Library Display Commemorating WW1

A model display set from local model maker Colin Bean was installed in the foyer display at Colne Library to commemorate WW1.

The models, by local model maker Colin Bean, show the recruitment efforts in 1914 on Market Street (including the Angel Inn and Higgin House) and the casualties in the clearing station at St. Omer in Northern France (on the border of Flanders) c1915.

The models will be on display until mid October 2018, at which time they will replaced with models to commemorate the end of the war in 1918.  The models, which collectively took about  two and a half years to complete, are not intended to be historically accurate but more of a tribute to those involved and those that did not return home.

During the installation of the models, we had some very kind assistance from David from The Sun Station  … who saw us struggling with one of the larger models outside the library. The Sun Station is a local shop that offers sunbeds, spray tans and tanning products – apparently are also quite happy to carry models into the library too! Thank you so much! 

The model took a bit of a bash, with some minor damage to a drain pipe and a couple of the chimneys were knocked off too!  Just goes to show that to create something, there are often unexpected knocks along the way. No matter, Colin repaired them once we got the models in place.

Earlier this year our Mr.Bean had a short-break holiday to Europe to visit various sites relating to WW1.  These included Ypres, Omer, Flanders and the War Graves. In  the pictures below you can see the (rebuilt) Cloth Hall as seen through the Menin Gate, graves for  ‘A Soldier of The Great War’, a very moving single red poppy in a French field and a daughters tribute to her father who died in the war: “With Love from your daughter Lily, Aged 103. Pte. Gillett 1915” (considering that photo was taken in May 2018, that’s a pretty sad glimpse into the after effects of war).