WELSH MINERS HONOURED IN NATIONAL WW1 CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

WELSH MINERS HONOURED IN NATIONAL WW1 CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

• GHOSTLY FIGURES OF WORLD WAR ONE SOLDIERS OR ‘TOMMIES’

POP-UP AT BIG PIT NATIONAL COAL MUSEUM

• THE TOMMIES FORM PART OF A NATIONWIDE ART INSTALLATION

MARKING THE CENTENARY OF THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

• CAMPAIGN HOPES TO RAISE IN EXCESS OF £15 MILLION FOR ARMED

FORCES AND MENTAL HEALTH CHARITIES

_WEDNESDAY 28TH FEBRUARY_: Ghostly figures of First World War soldiers or ‘Tommies’, have sprung up at Big Pit National Coal Museum today, as part of a new nationwide fundraising campaign to commemorate 100 years since the end of the Great War later this year.

Hoping to raise in excess of £15 million for armed forces and mental health charities, the six foot high Tommies are part of a nationwide art installation called ‘There But Not There’.

Miners from all over Wales were sent off to war a century ago, making vital contributions as either regular soldiers in ‘Pals Battalions’, excavation experts in ‘Bantam Battalions’ or landmine specialists in Royal Engineer tunnelling companies. The work was extremely dangerous, as thousands of men were sent directly from the pits to the front lines, where their specialist skills were so highly valued that normal age restrictions were often waived.

The Tommies at Big Pit will be touring the UK until Armistice Day and members of the public are being encouraged to buy their own 10 inch versions to remember their own relatives. The money raised from the sale of these commemorative figures, which are made by military veterans, will be distributed evenly between The Royal Foundation: Heads Together, Walking With The Wounded, Combat Stress, Help for Heroes: Hidden Wounds, The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and Project Equinox: Housing Veterans.

Alongside the touring Tommies, local community groups, such as schools, businesses, places of worship and village halls will be given the opportunity to host their own ‘silhouette installations’.

The silhouettes, different in shape to the standing Tommy, are designed to fit into seated spaces and were inspired by an art installation by Martin Barraud at Penshurst Church in Kent in 2016. The installation at Penshurst Church included 51 silhouettes, one for each name on the local Penshurst war memorial.

It is hoped that communities will honour the fallen on their own local war memorials, by placing a silhouette for every man that fell in local community spaces.

Lt Col Dino Bossi, Trustee of There But Not There and former commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, said:

“_As we launch the There But Not There campaign, we remember the profound sacrifice made by the Welsh people a century ago in the First World War. This commemoration also provides us with an opportunity to support those still suffering from the results of conflict today, to bring Remembrance home and to make it local – in buying the Tommies and silhouettes and displaying them in their houses and communal spaces, people will be doing just that. Our hope is that the campaign will raise vital funds for a range of charities and connect communities with their pasts_.”

Dr Gerard Oram, Director of the War and Society Programmes at Swansea University, added:

“_The contribution that miners made across Wales cannot be understated. Their unique skills and other qualities made them indispensable to the war effort, but this came at a severe cost.

Thousands of miners, together with compatriots serving in every branch of the military, never returned from the battlefields of Europe and elsewhere. This campaign is the perfect way to remember those heroes of the past and to engage the whole of Wales in a year of commemoration._ ”

Elsewhere in the UK, Tommy installations have appeared in sentry boxes usually manned by Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London, on Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland and at Heart of Midlothian Football Club in Edinburgh.