A reproduction Spitfire, striking poppy installations and an art exhibition are among the many acts of remembrance taking place in County Durham this month.
Durham County Council is staging activities in its cultural venues and in communities on Remembrance Sunday (8 November) and Remembrance Day (Wednesday 11 November) to honour the bravery of those who served in conflicts past and present.
Visitors to Durham City on Remembrance Sunday will have the opportunity to get up close to a reproduction Supermarine Spitfire, which will be on display in Millennium Place from 9am to 2pm. It is the second year the council has arranged the display, with this year’s reproduction created by War and Peace UK.
First built in the 1930s, the iconic Supermarine Spitfire played a critical role in defeating Luftwaffe air attacks during the Battle of Britain in 1940, which saw 1,542 aircrew killed and 422 wounded.
The display will coincide with City of Durham Parish Council’s annual Remembrance Day Parade, providing a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by aircraft pilots during the Second World War.
Residents can find details of the Remembrance Day Parade, and other services organised by town and parish councils across the county, on a dedicated webpage on the county council’s website – www.durham.gov.uk/CommemorativeEvents.
Battles in the sky will also be the focus of a powerful exhibition at The Story, the council’s culture, heritage and registration venue on the outskirts of Durham City. Running across the Remembrance Sunday weekend, from 10am to 4pm both days, the free exhibition features work by Seaham-born artist and historian Denis Harry Fox. Denis’ paintings of the Royal Air Force explore themes of conflict, sacrifice and remembrance.
The Story’s Search and Discover space, meanwhile, will feature an origami make-and-take activity, alongside colouring sheets for families to enjoy from Saturday 7 to Wednesday 11 November.
And, in a further act of remembrance, Durham County Council will be lighting up The Story in red from Saturday 7 to Wednesday 11 November.
Cllr Robert Potts, Durham County Council’s Armed Forces Champion, said: “It’s so important to remember the brave servicemen and women who fought to defend the freedoms and way of life we enjoy today. Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday provide a chance for us all to reflect on the sacrifices they made and honour their memory.
“It’s also an opportunity to pay tribute to those who kept the home fires burning, and to think about those whose lives were disrupted by displacement, separation and loss. Behind every uniform was a family affected by war, and every community felt the impact of sacrifice.
“I hope people will take the opportunity to see the reproduction spitfire and to pay their respects at the many remembrance events taking place in communities across the county.
“We will remember them.”
The Story and its sister venue, The Light, at Aykley Heads, are also supporting Durham Markets’ A Community Remembers project.
Earlier this year, Durham Markets called on knitters and crocheters to help create 16,386 woollen poppies to represent every Durham Light Infantry (DLI) soldier who lost their life during the First and Second World Wars. The poppies are now part of a canopy installation that has been suspended from the Market Hall entrance in Durham City to commemorate Remembrance Day.
The project not only hit its target; it almost doubled it, with an impressive 30,000 handmade poppies donated. Keen for all of the poppies to be used, Durham Markets passed on the surplus to other venues and organisations for their own displays.
In the run up to Remembrance Day, The Story, which is the home of the DLI Collection and Archive, will hold a series of school workshops in which children will use the poppies to create commemorative wreaths. Some of the school pupils will then lay the wreaths in front of the Wakenshaw Gun at The Story ahead of the national two-minute silence at 11am on Wednesday 11 November.
The Light, which houses a free DLI exhibition called We Are The Durhams, has teamed up with artist Betty Barnet Brown, visitors to the attraction and Durham Chorister School to create a hanging installation from its poppies. ‘For Tomorrow they gave their Today’ will be on display in the front windows of The Light from Wednesday 4 November.
To find out more about The Light, visit www.thelightdurham.org.uk.
A treasured part of the DLI Collection, the Wakenshaw Gun is on permanent display at The Story. It serves as a symbol of the sacrifice made by Private Adam Herbert Wakenshaw who lost his life on the 2-pounder anti-tank gun while staving off a German
attack in Mersa Matruh, Egypt, in 1942. The gun also provides a valuable insight into the DLI’s involvement in the Second World War.
