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Creeping Barrage News & Notes from the Herts & Beds Branch Quarter One – March 2016 Creeping Barrage News & Notes from the Herts & Beds Branch DONATION AT THE DOOR £3.50 NEXT PRESENTATION: ‘THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 1917 – VISITING THE FALLEN’ www.wfahertsandbeds.btck.co.uk VENUE: ST. GEORGE’S SCHOOL, SUN LANE (SPORTS HALL ROOM SP101), HARPENDEN AL5 4TD www.westernfrontassociation.com DATE AND TIME: FRIDAY, 18 MARCH 2016 AT 8:00PM 0cvnnmncvn,m Peter Hughes has recently written three books under the generic title: "Visiting the Fallen". All three books are on Arras - 'Arras North', 'Arras South' and 'Arras Memorials'. There is a website to nxc,nn14 complement the publication of these books: http://visitingthefallen.co.uk. The site gives a good idea of what the books are about and these will form the basis of Peter’s presentation which will comprise an overview of the Battle of Arras in 1917 coupled with a sort of 'Who's Who' of those buried in the CWGC cemeteries in and around Arras, or commemorated on the four main memorials in that area. CREEPING BARRAGE NEWS & NOTES FROM THE HERTS & BEDS 2 BRANCH | QUARTER ONE – MARCH 2016 Zone Call – Notes from Geoff Cunnington, Chairman and Branch Secretary This month we welcome as our guest speaker, Peter Hughes, whose researches into the memorials in and around Arras should prove to be the basis for an interesting presentation and somewhat thought provoking evening – I encourage you all to attend and to continue to support your Branch. With spring approaching, there is much to look forward to in the centenary commemorations calendar. The anniversaries of Jutland, the Somme and Verdun together with the first days of the tank are all on the horizon. Do take time to visit the Centenary News website for all the up-to-date information on events over the coming months http://www.centenarynews.com/ And don’t forget our main event at Milton Keynes later in the year. SAVE THE DATE – BOOKING NOW AVAILABLE SEE PAGES 8 AND 9 Joint Branch Seminar with Milton Keynes 23 October 2016 The Cruck Barn, Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre, Alston Drive, Bradwell Abbey MK13 9AP I look forward to seeing you all soon. Geoff Cunnington March 2016 CREEPING BARRAGE NEWS & NOTES FROM THE HERTS & BEDS 3 BRANCH | QUARTER ONE – MARCH 2016 Previously at Herts & Beds 19 February 2016 ‘Letter to an Unknown Soldier’ Branch Committee Member, Simon Goodwin, writes: For this presentation, we were joined by Angela McSherry, an Arts that Britain went to war. There was also a presence on Facebook and Consultant, who came along to talk to us about the “Letter to an Twitter. Each day a selection of six letters, specially chosen by a panel, Unknown Soldier”, a project of which she had been a key member from were highlighted on the site. 2014. Many schools became strongly involved and Bohunt School, in Liphook, On Platform One of Paddington Station, in London, there is a statue of Hampshire, actually suspended its syllabus for a week to explore the an unknown soldier, commemorating all those employees of the Great story of WW1 with its students. Western Railway (GWR) who fell during the First World War, he’s reading a letter. The statue shows great detail for the time and was Other activities included taking the project out “on the road” and the created by the sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger MC (1885 – 1934) who group teamed up with the BBC at a number of country fairs and other had served in the Great War in the Artists Rifles and, later, the history events. The project also had individual “Champions”, in different Worcestershire Regiment. He served in Gallipoli and the Western Front parts of the country, who worked with local groups to encourage and was wounded three times. participation in the project. Although not sought, certain celebrities and politicians also became engaged and Angela showed us a photograph of The Theatre Director, Neil Bartlett, had walked past the statue at Joanna Lumley visiting the statue with a group of Ghurka trainees. Paddington Station on many occasions and had always wanted to include it in a piece of work. Then, just prior to the start of the The Management Group did consider, at the outset of the project, that centenary, he was approached by the “14-18 Now” group and invited to there may be the risk of some “nasty stuff” being submitted so eight create something around the centenary. He formed a small group of English Literature students from Bath Spa University acted as collaborators with a writer, Kate Pullinger, and Angela McSherry to moderators and read all letters before they went on the website – a bring his ideas to reality. tough job. The group determined that they would invite the public to write the A total of 21,439 letters were received, some coming from as far away letter that