As part of its final training, in May the Battalion marched proudly from Sunderland to Uxbridge and was greeted and celebrated along the way. At Leaskdale a giant arch was prepared for the men, right outside Maud's and Ewan's gate. Young Chester stood beneath it so his mother could take his picture. Maud snapped pictures of the men as they marched up the hill in Leaskdale and as they passed through the archway. In her journal for 19 May 1916, Maud described the march:

"This was quite a day in the annals of our little village. The 116th Battalion which has been training in Uxbridge all winter and to which many of 'our boys' belong made a route march through the township and passed here at noon. We had several arches erected for them and treated them all to fruit and read them an address. Poor fellows. I wonder how many of them will ever return." (SJ,II,184)