Welcome

Assembly – Memorial Chairs

St Margaret’s Church

The Village, Bodelwyddan

(The Marble Church)

August 20 – October 13 2017

 

A five year touring installation throughout the British Isles commemorating casualties of the First World War.

“Assembly” brings something tangible from Flanders to be installed in significant community sites in the British Isles, which in their own way already commemorate casualties of the First World War (religious sites, schools, universities, community halls…). After a journey of four years the installation will return to Ypres in the summer of 2018.

The project will visit communities with the special intention of inviting local people to contribute their personal stories about the First World War.

We are funding this project because we believe that, a hundred years on, it is important to renew the strong bond that exists between Belgium and the British Isles through this accessible and symbolically important community art project.

Description of installation

The installation consists of five chairs from Passchendaele’s St. Audomarus Church – each representing the casualties of one year of the war 1914 -1918 (which is shown in small lead numbers on the chairs)

The chairs will be accompanied by a beautifully constructed book; the left hand side of each page will be printed with the names of all casualties from the British Isles who died in Belgium, leaving space on the right hand side for personal stories about the Great War to be added. These stories could be about the names in the book, but also about many others. In all more than 173,000 names will be in the book (1.216 pages with ± 240 names per page).

 

 

Croeso

Assembly – Memorial Chairs

 Eglwys y Santes Margaret

Y Pentref, Bodelwyddan

(Yr Eglwys Farmor)

Awst 20 – Hydref 13 2017

 

Gosodwaith a fydd yn teithio o amgylch Ynysoedd Prydain am bum mlynedd, yn coffáu’r rheini a fu farw yn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.

Daw “Assembly” â rhywbeth cyffyrddadwy o Fflandrys i gael ei osod mewn safleoedd cymunedol o bwys yn Ynysoedd Prydain, sydd yn eu ffordd eu hunain, eisoes yn coffáu’r rhai a fu farw yn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf (safleoedd crefyddol, ysgolion, prifysgolion, neuaddau cymunedol …). Ar ôl taith o bedair blynedd, bydd y gosodwaith yn dychwelyd i Ypres yn haf 2018.

Bydd y prosiect yn ymweld â chymunedau, gyda’r bwriad arbennig o wahodd pobl leol i gyfrannu eu straeon personol nhw am y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.

Rydym yn ariannu’r prosiect hwn oherwydd ein bod yn credu, gan mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, mae’n bwysig i adnewyddu’r cysylltiad cryf sy’n bodoli rhwng Gwlad Belg ac Ynysoedd Prydain drwy’r prosiect celf cymunedol hygyrch symbolaidd pwysig hwn.

Disgrifiad o’r gosodwaith

Mae’r gosodwaith yn cynnwys pum cadair o Eglwys St.Audomarus yn Passchendaele – pob un yn cynrychioli’r rhai a fu farw ym mhob flwyddyn o’r rhyfel 1914 -1918 (a ddangosir mewn niferoedd plwm bach ar y cadeiriau)

Yn cyd-fynd â’r cadeiriau bydd llyfr hardd; ar bob tudalen chwith bydd enwau’r Prydeinwyr a fu farw yng Ngwlad Belg, a bydd lle ar y dudalen dde i ychwanegu straeon personol am y Rhyfel Mawr.  Gallai rhai straeon fod am yr enwau yn y llyfr, ond gallant hefyd sôn am lawer o rai eraill. Bydd cyfanswm o 173,000 o enwau yn y llyfr (1.216 dudalennau gyda ± 240 o enwau ar bob tudalen).

 

St. Margaret of Antioch Church (The Marble Church)

St. Margaret of Antioch Church (The Marble Church) Bodelwyddan, is a prominent landmark in the lower Vale of Clwyd in Denbighshire, close to the popular seaside town of Rhyl.

The church was erected by Lady Willoughby de Broke in memory of her husband, Henry Peyton-Verney, 16th Baron Willoughby de Broke. She laid the foundation stone on the 24th of July 1856 and the new church designed by John Gibson was consecrated by the Bishop of St. Asaph on the 23rd of August 1860 after construction at a cost of £60,000. The new parish of Bodelwyddan was created on the 3rd of August 1860, from the communities of Bodelwyddan, Faenol and Pengwern, which until that date had been part of the parish of St. Asaph.

The church contains pillars made of Belgian Red marble, and the nave entrance is made from “Anglesey marble”. It also contains elaborate woodwork, and in the tower can be found windows of stained glass on the North and South sides, featuring Saint Margaret and Saint Kentigern.

Immediately to the west of the church is Kinmel Camp, which was a military camp located in the grounds of Kinmel Hall. The camp was used by Canadian troops during the First World War. The churchyard contains the graves of numerous victims of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19 in the camp. On 4–5 March 1919 a riot occurred in the camp when the ship allocated to return the troops to Canada was diverted to carry food supplies to Russia. Five Canadian soldiers were killed in the disturbances, four of whom were buried in St Margaret’s Churchyard, with the fifth, Gunner John Frederick Hickman, being buried in Dorchester, New Brunswick.

In total there are 112 Commonwealth service personnel commemorated here from World War One. More than 80 of the graves are Canadian, and there are also Special Memorial headstones to 4 British soldiers who were buried at St Peter’s Churchyard in Holywell. There are 2 war graves of British servicemen from World War Two.