Day 9

Monday 26th September 2011

10:00 Perception Unit Briefing (Dr Tom Slevin) Interesting and thought provoking, I would have liked the project brief to have been issued since I like to mull the information over. It is my intention to print off and file every presentation made available to us, adding any key notes I make that aren't in the actual presentations.

I walked and I walked and I walked after the brief, until I reached my destination, the Chatham Naval Memorial. I love these places and I have to say it left me wondering if the feelings these places give me could be translated into an image for the Environment project. I read name after name and wondered at their ages, their lives and their stories. I would imagine that many were the same age as those at UCA, 18615 souls, their lives and stories elusive and unknown to those of us who viewed the names. Then one name with a poppy and a hand annotated message inscribed on the petals, very touching. I cursed myself for not having a camera to hand..

*'After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided. An Admiralty committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth - should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a leading mark for shipping. The memorials were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, who had already carried out a considerable amount of work for the Commission, with sculpture by Henry Poole. The Chatham Naval Memorial was unveiled by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) on 26 April 1924. After the Second World War it was decided that the naval memorials should be extended to provide space for commemorating the naval dead without graves of that war, but since the three sites were dissimilar, a different architectural treatment was required for each. The architect for the Second World War extension at Chatham was Sir Edward Maufe (who also designed the Air Forces memorial at Runnymede) and the additional sculpture was by Charles Wheeler and William McMillan. The Extension was unveiled by the Duke of Edinburgh on 15 October 1952. Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates 8,517 sailors of the First World War and 10,098 of the Second World War.'

I noted the sad footnote on the CWCG website that vandals frequent the site and therefore access could be limited on occasion

* Information via CWCG (Commonwealth War Graves Commission (http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=142000&mode=1)

15:00 Research Skills (Nick Turner) I found this very useful and the resource available to students is excellent indeed! My confidence grows with macs and the resources each time I use them.

16:00 Seminar Perception Unit (Dr Tom Slevin) More of a get to know you session, an ice breaker.  All of us feeling our way, the first tentative steps on another Journey.