WW1 Related Events in the United Kingdom
This page provides information about events related to the First World War taking place in the United Kingdom. Index to the listings:
- Remembrance Ceremony — Act of Remembrance
- Exhibition Ambulance Trains - Railways and the First World War; First World War in the Air; “Wave” & “Weeping Window” On Tour
- Theatre War Horse
- Performance Symphony to a Lost Generation
- WW1 “Living History” Trench Weekends
- Family Activities & Events Discovery Trail & Activities (Black Country Living Museum); WW1 Discovery Days, Night in the Trenches, Carols in the Trenches (Staffordshire Regiment Museum)
- Lecture Programmes on WW1 Military History
- 2014-2018 Centenary Event Listing Websites
- England Regional WW1 Centenary Events Programmes
- Northern Ireland WW1 Centenary Events Programmes
- Scotland WW1 Centenary Events Programmes
- Wales WW1 Centenary Events Programmes
Do you have any Great War related events?
Send us an email to webmaster@greatwar.co.uk giving us the date, location, contact details and description of your event.
Remembrance Ceremony — Act of Remembrance
Daily Act of Remembrance: Last Post & Reveille
Daily (except Christmas Day) at 11.00 hours
Millennium Chapel, National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire DE13 7AR
Admission Free
(There is a parking charge at the National Memorial Arboretum for cars maximum £3.00 per day - all parking fees go directly to the NMA charity.)
The Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness is the only place where a daily Act of Remembrance takes place in England. The National Memorial Arboretum is located in the centre of England at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire and is the place “Where our Nation Remembers”.
For further details see the National Memorial Arboretum website at:
Website: www.thenma.org Chapel
Website: www.thenma.org
WFA Unknown Warrior Annual Commemoration
Friday 10 November 2017 at 20.00 hrs
Main Concourse Platform 8, Victoria Railway Station, London SW1V 1JU
Free & open to all.
An annual ceremony of commemoration at Victoria Station by the London Branch of the Western Front Association, to remember the arrival of the Unknown Warrior on 10 November 1920.
- 20.15 Parade Assembly
- 20.20 Narration
- 20.30 Last Post and one minute's silence
- The Exhortation: They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemnA. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning We will remember them.
- Reveille
- 20.32 Presentation of Wreaths
- Disperse
View a film (3m:23s) of the ceremony on 10 November 2014:
Website: www.youtube.com 10 November 2014 Ceremony
For enquiries or any more information you can visit the London WFA Branch at:
Website: londonwfa.org.uk
Website: londonwfa.org.uk Contact Us
Annual Act of Remembrance: 11.00 hours 11 November
Saturday 11 November 2017 at 11.00 hours
The Cenotaph, Whitehall, City of Westminster, London SW1
Organiser: The Western Front Association (WFA)
Free, public event.
Since the early 1990s the Western Front Association (WFA) has held an annual Ceremony of Remembrance at the Cenotaph memorial on Whitehall at 11.00 hours on 11 November. Members of the public are warmly welcomed to attend the ceremony.
Members of the Western Front Association can attend a Service of Remembrance after the ceremony at the Guards Chapel and may apply for tickets for a private lunch.
Reflections: Film & Photographs of the Annual Ceremony
View a short film (2m:41s) of the 11 November 2016 ceremony, with the poem In Memoriam by Lt Ewart Alan Mackintosh read by Cerys Matthews (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2016
View a short film (2m:30s) of the 11 November 2015 ceremony, with the poem My Boy Jack by Rudyard Kipling, read by Cerys Matthews (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2015
View a short film (2m:30s) of the 11 November 2014 ceremony (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2014
Reflections on the 11am 11 November 2015 ceremony by WFA members, with photographs by Simon Gregor and Roy Backhouse:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com Personal Reflections
To see information for WFA events see The Western Front Association website:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com
WFA logo by kind permission of the WFA
Annual Armistice Day Service
Saturday 11 November 2017 at 11.00 hours
National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire DE13 7AR
Allocated tickets: Armed Forces Memorial
Free admission to the Arboretum site: the Service will be screened.
