A Day in the Somme

This week I was primarily at Beaumont-Hamel and I’m going to share with you what a typical day looks like for a guide at BH. 

BH is about a 40-minute drive from where the guides live and most of the ride consists of country roads and farmland. Work starts at 8:45 so we leave between 7:40 and 7:50 depending on if we want to go to the bakery first. I have finally learned how to drive to the site without using google maps but every once in a while, I need to check if it’s the third or second exit that needs to be taken during one of the numerous traffic circles. The only one in Canada that I am familiar with is in Kemptville to get to their Timmies but I now feel much more confident driving through them. 

There are normally 4 guides working on site but sometimes there will be 5 or 6. These guides rotate between four different posts on site; entrance, visitor center, caribou monument, and tour guide. The time slots are usually about an hour and a guide at the visitor center gives everyone a 10-minute warning before rotations start. During lunch rotations, the tour guide stays at caribou unless a tour is scheduled. 

The visitor center position (Accueil) is at the front desk and they are in charge of writing down statistics, checking the facilities and booking tours. The entrance guide (Entrée) mostly hangs out in a little heated cabana and comes out when a visitor approaches to welcome them, tell them about what the site has to offer, gives brochures, and tells them the guide at Accueil the nationality of the visitors and how many have arrived on site. We are allowed to read books from the sites library which are mostly about Canadian military history to widen our knowledge and to keep busy. The caribou guide always does a full walk around the site in the morning but after that stays near the memorial to answer questions and to ensure that rules—such as no running on site or climbing the caribou—are heeded. The tour guide provides tours of the site which last between 35-45 minutes when there is no tour, they perform administrative tasks.

The site is much quieter and gets less foot traffic because it is in a more remote area and isn’t as well know compared to Vimy. However, BH gets many Brits coming in because Tiepval Memorial, a significant Commonwealth Somme memorial, is very close-by. We do also get some French locals who do the loop around the 74-acre site. 

BH also does not give nearly as many guided tours in a day. While a slow day at Vimy might mean only one tour for each of the 7 guides on rotation, at BH there can be multiple days in a row where no one requests a tour provided by one of us. Often the visitors prefer the self-guided tours—pamphlets with a map of the site and information—rather than the 45-minute tour provided by one of us. It is also common for groups to come with their own tour guide whom they hire to take them around multiple sites in the Somme. This is especially the case with larger groups who arrive on coach buses who stay round 30 to 15 mins and use the free public washrooms in the visitors’ center, a rarity in Europe. 

I enjoy working on the site because it allows me to get some much-needed introvert time because the guides only see each other during rotations. Some of the more extroverted guides have a hard time with this and much prefer the busyness of Vimy. Both sites are unique, and I enjoy being able to work at both sites! I hope this helps raise awareness of this small but significant site. I highly recommend making the trip if you are in the area and we would love to give you a tour!