MEMBERS of the Cambridgeshire Regiment Association and serving soldiers from 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglians, have just returned from the Battlefields of the Somme on the 90th anniversary of perhaps the Cambridgeshire Regiment s finest hour. Freddie Gr

MEMBERS of the Cambridgeshire Regiment Association and serving soldiers from 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglians, have just returned from the Battlefields of the Somme on the 90th anniversary of perhaps the Cambridgeshire Regiment's finest hour.

Freddie Grounds, the association's president, said: "At the Schwaben Redoubt they absolutely distinguished themselves beyond all measure

"I felt it was poignant that, on this anniversary, we should have a service of remembrance on the site of the battle."

As part of their commemorations, officer from the association and the soldiers also took part in the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate, Ypres. Other than during World War 2, the ceremony has been held every evening since the Menin Gate was constructed in 1928.

Led by Captain Steve Bowns, a military historian, the group was a mix of World War 2 veterans, serving soldiers of the Royal Anglian regiment and members of the Cambridgeshire Cadet Force.

He said: "We're here to remember an amazing achievement from the 1st World War which has since been largely forgotten - the taking of the Schwaben Redoubt by the Cambridgeshires - and we thought it should be remembered."

"What we wanted to do was to show that we are part of a Regimental family that stretches back over 300 years.

" In 1964 the Cambridgeshires were amalgamated into the Royal Anglian Regiment. So we've brought serving soldiers from today's Royal Anglians, we've brought Army cadets from the Cambridgeshire ACF and we've brought veterans from the Cambridgeshires who fought in the Second World War - and this place speaks to them all.

"We are all part of one Regimental family.