Tag Archives: Westminster Abbey
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Armistice centenary 2018 – Strike a Light attends memorial at Westminster Abbey
9th November 2018 Kev	1 Comment
We're off to Westminster Abbey in London this Sunday 11th November for the special centenary commemorations of World War I along with the Royal Family, for our work with Strike a Light-Arts & Heritage on The Orange Lilies: Brighton & Hove in the Somme project from 2016 onwards.
We're very honoured to have been invited and feel like we're representing all the fantastic Great War focussed projects in Brighton and Hove on a national level.
Thanks to all our project partners – Brighton and Hove Libraries and Information Service, Fabrica Gallery and Gateways to the First World War, as well as our indispensible volunteers and participants who were involved in bringing this research to life during this time and helping remember the lives of the Royal Sussex Regiment during WWI.
2018ArchiveArmisticeBrightonBrighton and HoveBrighton and Hove Libraries and information servicesCentenaryeventsFabrica galleryGateways to the First World WarLondonParticipantsResearchRoyal Sussex RegimentSussexThe Battle of Boars HeadThe Battle of the SommeThe KeepThe Orange LiliesThe Orange Lilies - Brighton and Hove in the SommevolunteersWestminster AbbeyWorld War 1WWI
Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Editorial and design, Events, Heritage, Uncategorized
Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage to attend Armistice National Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey
7th November 2018 Kev
Nicola Benge, Creative Director of Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage will attend The National Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on 11 November 2018, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.
This will be on behalf of those from Brighton and Hove who took part in The Orange Lilies – Brighton & Hove in the Somme project about the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1916 through Strike a Light.
Members of the Royal family, and religious and political leaders will be joined by members of the public who have contributed to the Centenary on a national, regional and local level.
Recognising the huge contribution the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and its First World War projects have made to the Centenary, the Department for Digital, Media and Sport invited HLF to nominate people to attend the Service.
As a result over 300 people who have been involved with HLF funded First World War projects across the UK will be attending the Service on Sunday.
Our Centenary project was made possible by a grant of £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which distributes the heritage share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide variety of projects across the UK. HLF has invested £97million in 2,200 First World War Centenary projects.
11th November2018ArmisticeCentenaryFirst World WarHeritage Lottery FundLondonNicola BengeRoyal FamilyRoyal Sussex RegimentStrike a LightStrike a Light - Arts & HeritageThe Battle of Boars HeadThe Battle of the SommeThe Orange LiliesThe SommeWestminster Abbey
Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Plays and musicals, Uncategorized
The Unremembered – Project dates for Brighton
12th October 2018 Kev
We're pleased to have been commissioned to become a hub in Brighton and Hove by the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.
Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage will deliver workshops in October and November 2018 (We will confirm dates very soon) in Brighton and Hove with ten different groups in ten different venues across the city to look at the theme of The Unremembered. We aim to commemorate the Labour Corps service personnel and their experiences.
Free drop in families puppet making sessions (at following venues and times):
Monday 29th October – 1.45-4.15pm: ONCA at The Barge, The Waterfront, Brighton BN2 5UU
Thursday 1st November – 12-3pm: Brighton Open Market, Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JU
Saturday 24th November – 12-5pm: Black History Day at The Dome, Brighton.
Sunday 25th November – 11-1pm: Jubilee Library, Jubilee Square, Brighton.
Monday 19th November 2-3pm: Talk on Labour Corps and Sussex at Strike a Light, Brighton Open Market, Studio 8 (Mezzanine), Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JU.
*** More dates tbc ***
The Unremembered project background:
This project is about the Labour Corps – Service Personnel in the British Army who have essentially been pretty forgotten and aren't really commemorated anywhere. The aim is to raise the profile of the Labour Corps and share this learning with community groups.
Who were the Labour Corps?
Image: Collection of John Sheen author of histories of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry.
The Labour Corps supplied the army with weapons and ammunition, food and fodder, water and fuel. They built and maintained roads and railways. They were essential to the war effort.
British and Allied Forces struggled to cope with the demand for manpower after the huge losses of men during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. From January 1917, manpower was drawn from the UK, China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, the Caribbean and many other places within the British Empire.
Tens of thousands travelled thousands of miles to defend freedom and although they rarely saw service in the frontline, many died or were seriously injured. Today their contributions and sacrifice are all but forgotten. They are The Unremembered.
We are working engaging with freelancers and volunteers to deliver a series of history and resource led activities which focus on the art of making articulated paper puppets (a common past time a centenary ago) with community groups and families.
These puppets are a mixture of pre-printed on cardboard outline templates which can then be designed, created and compiled by participants and for those with dexterity issues or the very young, pre-designed printed templates which can be assembled with support and displayed. We will use fabric scraps, wrapping paper and wall paper to create overlaid uniforms for these puppets and to bring them to life.
We will also create activities to create dressing paper dolls, so creating the one dimensional paper dolls through templates which are cut out and then one dimensional clothing made relevant to our theme which can then be folded over the puppet body. These dolls were popular during WWI and were still printed then despite paper shortages.
Both these forms of puppet making are ideal for classroom and community projects because they are made with everyday craft supplies and reused materials.
The puppet theme for this project is two-fold – one that it is an engaging and accessible way to teach young people and community groups who are unaware of this lost period of history about the Labour Corps, and secondly that the puppets can be seen as a metaphor for the role of the Labour Corps in terms of having no control over their work or location, that they were moved around like mules and essentially treated as such too. This will be a way to valorise those men and celebrate their role.
This will help to remember some of the soldiers who served with the Labour Corps and their link with Sussex and draw this forgotten history into the light.
https://strikealight.org/projects/the-unremembered-project/
11th November 2018ArmisticeBig Ideas CompanyBrightonBrighton and Hove Food PartnershipBrighton and Hove Libraries and Information ServiceBrighton open marketFairlight SchoolFirst World WarFran MalonefreeHubJubilee LibraryLabour CorpsMemories PastNovember 2018October 2018ONCAProject DatesPuppetsService PersonnelStrike a LightStrike a Light - Arts & HeritageSussexThe BargeThe UnrememberedWestminster AbbeyWorkshopsWWI