By Lord Faulkner of Worcester - 22nd March 2011
Lord Faulkner of Worcester asks what plans are in place to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War.
In my capacity as chair of the all-party war heritage group I hosted a meeting in the House of Lords on 21 February (during the half-term recess) to allow Mr Kris Peeters, minister-president of Flanders, to outline how his government proposes to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 2014.
The meeting was attended by eminent war historians, representatives of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Royal British Legion, the Guards Museum, the Guards' Chapel, the Imperial War Museum, the Flemish and Belgian governments, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
It was clear to everyone that the Flanders government have already given much thought to this centenary, and their plans are well advanced. They include a number of events in Flanders itself, a memorial concert at the Chelsea Hospital, an aerial photography research project being carried out by the University of Ghent and the Battlefield Museum in Ypres, the signing of the 'Flanders Fields Declaration' which commits its signatories not to forget 'this cataclysmic event', and most imaginatively – and generously – of all, the creation of a permanent garden of remembrance in front of the Guards' Chapel in Birdcage Walk in London, the earth for which will be brought over from Passendale by the Flemish administration. This garden will replace the present pond which is an inappropriate and unsafe eyesore.
The purpose of my question (which will be answered by Lord Astor, the defence minister in the House of Lords) is to acquaint my colleagues with what is already being planned over in Belgium, to find out what plans our own government has for commemorating this centenary, and also to solicit support for the Guards' Chapel garden.
A former government relations adviser and co-founder of the House Magazine, Richard Faulknerwas raised to the peerage in 1999.
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