Now the Great War ended just over a century ago, and I rather think now that the centenary has passed the media will also move onto other things.
And that is as it always has been, but the events commemorating the four years will continue, and I am pleased that the exhibition at Central Ref entitled in Flanders Fields will continue for a few more weeks.
It is perhaps wrong to say that the display has been a success because that is to trivialise both it and the War itself.
But there has been a steady stream of people who have come to see it and left comments in the visitor’s book.
Its appeal is that it encompasses the full extent of the war, focusing on events, people and the memorabilia that the war generated.
So along with official documents, there are letters and picture postcards sent from the battle fronts, to medals, and items of crested porcelain, each with a war theme.
And because the war touched every community, its organizer, David Harrop has not limited the exhibition to Greater Manchester.
One of the cabinets David told me is “a tribute to the people of Scarborough when on the 16th December 1914 the sleepy North Yorkshire Town was bombarded by the German navy resulting in the deaths of 18 people.
Numerous postcards of the carnage are displayed plus china tanks and an ambulance showing the Scarborough coat of arms.
I wanted to commemorate this area because not many people know about it, and was home to Wilfred Owen for a short time.
It also shows that the war was not just about the Western Front and that ordinary people going about their daily tasks also suffered”.
All of the material is drawn from David’s own personal collection which makes the exhibition quite unique, more so because so much of it is related to Manchester.
His permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery includes material of men buried in the cemetery and while in Flanders Fields will close by the end of November this display is open all the year round.
Location; Central Reference Library, Manchester
Pictures; from the exhibition, courtesy of David Harrop
In Flanders Fields will run till the end of November
It is perhaps wrong to say that the display has been a success because that is to trivialise both it and the War itself.
But there has been a steady stream of people who have come to see it and left comments in the visitor’s book.
Its appeal is that it encompasses the full extent of the war, focusing on events, people and the memorabilia that the war generated.
So along with official documents, there are letters and picture postcards sent from the battle fronts, to medals, and items of crested porcelain, each with a war theme.
And because the war touched every community, its organizer, David Harrop has not limited the exhibition to Greater Manchester.
Numerous postcards of the carnage are displayed plus china tanks and an ambulance showing the Scarborough coat of arms.
I wanted to commemorate this area because not many people know about it, and was home to Wilfred Owen for a short time.
It also shows that the war was not just about the Western Front and that ordinary people going about their daily tasks also suffered”.
All of the material is drawn from David’s own personal collection which makes the exhibition quite unique, more so because so much of it is related to Manchester.
Location; Central Reference Library, Manchester
Pictures; from the exhibition, courtesy of David Harrop
In Flanders Fields will run till the end of November
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