Northumberland Fusiliers visit Belgian battlefields ahead of Somme centenary

Ahead of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, we have travelled out to Belgium and France with families, veterans and serving soldiers of the Northumberland Fusiliers.

The North East regiment raised more battalions than any other during the First World War - and members of its Tyneside Irish and Tyneside Scottish brigades had among the greatest casualties when the infamous battle began on 1 July 1916.

Organised by the Royal Regiment Fusiliers Association Northumberland, a group of over 100 people is on the continent this week to commemorate the anniversary.

First though, today, we visited some of the battlefields and cemeteries around Ypres in Belgium, where regular and reservist soldiers from the Northumberland Fusiliers fought in 1914 and 1915.

Watch my report:

Tomorrow, Friday 1 July, we will travel to France to take part in a commemoration of the start of the Battle of the Somme, at 'la Boiselle', at 0728 - the exact time British soldiers went over the top.