The National Memorial Arboretum is located in the centre of England at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire and is the place “Where our Nation Remembers”. (There is a parking charge at the National Memorial Arboretum for cars maximum £3.00 per day - all parking fees go directly to the NMA charity.)
For enquiries see the National Memorial Arboretum web page at:
Website: www.thenma.org Armistice Day
Website: www.thenma.org
Annual National Act of Remembrance: Remembrance Sunday
Sunday 12 November 2017 at 11.00 hours
The Cenotaph, Whitehall, City of Westminster, London SW1
Free
Public event with restricted access to the central area of the ceremony.
On the closest Sunday to 11 November an official annual Service of Remembrance takes place at the Cenotaph in central London. Wreaths are laid by Her Majesty The Queen, members of the Royal Family, senior military leaders, politicians and representatives of the Commonwealth. Following the formal ceremony and wreath-laying The Royal British Legion co-ordinates a march past the Cenotaph, which includes members of ex-Service organizations and civilian organizations which have played their part on the Home Front in wartime.
Services of Remembrance also take place at 11.00 hours on Remembrance Sunday around the United Kingdom.
Exhibition
Ambulance Trains: Railways and the First World War
From July 2016
National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York YO26 4XJ
Free
A major programme of events, exhibitions and activities is being held at the National Railway Museum in York to commemorate the role of railways in the First World War. An ambulance carriage has been restored to feature as the centrepiece of the exhibition about the role of ambulance trains.
See an online virtual exhibition of the part played by ambulance trains in the First World War:
Website: firstworldwar.nrm.org.uk
To find out more you can visit the museum's website and follow the blog:
Website: www.nrm.org.uk WW1
First World War in the Air
to 31 December 2020
Royal Air Force Museum, Grahame Park Way Colindale, London, Greater London, England, NW9 5LL
Free
A major exhibition telling the story of the development of the war in the air in 1914 to 1918. Exhibits ranging from personal letters to historic aeroplanes relate the story of the Royal Flying Corps and the founding Royal Air Force in April 1918, incorporating stories of the men and women who worked on the ground and the courageous aircrew who flew the aircraft in those early days of aviation.
Website: www.rafmuseum.org First World War in the Air Exhibition
Photo courtesy of RAF Museum
“Wave” & “Weeping Window”: Installations from ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’
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“Wave”: 15 July - 19 November 2017 CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial
“Weeping Window”: 5 August - 25 September 2017 Y Senedd, The National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff; 4 October - 3 December 2017 Ulster Museum, Belfast
By 11 November 2014 888,246 ceramic poppies were planted in the dry moat at the Tower of London. It was an evolving installation called “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”. It was a collaboration between ceramic artist Paul Cummins and theatre stage designer Tom Piper. The last poppy was planted on 11 November 2014. Each poppy represented a British military man or woman who died during the First World War. Over 4 million people visited the installation at the Tower of London.
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On completion of the evolving installation it was decided that two of the elements of the installation — “Wave” and “Weeping Window” — should be saved for the nation. The Backstage Trust and Clore Duffield Foundation have supported this. These two elements will tour the United Kingdom at selected locations thanks to sponsorship by DAF Trucks. In the autumn of 2018 they will be gifted to the Imperial War Museums and will be available for visitors to see at Imperial War Museum North and Imperial War Museum London.
See the WW1 Centenary Art Commissions website for information and updates about the touring project during 2014-2018:
Website: www.1418now.org.uk Poppies
Theatre
War Horse
On tour: 2017-2018
Canterbury, Bristol, Liverpool, Oxford, Brighton, Bradford & Nottingham
The award-winning smash hit War Horse is playing at the New London Theatre. Based on a story by Michael Morpurgo.
The First World War is the backdrop for this tale of bravery, loyalty, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse. Actors, working with astonishing life-sized puppets by the internationally renowned Handspring Puppet Company, take audiences on an unforgettable journey through history.
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France.
He's soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man's land.
But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to the trenches to find him and bring him home.
The book on which the play is based came about after Michael Morpurgo had a chance conversation in his local pub nearly 30 years ago with an old soldier who had been to the First World War as a 17 year old ‘with ‘orses’ as he said. He discovered that over a million horses died in that dreadful war – and that was just on the British side – and that most of them that survived were sold off after the war was over, to butchers in France.
