Leander Club members (with Nicky Bird, second from right) on the Cross of Sacrifice at Tyne Cot CWGC Cemetery. The tour focussed on the places where Leander men fought and died in the Great War. A wreath in their honour was laid at the Menin Gate ceremony.

The Leander Club of Henley-on-Thames is the world’s premier rowing club and boasts more Olympic medals than any other club in the world. Members strive for rowing excellence but also ‘good fellowship’. So do Bird Battlefield Tours. Below is a photo of Dieter Strehl, Managing Director of the world’s finest playing card manufacturers and publishers, Piatnik of Vienna, enjoying Nicky Bird’s erudition on a Normandy beach, and a huge plate of shellfish and molluscs. ‘War is hell,’ said General Sherman, but even he stopped for a good lunch.