Agenda item

The Committee considered the following report:

 

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

 

1.1       The purpose of this report is to give consideration to hosting Shrouds of the Somme Exhibition in the Garden of Remembrance, City Hall to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.  It is proposed that the exhibition take place from Thursday 23 August to Sunday 16 September 2018.

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

 

·        Consider the proposal to host the Shrouds of the Somme Exhibition in the Garden of Remembrance City Hall from Thursday 23 August to Friday 16 September.  A commemorative installation to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, an event of international importance which will resonate around the world

·        Agree a revenue budget of approximately £32,350 to host the Shrouds of the Somme Exhibition (breakdown provided in main report)

·        Note that if agreed, further details on the launch event will be brought to Members in due course for consideration

 

 

3.0       Main report

 

            Key Issues

 

            Shrouds of the Somme

 

3.1       Shrouds of the Somme is an extraordinarily powerful piece of commemorative art which marks the centenary of the end of the First World Ward in 2018.  The enormous scale of the Shrouds of the Somme brings a genuine sense of the true cost of the conflict, whilst remembering those who gave their all as individual men. 

 

3.2       The objectives of the Shrouds of the Somme Exhibition are detailed as:-

 

·        To prompt remembrance and give meaning to the scale of loss

·        Engage the next generation

·        Build a lasting legacy or those lost

·        Raise funds for charities

 

3.3       Artist Rob Heard is hand stitching and binding calico shrouds for 72,396 figures representing servicemen of the British Empire killed at the Somme who have no known grave, many of whose bodies were never recovered and whose names are engraved on the Thiepval Memorial.  Each figure is of a human form, individually shaped, shrouded and made to a name.  The main event will take place on Armistice Day at Queen Elizabeth Park where the figures will be laid out shoulder to shoulder in hundreds of rows filling an area of over 4,000 sqm.

 

3.4       Officers have been engaging with the Shrouds of the Somme team with a view to bring the exhibition to Belfast.  The exhibition has travelled to other parts of the United Kingdom but has not been to Northern Ireland.  The Shrouds of the Somme team would be very keen to work with Belfast City Council to display the exhibition in Belfast.

 

3.5       Outcome from previous installations – Exeter and Bristol 2016

 

·        145,000 visitors over 18 days

·        £52,000 raised for charities

·        Headline item on BBC National new

·        14 million film views (not just reach) on social media

 

 

            Belfast Proposal

 

3.6       Lay out of 3,762 shrouds to represent those from Ulster and Irish Regiments or from Belfast killed at the Somme with no known grave whose names are on the Thiepval Memorial.

 

Royal Irish Rifles	1,199
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers	841
Royal Dublin Fusiliers	428
Royal Irish Fusiliers	343
Royal Irish Regiment	276
Royal Munster Fusiliers	230
Irish Guards	212
Leinster Regiment	112
London Irish/Rifles	60
Other Irish Regiments	5
From Belfast, other Regiments	53

 

3.7       It is proposed that a launch event for Shrouds of the Somme exhibition take place on the morning of Thursday 23 August with an invited audience.  The event will take place in the Garden of Remembrance, weather dependent.  Further detail on the format of the event will be presented to Members in advance.  Initial thoughts centre around a sombre respectful event to include music, some poetry and speakers. 

 

3.8       Following discussion with the Royal Ulster Rifles Museum there is tentative agreement for the loan of a Victoria Cross, Death Penny and Medals of Belfast Servicemen.  These will be on display at the launch event and be located in a suitable location with the Belfast City Hall exhibition for the duration of Shrouds of the Somme exhibition to extrapolate the linkages between the Shrouds of the Somme exhibition in the grounds and Council’s permanent exhibition.

 

3.9       It is proposed that the Shrouds of the Somme Exhibition will be open to the public from the afternoon of Thursday 23 August until Sunday 16 September.  There will be ‘set up’ and ‘take down’ times incurred of a day or two each side of these dates. 

 

3.10     The first official commemorative event to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War takes place on 5 November 2018 in the form of a cross laying ceremony.  Given the particular significance of this year’s anniversary it is important that the Garden of Remembrance looks its best, given the very recent completion of the accessibility works.  It is likely that the grassed area in the Garden of Remembrance will need to be re-turfed following display of the Shrouds.  At this time of year it is expected that it will take a period of 6 weeks for the grass to fulfil its potential.

 

3.11     Members are aware that there is a desire to see City Hall and the grounds utilised to their full potential for residents and visitors to the City. The Shrouds of the Somme exhibition has the potential to increase visitor numbers to City Hall.  There is an opportunity to exploit linkages with the Belfast City Hall exhibition with a direct link to a City Commemorates Zone and the Belfast Volunteers & World War One Panel

 

                  ‘Bless the good fortune which brings us together, rich men and poor men, short men and tall.  Some from the seaside and some for the heather.  Townsmen and countrymen, Irishmen all. Ulsterman, Munstermen, Connachtmen, Leinstermen, Faithful to Erin, we answer her call’. 

 

            Verse composed jointly by a Belfast member of the Ulster Volunteer Force and an Irish Volunteer from the Glens of Antrim and published in the Irish News 6 August 1914

 

3.12     Day-to-day management of the event will be facilitated by the staff of the Belfast City Hall exhibition.  Staff will be briefed on the event and provided with information leaflets for distribution to visitors setting out the context and highlighting the role that Belfast volunteers played in World War One.  The Royal Ulster Rifles Museum has agreed to work with Officers to select a number of individuals whose family history and background together with some biographic information can be included in a free information booklet and displayed on a weather proof interpretative panel to be located in the Garden of Remembrance.

 

3.13     Other Events Around the Main Installation

 

            Schools Programme – The Shrouds of the Somme exhibition has huge potential from an education perspective.  The Shrouds of the Somme team are working on the development of a free online schools resources materials in partnership with UCL and CWGC.  If members were in agreement a letter could be sent to all secondary schools in Belfast to advise them of the dates for the exhibition should they wish to visit.  To complement their visit, school groups can be offered a guided tour of City Hall and the permanent exhibition therein.

 

            Ask the Nation Campaign – As a lasting legacy of the project – Shrouds of the Somme are ‘asking the nation’ to send photographs and stories of these men.  Telling who they were, where they were from, what they did – to make them real, give them a sense of dignity to truly understand the scale of the loss of those who gave their all.  Memories, stories and photographs collation through the CWGC digital archive http://blog.cwgc.org/thiepval-stories. 

 

3.14     There is an opportunity for Public Relations Led Council Campaign with media release and social media used as the main platforms by Council.

 

3.15     Estimated Costs:-

 

Shrouds of the Somme Commission (includes installation, haulage, project management, expenses)	£10,000
Security for installation (one security operative working 24/7 supplied by an external security company)	£10,000
Re-turfing of grass in preparation for cross laying ceremony on 5 November 2018	£3,000
Customised interpretative panel to be located in Garden of Remembrance giving some background on the exhibition together with some background on a number of individuals	£5,000
Information leaflet/booklet – narrative around exhibition together with a number of individual’s history included	Design and printed in-house
Banners for City Hall Railings	£500
Visit Belfast Island Digital Display Screen to include external screen and internal video wall	£1,600
Launch event to include hire of a sound system	£2,000
Research by Royal Ulster Rifles Museum	£250
Estimated Total	£32,350

 

3.16     Financial & Resource Implications

 

            Financial – The costs will be met from existing 2018/19 departmental budgets.

 

            Resources – Resources will be provided by Property & Projects and appropriate departments in arranging the event

 

3.17     Equality or Good Relations Implications

 

            None.”

 

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.