French Flanders & Artois WW1 Events

Weekly Act of Remembrance: Souvenir Flame

Sundays (Palm Sunday to 11 November inclusive) at 11.45 hours

Ablain St-Nazaire French Military Cemetery (Notre Dame de Lorette), Souchez

Each Sunday from Palm Sunday to 11^th November at 11.45am the “Souvenir Flame” in the centre of the cemetery is rekindled by the leader of the Honour Guards on duty that day.

Ablain St-Nazaire French Military Cemetery (Notre Dame de Lorette), Souchez

Annual Commemorative Ceremony - The Wellington Quarry, Memorial of the Battle of Arras, 1917

Wednesday 9 April 2014 at 06:30 hours

Wellington Quarry - la Carrière Wellington, Rue Arthur Delétoille, 62000 Arras

On 9^th April 1917, at 05:30 (British time) 24,000 British soldiers emerged from the Wellington Quarry in the south of Arras to start the Battle of Arras, an operation of diversion before the Aisne offensive by the French Army at the Chemin des Dames. They lived in the underground tunnels during the weeks which preceded the Arras offensive.

On 9^th April 2014 in the early hours of the morning, at 06:30 hours (French time), 97 years later, in front of the Memorial wall of the Wellington Quarry, a ceremony of remembrance will take place. This annual ceremony is a tribute to the British soldiers who took part in the Battle of Arras.

This ceremony is open to the public to attend and there will be official representatives attending also.

For details of the location of the museum see the museum listing for museums on the French Flanders & Artois battlefields:

Ceremony to Commemorate 97th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge

Wednesday 9 April, 2014 at 15.00 hours

Location: Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Details of the ceremony will be posted on the Veterans Affairs Canada website:

Website: www.veterans.gc.ca Vimy

See also our information page on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial:

Canadian National Vimy Memorial

ANZAC Day Wreath Laying Ceremony, Bullecourt

Friday 25 April 2014, at 13.30 hours and 14.30 hours

Location: Bullecourt

• Event One: 13:30 hours ANZAC Day Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Commonwealth and the French monuments in Bullecourt village centre, the Square du Souvenir Français
• Event Two: 14:30 hours ANZAC Day Commemorative Service at the Australian “Digger” Memorial on the outskirts of the village.

For information about these and other ANZAC Day Services in France or Belgium you can visit the Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs:

Website: www.dva.gov.au Anzac Day Services in France

or

Email (Musée Bullecourt 1917): museebullecourt1917@orange.fr

Official Ceremony of Remembrance

Sunday 9 November, 2014 at 11.00 hours

Location: Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Details of the ceremony will be posted on the Veterans Affairs Canada website:

Website: www.veterans.gc.ca Vimy

Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Inauguration of the International Memorial

Tuesday 11 November 2014. Time to be confirmed.

Ablain St-Nazaire French Military Cemetery (Notre Dame de Lorette), Souchez

A new memorial will be dedicated to the 600,000 Servicemen of all nationalities who died in French Flanders and Artois on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918. The memorial has been designed by the architect Philippe Prost. It will be located south east of the necropolis.

For a short video representation of the memorial to be completed in early 2014, see:

Website: vimeo.com

For our information page about the French national cemetery and necropolis see:

Ablain St-Nazaire French Military Cemetery (Notre Dame de Lorette), Souchez

Informal Ceremony of Remembrance

Tuesday 11 November, 2014 at 11.00 hours

Location: Canadian National Vimy Memorial

An informal ceremony will be led by the student Canadian guides. Details can be obtained from the Veterans Affairs Canada website:

Website: www.veterans.gc.ca Vimy

Canadian National Vimy Memorial

The Coal Field in 1918: A Devastated Landscape

18 April - 31 August 2014

Mining History Centre, Fosse Delloye, Rue d'Erchin, B.P. 30039, 59287 Lewarde

To mark the centenary of the First World War the Museum of Mining History, Lewarde, is devoting all of its exhibitions to the coal fields of the area during times of conflict. This exhibition is a series of photographs from the town of Lens and shows the destruction of the mining buildings.

For information about the museum and visitor information see the website:

Website: www.chm-lewarde.com

Telephone: +33 (0)3 27 95 82 82

Les Désastres de la Guerre (The Disasters of War) 1800-2014

28 May - 6 October 2014

Louvre-Lens, Rue Paul Bert, 62300 Lens

The exhibition presents over 400 works of art arising from disenchantment with war, considered above all as a dealer in misfortunes from the Napoleonic campaigns in the early years of the 19th century to the present day.

For information about the museum, opening hours and admission charges see the web page:

Website: www.louvrelens.fr informations-pratiques

Website: www.louvrelens.fr

Telephone: +33 (0)3 21 18 62 62

Opening of the Battle of Fromelles Museum

Friday 18 July 2014

Rue de la Basse Ville, 59249 Fromelles

A new museum incorporating collections of the Association Fromelles-Weppes - Terre de Memoire 14-18.

Europe Run to Unity

10-21 June 2014

Starting at Nieuwpoort in Flanders, Belgium, and finishing at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, a relay run will be made by runners covering 1050 kilometres along the length of the Western Front.

For more information about the run, the route and dates when the runners will be passing through the Artois battlefields, you can find out more from the Facebook page:

Website: www.facebook.com Europerun.tounity