The 100th anniversary of the First World War will be marked with a series of events across the borough in the lead up to Remembrance Day.
Sutton’s official annual Service of Remembrance will take place on Sunday 9 November at Carshalton War Memorial from 10:15am.
Council leader Ruth Dombey, Sutton’s Mayor Arthur Hookway and other leading local dignitaries will attend and lay wreaths. The event is expected to be well-attended.
There will also be a ceremony outside the Civic Offices in Trinity Square on Tuesday 11 November, just before 11:00 am which will include a minute’s silence. This will be attended by the council leader, Sutton’s Mayor, council chief executive Niall Bolger and other senior local figures.
Sutton Council leader Ruth Dombey said:
“This year we will mark a conflict that many at the time hoped would never be repeated. We will be reflecting on the losses of our community in that war and giving thanks for the sacrifices made by the generations who followed them.
“Also in our thoughts will be our Armed Forces currently serving across the world in often dangerous situations.”
Events that are part of the World War 1 Centenary commemoration include:
Europa Gallery, Sutton Library, 6 November – 12 December,
Great War Stories: Local People at Home and on the Front
Using original documents and photographs, it looks at the role played by those who stayed behind and those who fought for their country, as well as the little known history of Sutton’s conscientious objectors.
There is a supporting activities programme focussing on young people and their understanding of the war; pick up a leaflet in any Sutton library. More information is available from Sutton Local Studies and Archive Centre
Summer’s Lease: An introduction to Henry Williamson by Will Harris
Friday 7 November, 7.30-8pm
A semi-dramatised presentation by Will Harris based on the writing of Henry Williamson, who served as a soldier throughout the four years of the conflict and survived to become the famous novelist and nature-writer. Williamson also had strong associations with Sutton. His maternal grandparents lived in Cavendish Road, Sutton. Their daughter is fictionalised as a character in Williamson’s novel sequence A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight. The novel series is set in the village of Cross Aulton, Williamson’s fictional version of Carshalton; which includes references to the millstream, lavender and other local places.
At the Break of Day – Elizabeth Speller
Tuesday 11 November, 7 – 8pm
Author Elizabeth Speller talks about her newly published World War 1 novel ‘At the Break of Day’, which tells the story of four men who go through the Battle of the Somme.
Events at Honeywood Museum, Carshalton:
A War to End All Wars
To Sunday 16 November
A thought-provoking commemorative exhibition telling the story of the events that led Britain to war in 1914 is taking place until Sunday 16 November at Honeywood Museum, Carshalton, SM5 3NX.
The exhibition spotlights the principal players and places that featured in the stalemate of the Western Front and trench warfare. Attaches by sea and air on the home front in the early war years are recalled and persuasive war posters are displayed along with many fascinating artefacts from the conflict.
More information is available here (www.sutton.gov.uk/honeywood)
The Great War Poetry Workshop
Honeywood Museum, Thursday 13 November, 7.30 – 9.30pm
Led by professional poet Stephen Smith, with additional guidance from members of Sutton Writers Circle and using the artefacts in Honeywood Museum’s War to End All Wars exhibition as inspiration, this practical workshop will concentrate on creative methodologies, exploring perspective, form and figurative language, and will lead participants to the preliminary drafting of a poem.
Stephen Smith has worked as a university lecturer, a writer in residence, a creative writing tutor in adult education and as a lecturer in literature, history and philosophy for the WEA. His critically acclaimed collection, The Fabulous Relatives, won a major Eric Gregory Award.
This event is free but pre-booking is requested by ringing 020 8770 4297