Thousands attend 19240 Shrouds of the Somme Project
ONE of the British Army's most senior members attended the 19240 Shrouds of the Somme exhibition in Exeter on Saturday along with thousands of visitors who queued patiently to see the project.
The 19240 Shrouds of the Somme project aims to commemorate every single one of the 19,240 allied soldiers who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 100 years ago.
Artist Rob Heard spent three years creating the exhibition which saw him hand-stitch every single shroud in order to remember every soldier who fell. After he had made every 12 inch figurine he would symbolically read out their name from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's records.
The exhibition was opened at 7:30am on Friday July 1st, 100 years to the day since the order was given to ‘go over the top'.
As part of the week-long exhibition, all the names of those who were lost will be read out by volunteers. On Saturday, ACGS Major General Nick Welch visited the installation and himself read from the lists of records of the dead.
Exeter's Armed Forces Day on Saturday saw thousands of people attend the 19240 Shrouds of the Somme Project, many queuing to get in. Visitor numbers to the exhibition are growing rapidly with some coming from as far away as Australia.
The exhibition is free and is open to the public from 7:30am to 9pm every evening until the Closing Ceremony on Thursday July 7th 2016 at 9pm.
