Our ‪#‎Somme100‬ service this morning was led by Rt Revd. Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury at our ‪#‎WW1‬ trench. Broad Chalke Primary School sang beautifully and there were readings by Lieutenant-Colonel John Wakelin, Alex Langlands and Bee James.

somme from Chalke Valley History Trust on Vimeo.

We have had a record amount of rainfall in the last month and unfortunately the site has become quite muddy. CVHF is taking action to improve both the car park accessibility and the event areas:

EVENT ARENA
1. We are putting down additional matting at the main entrance and the entrances to the talk tents
2. We are purchasing significant tonnages of woodchip to place at points of significant footfall

CAR PARK
1. The tracking in our field is being kept clean and covered in sand to improve traction
2. We are utilising a rota system for entry and exit traffic routes to use less muddy parts of the field
3. We are increasing the numbers of car park attendants
4. We have multiple tractors on site to ensure cars can be moved at all times if they get into difficulty
5. We are deploying our additional car park over the weekend which is dry and unused so far

We are laying on additional assistance for the public
1. People with mobility requirements are able to use mobility scooters throughout the site and we are supplying a quantity of scooters for the public
2. We are providing several drivers in the car park to ferry infirm people from their cars to the event arena
3. All of our volunteers and staff will be assisting the public to ensure they can fully enjoy the festival

All customers should ask for assistance at any time from any the volunteers and staff

The last two days have seen a significant improvement as the drier conditions and sun and wind have resulted in the fields becoming less muddy and we expect further natural drying.

CVHF Team

speaker teaser 1080 from Chalke Valley History Trust on Vimeo.