There But Not There

A reflective installation in St Peter Ad Vincula, Wisborough Green

Please note that this installation has now been removed.

The village church in Wisborough Green, St Peter ad Vincula, is to be the setting for a remarkable and moving installation commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. People, from both Wisborough Green and farther afield, are being invited to reflect on the impact of the First World War by engaging with the installation this autumn.

At 11am on 11th November 1918 the guns of World War One fell silent at the signing of the Armistice; the warring nations were left to mourn the scale of their loss. The centenary of the Armistice is a defining moment in our history: to reflect on how men from every community made the ultimate sacrifice.

The installation of 51 transparent seated military figures in Penshurst Church for Remembrance Day in 2016, the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, lit a touch paper in the souls of all who saw it.  The poppies at the Tower of London demonstrated the sheer scale of the sacrifice, so ‘There But Not There’, as the Penshurst installation was named, would bring home how every community, large and small, were deeply affected.

Wisborough Green was proud to have been asked to be a ‘Pathfinder Parish’ in the ‘There But Not There’ aim to place a figure, representing each of the names on war memorials, into their place of worship, their school, their workplace or wherever their absence was keenly felt, around the country.

The Parish Council is extremely grateful to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for generously supporting this event with a grant to provide 10 of the silhouettes.

There were 21 men who did not return to Wisborough Green and their names are listed on the village War Memorial. These men were back within the village community from Thursday 20th September until Thursday 15th November 2018, sitting in St Peter ad Vincula church as they may well have as part of the congregation.  Residents and visitors were encouraged to sit with the fallen, remember and reflect on their courage and the ultimate sacrifice of those who did not return. 

Peter Drummond, Chairman of Wisborough Green Parish Council, said “I am so proud that Wisborough Green has been involved with There But Not There from the start. It is an incredibly important anniversary: not only will it give the whole community an opportunity to reflect on the nature of sacrifice but it will be an amazing and relevant installation in St Peter ad Vincula. We are grateful to the Wisborough Green Village History Society who have undertaken an extraordinary amount of diligent research into the lives of the men on the War Memorial and have published a booklet detailing what they have discovered. It is an extraordinary piece of work which is available for a small donation.”

 

Items of remembrance, including a desktop Tommy, can be purchased through the There But Not There website.

https://shop.therebutnotthere.org.uk/collections/all-products/products/tommy