Today At the Court of Common Council meeting, a commemorative installation of 113 seated silhouettes will be on display in the public gallery representing the 112 officers, City of London Police officers, and 1 Common Councilman who lost their lives on active service in the Great War. The seated silhouettes will be accompanied by a number of distinctive six-foot Tommy ‘statues’.
The installation forms part of a national project called There But Not There, which has three aims:
- To Commemorate the Fallen.
- To Educate all generations, particularly today’s younger generation, to understand what led to the deaths of 888,246 people from Britain and the Commonwealth in the Great War.
- To help Heal those suffering from the hidden wounds of post-traumatic stress disorder and other lasting legacies of combat, by raising funds for beneficiary charities.
The City of London Corporation has contributed £15,000 to There But Not There which will benefit charities such as the Royal Foundation, Combat Stress, Walking with the Wounded, Help for Heroes, Project Equinox, and the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation.
I hope you agree this is a fitting way to remember the sacrifices of our past.
Following their display at Court of Common Council, the silhouettes and statues will be loaned to St Paul’s Cathedral, Lincoln’s Inn, 14 City churches and Redriff Primary, City of London Academy Southwark, for display during Armistice Week.