Date: 28th July 2014FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Release

Cathedral WW1 Centenary Commemoration

Across the country, churches and cathedrals will be open for prayer and reflection on the evening of Monday 4th August to mark the anniversary of the start of the First World War. The BBC will broadcast a service live from Westminster Abbey at 10pm that evening. Bradford Cathedral will be open for a time of prayer and reflection from 7.30pm until 11pm and people are welcome to come and go as they please. At 10pm there will be a service of readings and prayers inspired by Edward Grey’s famous remark ‘the lamps are going out all over Europe’ and will draw on the shape and content of the service in Westminster Abbey.

The Dean of Bradford, the Very Revd Jerry Lepine said “ The Poet Laureate Andrew Motion once referred to World War 1 as our ‘national psychic wound.’ The trauma of these years left its mark on families and communitiesaround the world for generations. It is deeply appropriate for us to spend some time in reflection and prayer and the evening of 4th August is the designated time for this national commemoration. We shall, of course, pray for peace in the world today as well.”

For more information please go to or call the Cathedral Office on 01274 777720.

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Note to Editors

The Cathedral has a number of WW1 memorials.

To the left of the North Door is the WW1 memorial window, commemorating the valour of the Prince of Wales Own West Yorkshire Regiment through the battlefields of France and Belgium. Beginning at the bottom left hand corner, the story unfolds clockwise around the window – we see troops landing in France, followed by the major actions on the Somme, until they arrive at the Rhine in 1919, depicted by Cologne Cathedral. There are also many cameos of life in the trenches and, hidden amongst the panels, are tiny symbols – poppies, the Yorkshire rose and pelicans, the sign of sacrificial love. The window sill is said to be the gravestone of a medieval soldier, with an engraved sword and helmet.

The WWI Memorial is surmounted by the figure of St George, designed bythe Bradford-born artist
Ernest Sichel.

Images attached. Please note that those with a file name ending MG_47… can only be used if attributed to Michelle Heseltine () but are free for Bradford Cathedral’s use

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Yours : Faithfully

Bradford Cathedral, Stott Hill, Bradford, BD1 4EH

T: 01274 777720 F: 01274 777730