MONM UTH WW1 CENTENARY COMMEMORATIONS Friday 2nd November to Sunday 11th November 2018 A programme of events and activities, remembering our local contribution to WW1 and those who served. @Monmouth_1 Monmouth Remembers World War 1 WW1 MONMOUTH: A TOWN AT WAR INTRODUCTION Celebrations to mark the centenary of the end of ‘the war to end all wars’ are taking place throughout the country this year - but few towns across the United Kingdom can compete with the range of events that have been organised in Monmouth. The citizens of this very special town should be particularly proud of themselves for marking, with such respect, the contribution made by all those who gave so much to ensure victory in 1918. It is no surprise that Monmouth should make such a special effort to remember its military forebears: the town has a long history of association with the Armed Forces. Today, the Headquarters of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers are in the Castle; the town retains strong links with HMS Monmouth; and there is even a unit of the RAF in the Boys’ School CCF. We all have personal links with someone who served in the Great War, and for many people the events of this week will be a poignant reminder of the part played by their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. I think that the practice of wearing one’s antecedents’ medals on Armistice Day is a wonderful way of showing respect and admiration for them; so I would encourage you to dig out those Pip, Squeak and Wilfred sets, stick them on your right breast, and wear them with pride when you attend the parade and service at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 2018. Brigadier Robert Aitken CBE, HM Lord Lieutenant of Gwent Whilst every effort has been made to ensure all activity and event details are correct, programme details are subject to change. Please contact individual programme venues to confirm details or go to: @Monmouth_1 Monmouth Remembers World War 1 Special thanks to DS Triwall Funded by the Armed Forces for supplying the Covenant Fund Trust cardboard tanks. and donations from your local community. 2 EVENTS HAPPENING THROUGHOUT REMEMBRANCE WEEK November 5th to November 11th WW1 Monmouth: A Town at War An exhibition exploring the impact of the Great War on the town and its people, created by community volunteers and staff from Monmouth Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by handling objects and costume. Venue: Monmouth Museum Monmouth 5000 Poppy Display Priory Street, Monmouth, NP25 3XA Time: 11.00am - 4.00pm daily See the beautiful display of knitted and crocheted poppies (closed Wednesday) on the front of Shire Hall, the result of a community Cost: Free project which saw the people of Monmouth create over 5000 Booking: No booking required poppies to decorate the front of this iconic building. Venue: Shire Hall Agincourt Square, Monmouth NP25 3DY Primary Schools Art and Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm Poetry Competition Cost: Free Throughout the week primary school pupils from Kymin Booking: No booking required View Primary School, Osbaston Church in Wales Primary School and Overmonnow Primary School will be writing poems that explore the legacy of WW1 and creating designs for a school ‘tank’ and a commemorative mug. They will also be visiting local museums to find out more about the men, women and children who took part in the conflict and helped on the Home Front. Key to Events Indoor Events Outdoor Events Private Event 3 EVENTS LISTING WW1 at the Castle & Regimental Museum Discover the story of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers Friday November 2nd including a small and informative WW1 exhibition dedicated Monmouth Male Voice Choir and to the eight companies of the RMRE who went to the Front. Monmouth Town Band in Concert Venue: Great Castle House Monmouth Branch of the Royal British Legion, Monmouth Castle Hill, Monmouth NP25 3BT Male Voice Choir and Monmouth Town Band present a Time: 2.00pm - 5.00pm festival of Cost: Free Remembrance Booking: No booking required concert to commemorate the end of Sunday 4th November World War One. Official opening of the Venue: Blake Theatre Monmouth Poppy Trail Almshouse St, Monmouth NP25 3XP In 2014 Monmouth Walkers are Welcome retraced the Time: 7.00pm route taken by soldiers from the RMRE as they departed Cost: £12.00 Concessions £11.00 Monmouth for the Front Line in August 1914. Following Booking: Contact the Blake Theatre funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund this trail has on 01600 719401 or been preserved and memorialised through interpretation email theblaketheatre.org panels at Castle House, a tableaux of Silent Soldiers placed in the memorial Garden and a series of ceramic poppy plaques All proceeds to the RBL Poppy Appeal and that will ‘stand proud’ on buildings along Monnow Street. Monmouth Male Voice Choir. Venue: Castle House Saturday 3rd November Time: 10.00am Monmouth WW1 Memorial Walk Cost: Free Booking: No booking required A guided walk with Monmouth Walkers are Welcome of approximately 2 hours taking you to key WW1 locations in the town including Vauxhall Fields and Monmouth Cemetery. WW1 at the Castle & Regimental Museum See above for details. Start point: Rockfield Road Car Park Time: 10.00am Venue: Great Castle House Cost: Free Time: 10.00am - 12.00 and 2.00pm - 5.00pm Booking: Contact Shire Hall on 01600 775257 Cost: Free Booking: No booking required Please wear suitable outdoor clothing/walking boots. 