New Tyne Cot "Event" ?

[Patrick @ IFF]

In view of the recent discussion of what is allowed or not on military cemeteries, I would like to bring this news article to your attention.

It was published in the Belgian newspaper "Het Laatste Nieuws" on 9 November 2005. (You can find a copy here.)

The Passchendaele Memorial Museum 1917 (with the collaboration of the Belgian Ministry of Defence) will organise from September 2006 "a kind of educating walks" from Zonnebeke to Tyne Cot Cemetery via a new walking track on the former railway line Ieper-Roeselare.

Schoolchildren will wear a heavy uniform and a plaque with a soldier's name.

At Tyne Cot Cemetery they have to search for the soldier's grave. At the new visitors center the party will get more background information (pictures, testimonies, ...).

[delta]

INHO

Schools trips can be either well organised or the opposite, many seem to be almost too hurried . for example; in a three day trip my daughter did the Soome inone day; the Salient on the seond and Bruges on the third. Although she was able to remeber the sights, she was not able to link them to a particualr event.

When touring I try to link my visits to a particular unit or event, not just visit cemeteries or the norma,tourist locatiosn. That said, Tyne Cot is special and the idea of making walk, carrying full kit and ending at an individual's grave may well help telling the story of the event of 1917

[ianw]

Obviously, we are all in favour of young people gaining a better idea of the relevance of Tyne Cot Cemetery and indeed visiting it.

I would hope that the new Visitor Centre may well be used very satisfactorily for events of a nature that suit it better than the interior of Tyne Cot itself i.e it could be used as a sort of ante-room prior to quiet dignified and contemplative entry to the cemetery itself.

Had the Visitor Centre been available a few weeks ago to accomodate those attending the Peace Concert CD press launch, I wonder if the organisers would have wished to have used it rather than the interior of the cemetery ?

[bkristof]

Remark:

The children will NOT go ON Tyne Cot in uniform.