For information about the show, shop and War Horse On Tour venues go to the website at:
Website www.warhorseonstage.com
Photographer: Simon Annand
Performance
Symphony to a Lost Generation
From June 2016 on tour (see website for venues & dates)
The past screams to the present. The world’s first fully holographic production, a moving depiction of the human tragedy of the First World War. 250 actors and dancers appear beside the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic Choir and Lithuanian State Orchestra in Adam Donen’s epic symphony. The holograms allow an intensity of performance otherwise impossible on stage. Its scale and imagination is like nothing you’ve experienced. An emotional dramatic and musical expression of a time long past in a form impossible any time but now, produced by an Oscar-winning and Grammy-nominated team.
For details of booking, venue and tour dates and venues from June 2016 see the website.
Website: www.symphonytoalostgeneration.com
WW1 “Living History”
“GET ON THE FIRE STEP!” Trench Weekends: Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1914-1918 Living History Group
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The Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1914–1918 Living History Group will be living in the trenches at weekend events. Trench clearing, bombing, gas attacks. All vitally important skills Tommy needs to learn. Come and see The Warwicks in the trenches and find out what a “funk hole” was.
Please see the website for future events and for more information about the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1914-1918 Living History Group:
Website: www.thewarwicks1418.com
1 Photograph by Craig Llewellyn (www.craigllewellynphotography.com) courtesy of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1914-1918 Living History Group.
Family Activities & Events
Discovery Trail & Activities at the Black Country Living Museum
Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley DY1 4SQ
Admission fee
Telephone: 0121 557 9643
Email: info@bclm.com
Visit the Black Country Living Museum to find out about the museum's commemorations and activities to mark the centenary of the First World War and how it impacted local life this part of Staffordshire. A downloadable Discovery Trail helps visitors to explore the museum and its collections.
Website: www.bclm.co.uk World War One Centenary Events
WW1 Discovery Days
30 August 2017, 10.00-16.00 hours
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum, DMS Whittington, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS14 9PY
Admission fee: See the 'Events' page at www.staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum organizes a series of exciting days at the museum throughout the year for parents and children in the school holidays and Bank Holiday Mondays.
Uniformed guides will take you on a detailed tour of the Museum’s fantastic WW1 trench system, and describe what life was like for soldiers during the Great War. A 500ft trench system contains ‘scrape’ holes, dugout, gun positions and even a tunnel, used during the period to undermine the enemy trenches that were often just a short way away.
Ammunition boxes are strewn around, sandbags line the walls, original signage points the way as the visitor is immersed in a professionally created soundscape that takes you straight to the trenches of WWI France.
Parents and children will get the chance to try on uniforms, as well as handle weapons and equipment from the time, plus explore the museum and its fascinating collections.
Telephone (General Enquiries): 01543 434 394
Email (Education & Events Officer): attendant@staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
Website: staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
Night in the Trenches
Saturday 11 November 2017
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Whittington Barracks, Whittington, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS14 9PY
Admission: Pre-booking essential.
This is one of the most popular events in the Museum’s calendar. Experience a soldier’s life in the WW1 trench system. Uniformed re-enactors take you back to evoke the conditions experienced and the life lived by our troops during the Great War.
See the website for further details of charges and timings.
Telephone (General Enquiries): 01543 434 394
Email (Education & Events Officer): attendant@staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
Website: staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
Carols in the Trenches
Saturday 9 December 2017
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum, DMS Whittington, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS14 9PY
Admission: Pre-booking essential.
Carols in the Trenches is an evocative re-enactment of the Christmas Truce. Go along to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum for an evening of carols set in the museum’s WWI trench system, concluded by a re-enactment of the Christmas Truce in No-Mans-Land.
See the website for full details of charges and timings.
Telephone (General Enquiries): 01543 434 394
Email (Education & Events Officer): attendant@staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
Website: staffordshireregimentmuseum.com
Lecture Programmes on WW1 Military History
The National Archives, Kew, Surrey
Free and paid lectures, events and tours to see behind the scenes at the archives and find out more on how to research family history using the archive collections. For more information and a calendar of events go to the National Archives' website at
Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk Events
The National Army Museum, London
The museum offers a programme of lunchtime lectures, conferences and study days. Led by experts, the programme aims to increase an understanding of history, the arts, science, and the world we live in today - through the exploration of military history.
