The young members of Camborne Youth Band will follow in the footsteps of brave Cornish miners who signed up to serve their country in the First World War, as they travel to France and Belgium later this month.

Joining them on their trip to the Western Front will be a 100-year-old bugle, which will be played when the band visits the small French town of Estaires where many Cornishmen were stationed before they went into battle.

Front line

The instrument belonged to Fred Negus, who was one of a group of local Dolcoath miners who joined the 25th Field Ambulance Unit in 1914 and was posted straight to the front-line.

Incredibly, it will be played close to the battlefields by 12 year old Corey Williams (above), who is Fred's great, great grandson.

"This is a trip that the band will never forget,"MD Alan Pope told 4BR. "We're honoured to remember the Cornishmen and countless others who served so bravely and who made the ultimate sacrifice."

Sporting commemoration

That sacrifice will also be marked by the band at the famous Menin Gate Memorial, whilst a happier, but equally poignant commemoration will take place when the band visits Estaires.

There they will remember three historic rugby matches that the Cornishmen played close to the front in 1915, after Camborne Rugby Club sent out a ball.

The Field Ambulance Unite organised games between Cornish and Devon teams — and descendants of the men who played 103 years ago live in Cornwall today.

We're honoured to remember the Cornishmen and countless others who served so bravely and who made the ultimate sacrificeCamborne Youth Band MD Alan Pope

Great significance

Ralph Williams, Fred Negus' great grandson, has been one of a group of people raising funds alongside his wife Tina for the trip — and he told 4BR that it will hold great significance for current as well as future generations.

"It's important for us to remember those men who put themselves in great danger throughout the war,"he said.

"When they wrote back to the local paper, the men said that one of the rugby matches was played on Whit Monday — but instead of the music of the Camborne Band to accompany them they had the music of the guns.

Over a hundred years later, we're finally taking a band from Camborne to play in Estaires."

The charity Bridging Arts will be staging a Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition about the trip at this autumn reporting on the trip.