of use:-
Historial de la
Grande Guerre
www.somme-battlefields.com
Somme-Tourism
http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/news/
www.somme-remembrance.com RBL Somme Branch
www.somme-1916.com
The Commonwealth War Graves
Commission
The
Royal British Legion
The Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park
Delville Wood
Bony
USA cemetery, Somme
Cemeteries
in Picardy
The Digger history site
HOW TO GET TO THE VISITOR CENTRE
Calais to Thiepval

Approximate mileage
from the Channel Tunnel
0
From TUNNEL take A16 →
Calais / Lille / Reims / PARIS until
exit 18
6
At / from CALAIS take A26 →
St Omer / Arras / Reims / PARIS
25 Toll booth
- payage
Take ticket (Near
St Omer)
72
Go on past exit 17 (Arras) then
branch on to A1→
Arras-Est / PARIS
86
Leave A1 at
exit 14 BAPAUME
Toll € 9.60
. Take the By-pass →
AMIENS
Albert
87 Follow
→ AMIENS Albert After
the 4th roundabout you will be on the D 929
88 LE
SARS Carry straight on through village
98
POZIÈRES, turn right → Thiepval. (It is
signposted )
100
THIEPVAL, turn left for the Monument and Visitor Centre
(follow the signposts)
Speed limits: KM /
MPH
autoroutes:130 / 80 if
fine, 110 / 68 in rain,
or if so marked.
On open road 90 / 55. (not 60 as in UK)
In
towns and villages 50 / 30. (Beware
- the town / village name
sign counts as an automatic 50 /
30 limit sign.)
Also
70 / 43
in certain marked places such as near cross roads on the
D929
It is often easier to pay
the autoroute toll by credit card (CB). Put the
ticket, then your card into the machine, or if the queue is
not too long, just give the ticket and your card to the
attendant. (Visa or Master Card). They return your
card instantaneously.
CALAIS to THIEPVAL should take you no more
than 1h 30mins
Entrance to the Visitor Centre is free.
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