Established in August 2009 by Steve Jenkins and Peter Kitchen, the O’s Somme Memorial Fund (OSMF) stands as a tribute to the service and sacrifice of Clapton Orient Football Club’s players, staff, and supporters during The Great War.
The OSMF’s inaugural achievement was the unveiling of the O’s Somme Memorial in Flers on 10 July, 2011—the first-ever memorial dedicated to an English football club on the Somme battlefields.
A recruiting meeting was organised by the FA and the War Office at Fulham Town Hall, Harwood Road, almost five months into World War One, with a view to raising a battalion which would specifically comprise of footballers, club officials and supporters – the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (1st Football) which was to become more commonly known as the Footballers’ Battalion.
Initially only the foyer and small hall was made available for the meeting on Tuesday 15th December, 1914. However, so many people attended that the doors for the main hall were opened to let the large crowd in…
