A CORNISH folk rock harmony group used their airtime on the BBC to remember a piece of Cornish history, 100 years on.

The Countrymen band, formed by Paul Callow, the owner of the Countryman Inn at Langdon Cross, appeared on BBC Spotlight on April 10 to sing a song a friend penned about the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (DCLI) in World War One.

It was midday on March 23, 1918, at The Somme. It was day two of the Great German Offensive that very nearly succeeded in driving the British back into the sea.

The 1st/5th Battalion of the DCLI were given orders to immediately attack the village of Verlaines. Starving, exhausted and with no time for reconnaissance, they moved out from the cover of a railway cutting into open land just 4,000 yards from the village outskirts.

As they lined up readying themselves for the order to advance, the band of the 7th Battalion DCLI (understood to have been the band of the 6th Battalion, transferred to the 7th) stepped up and played them Trelawny — the Cornish ‘national anthem’ — in support.

It was so unusual for musicians to have their instruments in the front line because they were the stretcher bearers, which is why many consider this as possibly the last occasion that a British military force was played into battle.

The 1st/5th DCLI did successfully take Verlaines but at the loss of 800 men. Such was their valour and tenacity that Sir Douglas Haig mentioned them specifically in his account of The Great War, which was almost unheard of for a battalion.

Part of Captain Leverton’s war diary reads: “We are then told by an acting brigadier that we are to do a counter-attack on a village called Verlaines. It was all arranged in five minutes.

“Off we go in artillery formation. The mist has cleared and it is quite hot — a good day for tennis.

“Suddenly, I hear a band and on the road is the band of the 7th DCLI trying to cheer us up. We go on for quite two miles. We then see the village, extend, fix bayonets and trudge slowly on, very hot, tired and hungry. Several men faint.”

Mike O’Connor, a friend of The Countrymen band, has written a beautiful song, ‘The Band Played Trelawny’, marking 100 years since the battle. The band performed the song in a segment filmed by the BBC at DCLI Regimental Museum in Bodmin, among the World War One section.

Band member Steve Gilbert said: “Whilst we were developing the song (with a hint of theatre) we realised that this was an unheard tale that justified recognition at the very least on its centenary.”

During the band’s research, they received assistance from Hugo White, a historian at the DCLI museum and also a Melanie James, whose great uncle was shot at Verlaines.

He was one of the stretcher-bearers that Captain Leverton in his war diary describes as being killed and was also a musician in the band of the 1st/5th Battalion DCLI. Melanie was over at Verlaines on March 23 this year to commemorate the centenary of her great uncle’s sacrifice.

l The Countrymen are Stephen Gilbert, Steve Cooksey, Paul Callow, Ijaz Bhatti, Simon Wrench and Alan Brinicombe. Their debut CD will be available in late May and will feature all of their songs to date.

Catch them performing at the Royal Cornwall Show on Friday, June 8.