The Shot at Dawn Memorial commemorates 309 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for desertion, cowardice, striking a senior officer, disobeying a lawful order, casting away arms, mutiny and sleeping at post during the First World War. Most of them were sentenced after a short trial at which no real opportunity for defence was allowed.
Today, it is recognised that some were underage when they volunteered and that many of them were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which was not recognised as a medical condition until 1980. In 2006 they were officially pardoned by the British Government.
Deliberately located at the most easterly part of the National Memorial Arboretum where the sun rises first, Shot at Dawn, was dedicated in 2001, with wooden posts representing each soldier. *
The central statue ‘Shot at Dawn’ represents a young soldier about to be shot. The six trees facing the posts represent the firing squad, all aiming for the target around the statue’s neck. It must have been traumatic for them too, having to shoot one of their own.*
*Information displayed next to the memorial
Tags: National Memorial Arboretum, Shot at Dawn
The UK Police Memorial hpnours the courage and sacrifice of those who have given their lives to UK plicing. The design embraces the Celtic spiritual concept of a thin place, where we step from one world to another. Contrasts in light and shade, the wild and the controlled, add to the experience of a serene yet powerful space.*
The central 12-metre-high brass structure represents the threshold to the dangerous places the Police must go, but sadly, from which some will never return. Leaf shaped apertures cut out of these screens give the impression of falling leaves, to represent service and sacrilfice, the imagery representing those fallen police officers and staff.*
*quoted from the 2023 edition of the National Memorial Arboretum handbook
Tags: National Memorial Arboretum
All across Europe, behind gates such as these, over 350,000 service personnel were held as Prisoners of War, existing on the most basic of rations in crowded unsanitary and barely tolerable donditions for up to 5 years.
Fir some repatriation came early due to serious medical reasons or non-combatant status, whilst others were liberated directly from their camps by advancing allied armies. For most, however, freedom came only after forced marches of up to 880 km, starting in 1945, during the harshest winter on record at the time; across open hostile countryside and often at risk of friendly fire.*
*Quoted from a memorial plaque next to the gates
Tags: National Memorial Arboretum
The core theme of this memorial is, ‘At the going down of the sun, we will remember them’
The Memorial shows a single figure facing towards the setting sun, head bowed in respect to shipmates. The figure’s cap is hel in the ‘at ease’ position. Coloured glass sails diffuse light onto a light granite pavement, their colours take inspiration from the five Oceans. Flashes of red represent blood spilled at sea, on land and in the air in defence of our nation. In bright sunlight and for a time every day, the glass panels cast a shadow suggesting the shape of warship whichis in th direct gaze of the figure; the shapes changing as the sun moves across the sky.*
*Information from a signboard next to the memorial
Tags: National Memorial Arboretum, The Naval Service Memorial
… around Britain by Church
Synopsis from the book cover:
Churches are all around us. Their steeples remain landmarks in our towns, villages and cities, even as their influence and quthority has waned. They contain art and architectural wonders – one huge gallery scattered, like a hanful of jewels, across these isles.
Thoughts:
The book meanders through through Britain exploring churches and sharing their history, art, nature and people. It was lovely to revisit old gems and see them through the eyes of others and learn new things about them. I was also introduced to new churches that I am tempted to visit. After my recent visit to Southwark Cathedral I returned to the book to re-read Peter’s experiences of the Cathedral, he is right; the Cathedral is an oasis of calm in contrast to the hustle and bustle surrounding it.
Tags: #8, 2024 Books, Book Thoughts, Books, Factual, Peter Ross, Steeple Chasing
Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn, that there is no end in nature, but every and is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tags: Cherie's Place Thought
In summer 2022, to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, the moat transformed from a barren, flat lawn into a haven for bees, butterflies and other pollinators in the heart of the city. The moat was filled with wildflowers, grown from 20 million seeds.
But Superbloom was not just a spectacle for 2022. It was the first year of a permanent transformation of the Tower Moat into a beautiful naturalistic landscape.
Tags: Flowers in the Moat, London, Superbloom, The Shard, Tower of London
