There was a moving tribute to the troops who lost their
lives in the First World War at the 2015 World Travel Market: a column of several hundred tiny knitted
soldiers, trudging through the French stand at the Excel
centre, complete with belts, haversacks, hats and boots. Wool War One is a remembrance
project by French artist Délit Maille, helped by 500 volunteer knitters from
around the world. The figures were
previously displayed at Roubaix in northern France, as part of the
Farewell to Arms season, and at the Grand Palais in Paris.
One figure stood by itself, under a plaque with the poignant words of Rudyard Kipling:"If any question why we died
Tell them, because our fathers lied."
- The Common Form, 1918
There are 800 figures in the installation, each 15cm high, but space restrictions meant this had to be reduced to 540 for the London travel trade exhibition.
2016 sees the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. Official commemorations begin in northern France on July 1, and a new interpretation centre opens in June in Thiepval. Fingers crossed the woollen army will be on display again.
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