For more information on events at the museum go to the National Army Museum's website at:
Website: www.nam.ac.uk What's On
Website: www.nam.org
The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset
The Tank Museum provides lectures as part of its events programme. For further information go to The Tank Museum Diary of Events at:
Website: www.tankmuseum.org Events
University of Birmingham Centre for First World War Studies
The Centre for First World War Studies is part of the Centre of War Studies at Birmingham University. The Centre holds events including seminars, lectures and conferences. For information on the lecture programme visit the website at:
Website: www.warstudies.bham.ac.uk Lectures 2017
University College London
Lectures held during June 2014 by the University College London can be watched online on YouTube.
- Sex and the Somme, Dr Clare Makepeace, UCL History. Tommies queued in their hundreds to visit brothels in the First World War. Dr Clare Makepeace explores this little-discussed aspect of the war. She uncovers soldiers' reasons for visiting brothels, their reactions to them and the prostitutes, and how they dealt with the potential consequences: venereal disease. The findings give us fresh insight into what it meant to be a British man at war. Watch on YouTube
- Investigative conservation and the archaeology of the Western Front, Renata Peters, UCL Institute of Archaeology. Staff and students at the UCL Institute of Archaeology have been involved in the investigative conservation of objects excavated from Western Front trenches. Some of these objects were associated with unidentified human remains thought to be of soldiers killed in battles between 1914 and 1918, and provided important information for their identification. Others provided more questions than answers, but also shed light on the reality of life and death in the trenches. Watch on YouTube
- Reconstructing Broken Bodies: From Industrial Warfare to Industrial Engineered Tissues Prof Robert Brown, UCL Surgical Science & Mr Colin Hopper, UCL Eastman Dental Institute. Trench warfare protected combatants from many injuries, but left the head exposed, producing a massive demand for experimental facial reconstructive surgery. WW1 is acknowledged as the first ‘industrial scale’ war, but it has taken a century to stumble upon the concept of industrial scale tissue production. This very 21st century idea can be traced back to WW1 and the clinical pressures produced by industrial scale, non-lethal trauma. Watch on YouTube
- Science and the First World War, Prof Jon Agar, UCL Science and Technology Studies. This year is the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. By examining the lives of figures such as Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley and Fritz Haber, this talk will show how scientists on all sides were swept up in the tide of patriotism, militarism and nationalism, making contributions, some tragically brief, some devastatingly effective, to the waging of war. And what of the long-lasting effects? While some saw the Great War as an irreparable crisis of modern civilisation, with science as a symbol of inhumanity, others saw science as an internationalist project capable of healing wounds. Watch on YouTube
University of Wolverhampton: First World War Research Group
The group organises study days, lectures, master classes and conferences. Directors of the Research Group are Professor Stephen Badsey and Professor Gary Sheffield.
Western Front Association Open Public Lectures in conjunction with the University of Wolverhampton and other public lectures for 2017 are:
1918 Revisited: Strategy, Politics, and the Road to the Armistice, by Professor David Stevenson (London School of Economics)
Wednesday 6 December 2017, 17.30-19.00 hours
Free admission
University of Wolverhampton, MC Building, Main Lecture Theatre MC001, Ground Floor, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY
To reserve a place please contact Sue Holden:
Email: sue.holden@wlv.ac.uk
For information about the First World War Research Group visit the website:
Website: www.wlv.ac.uk First World War Research Group
The Western Front Association (WFA)
Lectures, seminars and conferences are held at regular monthly Branch meetings and at a national level around the United Kingdom and internationally. Speakers include well-known military historians and WFA members with expertise in a wide variety of topics related to the First World War. For further information and a calendar of forthcoming events visit the WFA website at:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com WFA UK Branches Events
2014-2018 Centenary Event Listing Websites
14-18 NOW
Website for the cultural programme called 14-18 NOW. This is a major programme of commissions by contemporary artiststs, which will take place thoughout the United Kingdom to mark the centenary of the First World War.
