Centenary News lists a selection of events taking place locally to mark the First World War Centenary in the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.
We’ll have separate daily updates on the main national and international commemorations and another overview of events taking place on August 4th 2014.
At Coleshill in Warwickshire, Coleshill Town Band is staging a charity concert on 2 August; there will be a Festival Weekend of Remembrance at Morley in West Yorkshire; Highclere Castle in Berkshire will host The Battle Proms; and you can join Croxteth Hall and Country Park in Liverpool for a World War One Dinner Dance on 2 August.
Herts at War, a project dedicated to remembering Hertfordshire’s Great War sacrifice and service, launches a museum exhibition in Letchworth Garden City. It features the first display of ‘colourised’ pictures of scenes from the county during the Great War.
The BBC World War One at Home tour will be stopping off in Folkestone, Kent on 4 August, and will be joined by IWM’s Lives of the First World War team. The Step Short project’s Commemorative Arch, also in Folkestone, will be unveiled that day by Prince Harry.
Still in Kent, the Shorncliffe Trust will place lanterns on the graves of 550 soldiers buried at Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, near Folkestone, as the Lights Out event across the UK ends at 11pm.
At Salford Quays, Honour will be a performance by hundreds of amateur singers; in Bristol, Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust will give a Great War Tour of the graves of service personnel and civilians from the First World War and the Jewish Museum London will host a commemoration of the start of the First World War.
Exhibitions
A number of new First World War exhibitions will be opening this weekend. Forgotten Fighters: the First World War at Sea, exploring the personal stories of naval personnel in the war, will be on display at the National Maritime Museum in London from 1 August 2014 – 1 August 2015.
National Museum Cardiff launches its new exhibition, National Memory – Local Stories, on 2 August. A wide variety of portraits will be on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s First World War exhibition in Edinburgh, Remembering the Great War, opening on 4 August.
Find out about British nurses of the First World War in a new display at the Royal College of Nursing Library and Heritage Centre from 4 August. See the Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace 14-18 photographic exhibition, depicting the First World War battlefields as they are today, in St. James’s Park, London between 4 August and 12 September.
Family history
A number of events are taking place where you can find out about your family’s connections to the First World War. Chester History and Heritage is running a free session with family history researchers on 2 August; on Monday 4 August, there will be a Family History Drop in Surgery at Tyne & Wear Archives, and Stokesley Library is inviting you to Trace your WW1 Ancestors on 5 August.
Performances
The centenary of the First World War will also be marked in a range of performances. Finborough Theatre will stage the UK premiere of Rolf Hochhuth’s play Sommer 14 – A Dance of Death from 5 – 30 August. The Lake District Summer Music festival will have a range of performances based on the First World War, running from 2 – 15 August. And The Wordsworth Museum and Art Gallery will host an informal gathering of words and music reflecting on the war, on 4 August.
Living history
There will also be opportunities to get involved in historical re-enactments at a range of living history events focusing on the First World War. Join Grey Point Fort in County Down for a World War 1 weekend, 3 – 4 August. Watch a cavalry display at Sewerby Hall and Gardens, East Yorkshire on 3 August. See tank displays and learn about trenches at The Tank Museum in Dorset on 4 August. Learn about wartime recruitment at the Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive’s Kitchener’s Army Weekend on 2 – 3 August. Experience a soldiers’ journey from home to war at Milestones – Hampshire’s Living History Museum from 5 August.
International events
The outbreak of war will not just be remembered in the UK. A number of events and exhibitions are happening around the world to mark the First World War Centenary. Ditsong National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg, South Africa will host a War and Peace Concert on 4 August.
In Victoria, Australia, Fort Queenscliff will hold a commemoration of the first shot of the First World War on 5 August. On 3 August, the launch will take place of Forgotten Names Recalled: Stories from the Singapore Cenotaph by The Singapore Cenotaph Project and The Arts House.
The Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin looks at the German experience of war in the 1914-1918 exhibition, open until 30 November 2014. Historic city walks of Antwerp in Belgium explore the role of the city during the First World War. The World at War, 1914–1918 exhibition at Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, USA features a range of items from the Center’s collections.
Visit the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa to see the Ordinary Canadians in Extraordinary Times exhibition, running from 30 July 2014 – 28 February 2017. At the Chemin des Dames Museum in northern France, the 1914 : Tommies on the Aisne exhibition tells the story of the BEF’s journey from the UK to the Aisne, via Mons and the Marne.
A weekend of Centenary commemorations is being held in the French city of Reims 2 – 3 August
Find a whole range of other events and search for something happening near you during the First World War Centenary by visiting the Imperial War Museum Centenary Partnership events calendar.
Source: IWM Centenary Partnership
Images: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News