A Dartmoor Parish Remembers

Dartmoor Forest Parish Council is celebrating the award of 10 silhouettes funded by the A Dartmoor Parish Remembers.

The silhouettes are part of a national project entitled ‘There But Not There’ organised by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. The aim of ‘There But Not There’ is to place a representative figure for every name on local war memorials around the country, into their place of worship, their school, their workplace or wherever their absence was keenly felt. These transparent silhouettes will be back within their communities for Remembrance 2018, the centenary commemoration of the end of the 1914-1918 First World War.

Alongside the establishment of a micro-museum in Princetown, designed to tell more of the story of the men remembered on the village war memorial, these silhouettes will also form part of Dartmoor Forest’s commemoration of Remembrance 2018.

The silhouettes will be placed across Dartmoor Forest Parish, as a symbolic reminder of those that never returned and to raise awareness of the work and sacrifices of the Armed Forces today. Locations include St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Princetown, St Gabriel’s Church in Postbridge, St Raphael’s Chapel in Huccaby,  the Dartmoor National Park Visitor Centre in Princetown and Princetown School.

The award was made under the Armistice and Armed Forces Communities programme, which makes awards to bring communities together to remember; and to think about the Armed Forces today. As Princetown has a deep connection with the armed forces, with many ex and current servicepeople living in the village, and many who have also worked at HMP Dartmoor, this seems an apt and poignant way to commemorate Remembrance 2018.