4 WW1 Walk - Castle House to Troy Station Tuesday 6th November Following the WW1 Film Double Bill official opening of Carrying on as Normal, written and directed by the Poppy Trail join David Evans and A Slice of Life, written and Monmouth Walkers directed by Sam Densham are Welcome as they guide you on Carrying on as Normal this moving walk. This short play, with music, borrows heavily from the You will follow the research of Monmouth historian Keith Kissack and same route taken Monmouth Museum’s Betty Williams, to portray a little of by soldiers of the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers how life carried on in August 1914 as they marched from Castle House to Troy for local families Station en route to the front. while their menfolk were away fighting Venue: Start at Castle House for their country. Time: 10.15am Cost: Free A Slice of Life Booking: Contact Shire Hall on 01600 775257 A witty, intelligent and informative The walk is approximately 3 miles. piece about an Please wear suitable outdoor clothing and footwear. amazing woman called Dorothy Peel Monday 5th November (OBE) who spent her early years growing Monmouth Rotary Club Bonfire Night up in Monmouth. A strong independent including WW1 Commemoration woman, at a time Rotary Monmouth will be running its annual Bonfire and when wives were still Fireworks display on Monday 5th November, ending with a the property of their husbands, Dorothy kept her career as spectacular poppy display. a writer, owned a hat shop and became Minister for Food during WW1. Venue: Town Field beside the Rowing Club Time: Gates open 6.00pm Venue: The Savoy Theatre Bonfire lighting by Mayor Terry Church Street, Monmouth NP25 3BU Christopher 6.30pm Time: 7.30pm Fireworks display starts at 7.00pm Cost: £10.00, £6.00 under 16s Cost: £6.00 adults, £3.00 children, Booking: Contact the Savoy Theatre £15.00 family (2 adults + 2 children) on 01660 772476 or Booking: No booking required www.monmouth-savoy.co.uk 5 Wednesday 7th November Friday 9th November Meet Tommy Atkins Primary School Poetry and Meet Tommy Atkins takes the Commemorative Mug Competition audience from the beginning The winners of the poetry and commemorative mug of the Great War to the end competitions will be revealed – look out for the of the Second. We learn of his announcements on Facebook and Twitter. experiences in the trenches – fighting on the Somme, at Passchendaele and Loos; and @Monmouth_1 MonmouthPoppies2018 also of the boredom, the loss and indeed the comradeship Private Tommy Atkins was Saturday 10th November there. This is his story. WW1 at Bridges Community Centre Venue: The Blake Theatre Throughout the day Bridges will be the venue for a series Time: 7.00pm of lectures by the well known local historian David Cost: £5.00 Harrison. Two classic silent filmsThe Life of David Lloyd Booking: Contact the Blake Theatre George and the Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands on 01600 719401 or 1914 will also be screened. email theblaketheatre.org Venue: Bridges Community Centre Thursday 8th November Drybridge Park, Monmouth NP25 5AS Time: 10.00 - 4.00pm Mud and Glory: Cost: Free The Art of World War One Booking: No booking required From fervent patriotism to the deepest despair, the artists of the Great War captured every aspect of the conflict - the terror, the endless waiting, the proud triumphs. Lecturer Eleanor Bird explores this extraordinary British art, when new ideas about painting forged with the Government’s wish to record the ‘War to End All Wars’. Venue: Shire Hall Agincourt Square, Monmouth NP25 3DY Time: 7.00pm Cost: £5.00 Booking: Contact Shire Hall on 01600 775257 6 Tank Display We Will Remember Them Visit the Shire Hall and see the display of ‘tanks’ decorated A tribute to the men and women of Monmouth who gave by pupils from Kymin View Primary School, Osbaston Church their all in WW1. This highly poignant projected display in Wales Primary School and Overmonnow Primary School; reveals some of the faces behind the names on the town’s a project inspired by the visit to Monmouth in July 1918 war memorials, as well as those who fought and returned.