A POIGNANT art installation at Stratford’s Holy Trinity Church will pay tribute to those who fell serving in the First World War.
The church is taking part in the There But Not There nationwide project as part of commemorations marking the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Three seated Tommy silhouettes can be seen in St Peter’s Chapel, which was dedicated in 1919 as a memorial to the 61st (2nd South Midlands) Division. This was a second-line infantry unit raised in 1915 from the men of Warwickshire as well as those from south Birmingham, Coventry, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
Holy Trinity secured grant funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust to purchase the perspex figures.
A further exhibition within the church tells the story of the contribution of the people of Stratford to the story of the Great War. Previously only on display at Hall’s Croft, the exhibition has been organised in partnership with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and features the stories of those in active service as well as on the home front.
And Holy Trinity will join CofE churches across the country in screening the 2018 film adaptation of RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End.
Set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne in 1918, towards the end of the Great War, the film portrays the officers of a British Army infantry company.
The free screening takes place on Wednesday November 7 at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm). Although free, the event is ticketed with a suggested donation of £5 towards the veterans’ charity Combat Stress.
Tickets are available from from the Holy Trinity church shop.
Visit www.stratford-upon-avon.org for further details of these and other Stratford Churches Together events taking place to mark the Armistice.
Visit www.therebutnotthere.org.uk for further information about the Tommy figures.