the soldier is seen reading – either from the perspective of it as Afghanistan, Iceland and South Korea. I know that our Branch being written today or at the time. They also decided early on that a Chairman, Geoff Cunnington, submitted one, as did I. The youngest website would be the best way to collect and display the public letter writer was aged 3 ½ years old and the oldest 91, indeed half the submissions. To get the project started a number of established writers, letters written were submitted by those aged under 25. Interestingly, from a variety of backgrounds, were invited to submit their own letters, 2,320 writers also wished to remain anonymous. As well as being including: Andrew Motion; Sebastian Faulks; Andy McNab; Stephen Fry; available to read on line, copies have also been archived at the British Stella Duffy; Benjamin Zephaniah; Lee Child and Melanie Blackman. Library. The last of these, Melanie Blackman, was Children’s Poet Laureate at Looking at “spin off” projects, Angela went on to tell us that a selection the time and her inclusion was a clear signal that children were actively of letters had also been taken and published, by William Collins, in a 256 encouraged to participate. Indeed the idea was that the project would page paperback edition. A composer has also approached the group be an inter generation experience and 3,000 letters had already been with a potential plan to turn some of the letters into an opera and an submitted by school children by the first day of the project going live American producer is talking about using some of the letters as starting online. points for TV dramas. Although nothing to do with this project, a project called “Talking Statues” has also used the statue, which is now Permission was also obtained from the Railway Authorities to use the accompanied by a QR code which, once activated, has the voice of statue in this way and, indeed, a number of station workers, including Patrick Stewart telling the visitor about the statue. one of the cleaners who regularly worked around the statue all day, submitted letters. Details of the project can be found online at https://www.1418now.org.uk/letter/ The Website opened on the hundredth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and closed on the anniversary of the date Simon Goodwin, February 2016 CREEPING BARRAGE NEWS & NOTES FROM THE HERTS & BEDS 4 BRANCH | QUARTER ONE – MARCH 2016 Coming-Up at Herts & Beds – Future Presentations 22 April 2016 ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ Valerie Fry from Wind & Words will present a clarinet and poetry programme based on the First World War, being a recital of World War 1 poetry interspersed with music from the time played on clarinet – a combination of classic well-known poems and original verse. 20 May ‘The Glorious Dead’: Figurative Sculpture of British First World War Memorials After the First World War many thousands of memorials were produced in the United Kingdom. Hundreds featured figurative imagery, the largest project of public sculpture the country has ever seen. In this talk, Geoff Archer will explain how, why, by whom, and for whom, memorials were produced. The greatest sculptors of the 1920s were called upon to render in marble and bronze the nation’s remembrance and grief: George Frampton, Albert Toft, Goscombe John, C.S. Jagger, Gilbert Ledward, Derwent Wood, Alexander Carrick, Walter Marsden, Louis Roslyn and many more. After nine decades their work can now be viewed in a new light and their contributions to the history of 20th century British sculpture rightfully restored to centre stage. Geoff Archer’s 2009 publication, The Glorious Dead, is the first comprehensive analysis of this subject. Lavishly illustrated with the author’s own photographs of soldiers and sailors, allegories of Peace, Grief, Victory and Death and images of women, workers, horses and biplanes, it concludes with lists of figurative memorials by date, design, location and sculptor. CREEPING BARRAGE NEWS & NOTES FROM THE HERTS & BEDS 5 BRANCH | QUARTER ONE – MARCH 2016 24 June Those Who Served: Remembering First World War Nurses Dianne Yarwood will describe how the personal letters, documents and reports collected for a 2015 exhibition at the Royal College of Nursing in London tell a story of dedication and loyalty to nursing in the Great War. Whilst the desire to serve is complex and driven by many different causes, the stories of RCN members illustrate a strong, personal commitment to professional nursing. A commitment that, according to the British Journal of Nursing in 1921, lost 150 nurses their lives. Read more: https://www.rcn.org.uk/development/library_and.../those-who-served Dianne Yarwood is a retired nurse educationalist; most recently associate dean at City University London in the then St Bartholomew School of Nursing & Midwifery.
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