Battle of the Somme centenary - European unity for the end of wars

AT precisely 7.25am today a salvo of artillery fire from three First World War guns resounded in London’s Parliament Square.

Five minutes later, Lance Corporal Richie Spence, from Newtownards in County Down, played a lament on the bagpipes by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.

On this side of the water — in both Dublin and Belfast — equally solemn events were held to commemmorate the thousands of British soldiers who died in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.