May 2014

The public launch of ‘Living Legacies 1914-18: From Past Conflict to Shared Future’ engagement centre
19th May 6pm

Living Legacies Project InviteLivingLegacies 1914-18 Logo (Aug14)‌The public launch of ‘Living Legacies 1914-18: From Past Conflict to Shared Future’ engagement centre takes place on MONDAY MAY 19, 2014, 6pm onwards.

The launch will be held in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, at the Conor Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster Belfast Campus, York Street.

Invites will be sent out soon after the Easter holidays, but please do hold the date.

At the launch there will be a public lecture by Professor Richard Grayson, the author of ‘Belfast Boys’, as well as a short performance from Brenda Winter’s new play, ‘The Medal in in the Drawer’.

In you wish to attend or know of anyone please pass on the RSVP address : 
LivingLegacies@qub.ac.uk

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The Medal in the Drawer, a play written by Brenda Winter-Palmer.
16th May, 5pm; 17th May, 5pm & 8pm; 18th May, 5pm

Medal In The DrawerDuring the summer of 1914 Ireland seemed to be on the verge of bloody civil war as Sir Edward Carson’s Ulster Volunteer Force prepared to take up guns in opposition to the seemingly inevitable introduction of Home Rule for Ireland. Instead a shot rang out in Sarajevo ending the life of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand and plunging Europe into the carnage of the First War World War. It was world war, not civil war, which irrevocably determined the fate of Carson’s army and their Nationalist opponents in the summer of 1914.

The Medal in the Drawer charts the war-journeys of four of these volunteers, from Belfast’s Springfield Road, who join up to fight with the 36th Ulster Division and the Connaught Rangers. In an immersive performance style the audience witness at first hand the tensions on the streets of Belfast in the years leading up to the outbreak of the European conflict. They follow the protagonists to France to experience the life of an army recruit in the lead up to the Battle of the Somme and participate in how the news of that devastating defeat was received back in Belfast. Their journey’s end is in the horror and pity of the Battle of Passchendale.

Medal in the Drawer is not only an act of commemoration for all those Belfast men who died in the First World War. It is a reflection on which parts of history a divided society chooses to remember and which parts it chooses to forget.

Dates of public performances:
 • Friday 16th May, 5pm
 • Saturday 17th May, 5pm & 8pm
 • Sunday 18th May, 5pm‌

Tickets £8, concessions £6 - To book ring 028 9097 1382 or email studentshows@qub.ac.uk

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Castleton Lanterns Visual Arts - Illustrated Talk
8th May, 12.30 – 1.30

Free admission. Please email info@niwarmemorial.org to reserve a place.

Castleton Lanterns - www.castletonlanterns.co.ukBryan Rutledge, Museum Photographer, will explore the role of photography during the First World War both at home and at the front including a look at some of the enduring photographs made by renowned Belfast Photographer Alex R Hogg. Hogg was commissioned by the Castleton Presbyterian Church committee to put together a lantern slide presentation of ‘our men at the front’ on 16th December 1918. 

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Castleton Lanterns Visual Arts - War Memorial Gallery
1st – 11th May 10.30am – 4.30pm Monday to Friday

CastletonLanterns.co.uk - Alex R. H. HoggLast year of a box of glass lantern slides were discovered which had been hidden away for almost a century. Found in the organ loft of Alexandra Presbyterian Church, the 77 slides were images of 137 men from the Castleton congregation who served in the First World War. Of these men 31 are known to have been killed in action.

Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen, Officers, Brothers, Friends and Comrades, the men from a tight knit North Belfast community have been refound. Can you help to identify their faces so we can shine a light on these men who served in the Great War?

View the images online at castletonlanterns.co.uk

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Castleton Lanterns Visual Arts - Illustrated Talk
1st May, 7.30 – 8.30

Free admission. Please email info@niwarmemorial.org to reserve a place.

Castleton Lanterns - www.castletonlanterns.co.ukBryan Rutledge, Museum Photographer, will explore the role of photography during the First World War both at home and at the front including a look at some of the enduring photographs made by renowned Belfast Photographer Alex R Hogg. Hogg was commissioned by the Castleton Presbyterian Church committee to put together a lantern slide presentation of ‘our men at the front’ on 16th December 1918. 

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