A service of commemoration was held to honour the 366 officers and men of the Southdown’s battalions of The Royal Sussex Regiment who died at the Battle of The Boars Head on the 30th June 1916, and to the countless others who were wounded. The service, where wreaths were laid, was held at the Boars Head Memorial in Steine Gardens, Brighton and was led by the Mayor of the City, Cllr Robins, and with Cllr Mary Mears, Chairman of the Brighton RBL, and Cllr Amanda Grimshaw in attendance.
Representing the Royal Sussex Regimental Association was the Association Chairman, Maj. Barry Lane MBE TD, along with members from Chichester, Eastbourne and Mid-Sussex Branches supporting Brighton Branch’s Secretary Mr Bill Wood together with veterans from The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and The Royal Artillery. The mayor delivered the Exhortation, and a member of Brighton Branch recited The Kohima prayer. The Last Post and Reveille was played by a member of the Salvation Army and Cllr Amanda Grimshaw gave a short talk on the history of the battle.
Cllr Grimshaw had raised the money for the memorial in 2016 which has been set at the foot of the Regiment’s Abu Klea memorial and is in the same vicinity of the City’s Great War and World War Two memorial. After the service those who attended repaired to an area close by where a glass of port could be raised to honour the men who lost their lives, or were wounded, on the “Day Sussex Died”
