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The O’s Somme Memorial Fund

The O’s Somme Memorial Fund was launched by Steve Jenkins, Peter Kitchen and Theresa Burns in August 2009, specifically with a view to having a memorial on the Somme to honour the service and sacrifice of the players staff and supporters of Clapton Orient Football Club, and this was achieved following extensive investigative work and research by Peter Kitchen to locate a suitable location, when on 10 July, 2011, and specifically intended to take place during an O’s Somme Tour, the O’s Somme Memorial was unveiled in the village of Flers – it has a unique design and is the very first memorial on the Somme to commemorate an English football club.

On 24 October, 2021, a second memorial to honour the O’s wartime service was officially unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Based on the original memorial in Flers, and as like that memorial, it is the first to commemorate a football club at the arboretum and was once again made possible by fund-raising initiatives and generous donations by Leyton Orient supporters and fans of other clubs, as well as the general public and with the dedication, commitment and hard work of the O’s Somme Memorial Fund Committee.

The OSMF has continued to actively promote the O’s WW1 story and in recent years, in addition to Steve Jenkins who is Chairman and Peter Kitchen the Patron, Malcolm McCarthy MBE has joined the committee as Secretary and Treasurer and Alex Hup who is an experienced battlefield guide, to further develop and promote the organisation’s on-going work.

In 2016 and 2018, Peter and Steve co-produced a stage play ‘The Greater Game’ in association with writer the playwright Michael Head, held at the Southwark and Waterloo East Playhouses respectively to packed audiences. Both productions had the backing of all the Football Authorities and Governing bodies, as well as the PFA and they were also supported by the Royal British Legion.

The OSMF has forged a close friendship with the McCrae’s Battalion Trust as well as Heart of Midlothian FC, along with a number of other Scottish clubs and Northern Ireland side Linfield FC of the Irish Premiership, all of whom who served in the Great War, this all developing and growing alongside the work of the OSMF, who actively continue to commemorate and honour the service and sacrifice made by Clapton Orient, and other clubs who served ensuring they will always be remembered.