SLIGO ARMISTICE DAY 2018 - 100TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION
Image by Steve Rogers
616 VOLUNTEERS AND 5 CIVILIANS FROM SLIGO TOWN AND COUNTY WHO DIED IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 -1918 WERE COMMEMORATED ON ARMISTICE DAY 2018, THE CENTENARY OF THE END OF HOSTILITIES
Image by Steve Rogers
On the morning of Sunday, 11 November 2018, a hushed silence fell over Sligo town broken only by the solemn tolling for two minutes of local bells to mark the Centenary of the ending of the Great War in 1918. Upon the conclusion of the bell ringing 621 participants, each representing by name one of County Sligo’s Great War dead, began a silent walk through the town’s streets.
Proceeding to the Cenotaph monument at the junction of Mail Coach Road and Pearse Road, participants were joined by members of the public and by actors from Blue Raincoat Theatre Company who read aloud several letters written home to Sligo by individuals who served and did not survive.
A lone bugler played the Last Post and Reveille.
Photographs by Tommy Weir
Blue Raincoat Theatre Company conceived and produced this event in association with Lest Sligo Forgets, a community based organisation who are creating the County Sligo Great War Memorial Garden. A volunteer steering committee co-ordinated and developed the project across County Sligo with the theatre company throughout 2018.
Armistice Day 2018 was funded via Lest Sligo Forgets under The Special European Projects Body / "PeaceIV" programme by Sligo County Council, Sligo Local Community Development Committee and Creative Ireland Programme 2017 - 2022. Blue Raincoat gratefully acknowledges the additional support of Sligo Tourist Development Association for the project.
For more information please see Lest Sligo Forgets