p.m. proceeding via Dranoutre and Bailleul to Armentières, where it
arrived at 1 a.m. the next morning and went into billets at the Blue
factory. The following night it moved up to relieve Battalions of the
Royal Scots and Monmouths. B Company under Lieut. R.V. Hare, took over
"67" trench, C Company under Lieut. T.B. Heslop, "68" trench, A Company
under Capt. Ritson (8th D.L.I.), "69" trench, and D Company under Capt.
Livesay, Lille Post. The sector proved to be very quiet and the trenches
exceptionally good. It is interesting to note that about this time the
training of bombers was organised, and 2nd Lieut. P.H.B. Lyon of the
Battalion was appointed first Brigade Bombing Officer.

The men were now beginning to realize that their first taste of
conditions in France was not typical of the whole front, and that war had
its more pleasant side. After the "Salient," the Armentières trenches
were a picnic, and though there is little of historic interest to record
concerning the tour, it formed the subject of many conversations and
jests when harder times followed. Many times, probably, in the
water-logged shell holes of Passchendaele in 1918 was it recalled how
once at Armentières even the duck boards were cleaned daily and men were
crimed for throwing matches on them. It is not forgotten either how the
Battalion Band first came into being at Houplines.

On the 11th August, the 6th and 8th Battalions once more assumed a
separate identity. Major Borrett, D.S.O., the King's Own, took over
command of the 6th Battalion with Capt. Jeffreys once more as Adjutant.
Four days later Major Borrett left and handed over the command to Capt.
Jeffreys, 2nd Lieut. P.H.B. Lyon becoming Adjutant. On this
re-organization the Companies of the Battalion became known as W, X, Y,
and Z. About the same time the 5th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire
Regiment left the Brigade, and was replaced by the 5th Battalion Border