Website: www.1418now.org.uk
BBC: World War One
Explore the WW1 section of the BBC website to find a wide range of things to do, BBC radio and BBC TV programmes, and much more.
Website: www.bbc.co.uk/ww1
Centenary 2014-18: The Western Front Association
The Western Front Association website commemorating the First World War centenary, with a wide range of events information, podcasts, day by day timelines, the centenary in the media and lots more. You can add your event too. See the link below to visit the site:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com
Centenary Events Co-ordination: Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum has set up a website to co-ordinate a listing of the international events and resources which will be marking 100 years since the outbreak of The Great War. The website includes podcasts, latest news and projects.
Website: www.1914.org
Centenary News
A comprehensive website devoted to all aspects of the WW1 centenary. See this link for events:
Website: www.centenarynews.com Events
Culture24
An excellent website full of cultural news, listings and events for a wide range of subjects. A section of the website is dedicated to the First World War and includes lots of up to date information about all sorts of events and exhibitions for the 2014 -2018 centenary of the First World War.
See the website for more information:
Website: www.culture24.org.uk First World War
England Regional WW1 Centenary Programmes
Berkshire: Berkshire at War
A blog produced by the Berkshire Record Office.
Website: berkshirevoiceswwi.wordpress.com About Berkshire at War
Essex: The Last Poppy Has Fallen Project
Website: lastpoppyproject.wordpress.com Events
Hampshire Commemorates
Website: www.hants.gov.uk Hampshire Commemorates
Herts at War Project
Website: www.hertsatwar.co.uk
Kent & Medway in the First World War
Website: www.kent.gov.uk
Kent: University of Kent Gateways to the First World War Project
Website: www.gatewaysfww.org.uk
Nottinghamshire: Trent to Trenches
Website: www.experiencenottinghamshire.com Trent to Trenches
Staffordshire: The Great War
Website: www.staffordshiregreatwar.com
Staffordshire: The Black Country Living Museum
Website: bclm.co.uk World War One
Surrey in the Great War: A County Remembers
Website: www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk
Wiltshire
Website: www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk
Northern Ireland WW1 Centenary Event Programmes
Northern Ireland WW1 Centenary Committee
Website: ww1centenaryni.com
Scotland WW1 Centenary Event Programmes
Scotland and WW1
Website: www.scotland.org Scotland and WW1
Scotland and the First World War
Website: www.visitscotland.com Scotland and the First World War
Wales WW1 Centenary Event Programmes
Cymru’n Cofio — Wales Remembers 1914-1918
Website: www.walesremembers.org
Related Reading
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
This book is about Joey, a farm horse requisitioned by the British Army for service in the First World War on the Western Front. The reader experiences the horrors of war and the compassion of the animals and humans in the story through the eyes of the horse. Written about 25 years ago as a result of Michael Morpurgo's conversations with First World War veterans, the story has taken on a new life as a highly acclaimed play and has been adapted into a major film by Steven Spielberg. Published by Egmont Books Ltd; Film tie-in ed edition (7 Nov 2011), ISBN-10: 1405259418 and ISBN-13: 978-1405259415
The War Horses: The Tragic Fate of a Million Horses Sacrificed in the First World War
by Simon Butler
The War Horses focuses on the horses, mules and donkeys that were requisitioned by the British Army to carry rations, pull guns and wagons full of munitions. The book is has received excellent reviews. It is illustrated with more than 200 photographs, includes eye witness accounts and reveals the great bond between the men and the animals they cared for in such difficult circumstances. Published by Halsgrove, 2nd edition (27 Sep 2011), ISBN-10: 0857040847 and ISBN-13: 978-0857040848
Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse
by General Jack Seely
Warrior was a thoroughbred horse which went to France with Jack Seely in 1914. With Jack the horse survived on The Western Front for five years, both of them cheating death from bombs and bullets, and leading a cavalry charge by the Canadians in 1918. This republished edition is introduced by General Jack Seely's grandson, the well-known racing broadcaster and journalist Brough Scott. Published by Racing Post Books (10 Oct 2011). ISBN-10: 1908216107 and ISBN-13: 978-1908216106.
Related Topics
Events on The Western Front
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Events relating to the First World War on the Western Front battlefields:
Artois & French Flanders Events
