August 2026 - Summer on The Somme – All the News from No.fifty6.
Posted on 31st August 2026 by Julie and David Thomson in General News.
August - peak summer here. We all know it has been a long, very hot, very dry, dusty summer. Everything stops in France in August for Les Vacances, but as usual we have had a busy month.
The landscape is crisp and brown, not green and fertile. The wheat harvest is over, early and poor this year. Barren stalks stand in the fields where it is too dry to plough. Not a good year for the farmers. The irrigation rigs dotted everywhere not doing much for the potatoes and maize which wait for rain and harvest. We have had some rain towards the end of this month, the first for 2 months, but not nearly enough to counter the dry spell. Te month ends unsettled, cooler and with rain showers so we will see how the landscape changes.
The last couple of newsletters we have included some “last letters home” rather than poetry. We know these have been well received and one guest even used the last letter as part of his tour with friends up at Serre.
We continue the theme with another poignant exchange of correspondence from The Somme.
Lieutenant Raymond B. Penniman was born in Massachusetts in 1891, his father Edwin moved the family to Ontario sometime before 1911.Raymond became a Canadian citizen in order to take a commission, enlisting in 1914. He served as a Lieutenant in Company A of the Royal Canadian Regiment, 7th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division.
