Gheluvelt Park WW1 Memorial

Had chance on Tuesday to take a proper look at this metal sculpture in Gheluvelt Park along Ombersley Road in Worcester.  The bottom picture is a section showing the lettering on the curved piece.  It is amazing and you can view a miriad of different aspects of the sculpture, which has lots of lovely angles, when you walk around it.

The reason I got to look at this was that I miraculously remembered to take a pint of milk for the VENTURE Group, but had completely forgotten the basket with the tea and coffee in so had to make a dash to the local shop to buy emergency rations!!

Now found out more about the memorial - it commemorates the Battle of Gheluvelt on 31 October 1914 and was unveiled to the public in August 2010. The words on the metal are these:-

"Let it never be forgotten that the true glory of the fight at Gheluvelt lies not in the success achieved but in the courage which urged our solitary battalion to advance undaunted amid all the evidence of retreat and disaster to meet great odds in a battle apparently lost"

 (Field Marshall Sir Claud Jacob GCB KCSI KCMG)

And this is what the sculpture represents:-

Conceptually the feature reflects the chaos and destruction of war. The chosen material, corten steel that will weather to a rust-like patina, contrasting with pale concrete and granite paving.

• The feature is given shape by 27 steel panels arranged in five groups, representing the years 1914 to 1918. Each panel represents two months of war, starting from August 1914 when Britain entered the conflict. The height of each panel has been calculated from official casualty figures, with each centimetre representing 500 British and Commonwealth casualties (dead, wounded, missing and prisoners).
  
  
• The slots cut into some panels relate to the durations of the major battles that produced many of these casualties. A timeline of the involvement of the units of the Worcestershire Regiment runs across the panels.
  
  
• A curve of granite cobbles along the path edge represents 2nd Battalion casualties (black) and survivors (grey) of the Gheluvelt attack.
  
  
• The central lawn is laid with poppy seeds, which will burst into colour in summer: the blood red of the Flanders poppy of remembrance.
  
  
• Finally, a panel names and honours the men of 2nd Battalion who lost their lives on 31st October 1914 at the Battle of Gheluvelt.