British ex-servicemen would have been enthusiastic participants in next year’s commemoration of the 1916 Rising, writes Paul Taylor

A century after he went to fight in the First World War, diaries and letters about the death of an east Cork man just two months later, can be seen by the public all this week.

The wording on a new monument to soldiers from a British army garrison based in Tralee, Co Kerry, who died in the First World War, may be changed to help resolve a local row.

Stephen Sandford Irish Academic Press, €24.95 

Fr Francis Gleeson’s bravery as a WW1 chaplain is renowned, says James Fogarty

A series of coincidences has seen a First World War medal returned to the family of the Kerry soldier who owned it — 70 years after it was stolen in England.

Future historians proved their worth in digging up the past in their efforts to win prizes in an all-island schools competition.

Sixty nine men left Blackpool, in Cork City, to fight in World War 1 and never returned. Local historian Mark Cronin’s book, Blackpool to the Front, tells their story, which is echoed in towns across Ireland.

A new visitor centre has just opened in Flanders commemorating the 30,000 Irish soldiers who died in the First World War.

A return to Ireland by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is looking increasingly likely after the success of President Michael D Higgins’ visit to London.

There will be a five-day tour to the historic Somme area of France to visit cemeteries, memorials, museums and attend historical presentations this summer.

The Church Restaurant, Bridge Street, Skibbereen, Co Cork, 028-23625, thechurchrestaurant.ie

A museum is trying to track down the family of a First World War soldier whose Victory Medal was found buried in the grounds of a village church.

A HOST of ceremonies took place north and south yesterday to remember soldiers who had died during battle and while on duty.

IT was October 1914, two months after the outbreak of the Great War.

IN 1990, the Public Records Office released the files of the young men (some of them boys of no more than 16 or 17 years of age) executed by the British Army for desertion and allied breaches of military discipline in the First World War.

I AM trying to build up a picture of the people who came in contact with my grandfather, William Healy, at the time of his death in France during World War I.