Montgomery Remembers

Phase 5

September 2014

Paul Hodgson's sketches were based on researching photographs of the period.

I was looking to depict a group of soldiers, ideally 'pals', walking forward to their new position, unhurriedly and each quietly in their own thoughts with no obvious horrors of war evident.

They are shown moving westwards - poignantly into Wales - but also reflecting a WW1 phrase for those who'd died, "they'd gone West". And it is the last soldier seen dropping a piece of paper that raises the question for the observer, each to contemplate what might have been written.

 

Two days before the Service of Dedication, the stonemasons Peter Hughes and Graham fit the template to the Memorial Stone prior to cutting in the Roll of Honour and frieze Wednesday 4.30 pm, 3rd September 2014 - Job Completed two days prior to the Service of Dedication and four years since the project was first put forward. The granite Roll of Honour and frieze were both installed with minimal disruption to either the Memorial Stone or the granite plinth and after a final wash down with water, loose stone chips and dust were swept clear to leave a clean site.

 

The Memorial was clad in hessian wrapping, hand painted with poppies; the wrapping would remain in place until the morning of the Service of Dedication, when the national flags of Wales and the United Kingdom were draped across the Memorial ready to be unveiled at the service by the Rt. Hon.The Lord Davies of Llandinam D.L.

 

 

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