Beaches will host Boyle’s WWI commemoration

OSCAR-WINNING director Danny Boyle’s production commemorating Armistice Day will be taking to Swansea Beach next month.

Pages Of The Sea – the commission for 14-18 NOW to mark the centenary of Armistice Day – invites people to gather on beaches across the UK in an informal, nationwide gesture of remembrance for the men and women who left their home shores during World War I.

Swansea council will lead events at Swansea Beach, while Broad Haven Beach in Pembrokeshire will also host a ceremony on Sunday, November 11.

Each event centres around the drawing of a large-scale portrait of a casualty from World War I, designed by sand artists Sand In Your Eye, which will be washed away as the tide comes in.

Poet Carol Ann Duffy has been invited by Boyle to write a new poem, which will be read by individuals, families and communities as they gather on beaches.

Mr Boyle said: “Beaches are truly public spaces, where nobody rules other than the tide. They seem the perfect place to gather and say a final goodbye and thank you to those whose lives were taken or forever changed by the First World War.

“I’m inviting people to watch as the faces of the fallen are etched in the sand, and for communities to come together to remember the sac- rifices that were made.”

People are also invited to explore an online gallery of portraits of some of the men and women who served in World War I, and select someone to say a personal goodbye to, either via social media or as they gather in person. Visitors to the website can add portraits of members of their family or community who contributed to World War I.

“Swansea’s coastline is a perfect location for hosting this event,” said the council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, Councillor Robert Francis Davis. “To bring our communities together, in this most democratic of public spaces, on the edge of a city ravaged by war, has a deep felt meaning for us.”

Jenny Waldman, Director of 14-18 NOW, added: “Danny Boyle has created a poetic artwork that invites people across the UK to participate in a nationwide gesture of remembrance on the centenary of Armistice Day.”