Community invited to The Art of Remembrance in Longbridge Town Centre

This Saturday (12th November) sees the first Remembrance event in the newly developed Longbridge Town Centre.

The Art of Remembrance event – organised by Friends of Longbridge Open Spaces and God’s Heart for Longbridge – is an opportunity for the people of Longbridge to come together as a community and remember the fallen in a more informal setting.

The event will be held in Austin Park between 2pm – 3pm and attendees are asked to gather outside Park Point (next to the Cambridge pub)

Hope & peace

Attendees will have the opportunity to tie ribbons – with messages of hope or peace – to a tree, while a live brass band plays. At 2.45pm, there will be a short Act of Remembrance, including a minute of silence for the fallen.

God’s Heart for Longbridge is a group of churches from the local area who are working together to be a visible Christian presence in the local community. They offer a chaplaincy service to Bournville College and local businesses as well as providing opportunities for people who do not regularly attend church to experience Christian faith, community and heritage together.

‘Stand together… to remember’

Representing the group, Rev. Sheri Gidney said: “Through both the creative activity and the short Act of Remembrance there will be opportunity to commit ourselves to hopeful, peaceful living as we go forward.

“Whether you have lived in Longbridge all of your life and have witnessed its change and development or whether you have recently moved to the area, come and stand together young and old, come and meet each other, come and take time to remember.”

The Friends of Longbridge Open Spaces project has been facilitated by Longbridge Public Art Project (LPAP) and developers St Modwen, and this is the first of several community events to be planned for this year.

Claire Farrell, Artistic Director of WERK who run LPAP, said: “The God’s Heart for Longbridge Remembrance event provides an opportunity for people living, working and visiting Longbridge to pay their respects to the fallen, with a live brass band set to play along with what will be a poignant ribbon display in tribute to the many local servicemen who lost their lives.”

Andrea Clarke, Property Manager at St. Modwen, said: “Remembrance Day provides a rare opportunity for people to stop their busy lives for just a few moments to remember the sacrifice that our sailors, soldiers and airmen made, and continue to make, in order to ensure our safety, and we fully support this year’s Remembrance event at Longbridge Town Centre.

“As the new community at Longbridge continues to grow and thrive, we are encouraging more local people to host their own community events such as this. To that end we are supporting the FLOS programme, developed through LPAP, to kick-start this new initiative, which we hope will be carried on by the local community for years to come.”

Event details:

• When: 2pm – 3pm Saturday 12th November 2016
• Where: Park Point, High Street, Longbridge, Birmingham B31 2UQ
• Who: All ages welcome