To coincide with the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme this Saturday (1 July) the Transport Executive has named a Sheffield bus after the French village of Serre where many Sheffield men tragically lost their lives courageously fighting in the trenches around the village.
The 201 bus service, which runs between Sheffield, Stocksbridge and Meadowhall, is just one of a series of buses which have been named after local historical events, legends and South Yorkshire heroes.
During World War 1, Lord Kitchener decided to raise an army of volunteers to be known as ‘Pals’ from across the UK. Within a week 1,000 Sheffielders from all walks of life had signed up, including students, clerks, teachers and businessmen. Many of the men were brothers, cousins and friends all fighting alongside each other.
After 18 months of training the Sheffield Battalion arrived in France, their objective was to re-capture Serre, a small hamlet which had been in German hands since 1914. On 1 July 1916, the Sheffield City Battalion fought alongside the Accrington Pals in a heroic but unsuccessful attempt to capture Serre.
Sadly 513 officers and men from the Sheffield Battalion were killed, wounded or missing from this battle and were laid to rest in the Luke Copse Cemetery, the British side of no man’s land. After the war, Sheffield placed a memorial in the village of Serre to the Sheffield Pals Battalion and in 1936 the Sheffield Memorial Park was opened on the side of the British front line below Serre.
Robert Shepherdson from the Transport Executive who is behind the initiative of linking rural buses with historic events said: “It was a great way of remembering and honouring South Yorkshire’s heritage.”
"We decided to name all the rural buses after local pieces of history and we are very pleased with the positive comments it has generated. It is a great way of getting the local community talking about history and, of course, generating local interest in public transport.”
Some of the other names of the Rural Links buses include The Clayminer, Ebenezer Elliot, The Clock Tower, Samuel Fox, Nijinsky, Tickhill Castle and Paganus.