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Welcome to the December edition of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s newsletter. It is hard to believe that we are already sending you a December newsletter. This year has been an incredibly busy year for the Commission and we are delighted also that we now have over 6,000 readers signed up to our newsletter. Please do continue to feedback your comments, they are most welcome and you will see this month we continue reviewing the Commission's commitment worldwide. We would like to wish you all the very best for the festive season. If you are in the UK why not take advantage of our special theatre offer (see below) _________________________________________ PDF of this newsletter is available here. Annual Report 2009-2010: Available now 
Annual Report 2009-2010 witnessed a number of very significant events for the Commission. The latest annual report, published on 11 November, highlights the great variety of projects over the past year, including the successful opening of the Commission’s first new cemetery in 50 years, at Fromelles in northern France. The Report is now available on our website. If you would like a printed copy, please email us. 
Bravery of HMS Jervis Bay sailors remembered A 70th anniversary memorial service to commemorate the loss of HMS Jervis Bay was held at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, in Kent on 5 November. Relatives of those aboard the converted cruise liner exchanged stories and memories with other relatives, as the fateful events of 5th November 1940 were relived. Many of those who died are commemorated at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's naval memorial at Chatham. Further information can be seen on the CWGC video of the event. Agreement with Flemish Government 
On Thursday, 11 November the Commonwealth War Graves Commission signed a historic Charter of Agreement with the Flemish Government, which sets out proposals for the two parties to work more closely together in the run up to the centennial commemorations of the First World War in Flanders from 2014 – 2018. More information can be found on our website.... Forever India: new Education Resource 
The Commission has produced an introductory DVD about the often-overlooked contribution made by servicemen from undivided India during the First World War. The DVD includes a 12 minute film, and is just the first phase of a joint project between the Commission and the Indian government, which will explore India's involvement in both the First and Second World Wars in greater depth. The DVD was sent to all schools in the United Kingdom. It is also available on our website Please note it is quite a large file. If you would like a copy of the DVD please contact us by email at CWGC Education. Can changes be made to our records? 
Thank you very much for all the feedback we received following the article on How Our Records Were Compiled in our October newsletter. Many of you asked whether changes or additional information can still be added to our records. To answer your questions, our Enquiries Supervisor has produced an information sheet which we hope answers many of your queries. Please acces the article using the link below: Adding additional information to Commission Records Sir Fabian Ware 
Commission achieves Charter Mark Award As you know providing an excellent customer service is important to us all at the Commission and we are delighted to have been awarded the Charter Mark Award for Customer Service Excellence for the third consecutive year. The assessor was particularly impressed by the improvements which have been carried out over the past year enabling more of you, our customers, to understand more about the work of the Commission and those it commemorates. Many thanks to all of you for your compliments and ongoing feedback. New information panels at Menin Gate 
On 10 November, a series of information panels were erected at the Menin Gate, Ieper, Belgium; providing visitors with information about the Menin Gate and work of the Commission and the Last Post Association. If you are visiting Ieper in the next six months and have an opportunity to view these panels, we would very much like your feedback on
Please provide your feedback, by accessing the website using the link below: I would like to leave feedback about the Menin Gate panels Irish war dead finally honoured 
Irish war dead finally honoured Following research by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Glasnevin Trust, which runs Ireland's largest cemetery, 43 Irish men and women who, until now, lay in unmarked graves have had a headstone erected at the spot in which they are buried. On Remembrance Day, relatives of those buried at Glasnevin were amongst the crowd which gathered to see dignatories lay wreaths to remember the fallen. Please watch our video to find out more about the ceremony and the work with the Glasnevin Trust. Special theatre offer for our readers 
Birdsong at Comedy Theatre, London Sebastian Faulks’s international best-selling novel Birdsong is now a major West End hit starring Ben Barnes and is playing for a strictly limited run until the 15th January 2011. The promoters of Birdsong, have kindly provided our readers with an opportunity to obtain discounted top price tickets. Full details about this offer can be found here. Exhibitions extended due to popular demand 
Owing to their popularity, two exhibitions about the Commission and its work have been extended. Remembering Fromelles: a new cemetery for a new century exhibition continues throughout the Spring Remembering Fromelles: Imperial War Museum, London Using specially commissioned photographs, this exhibition traces the story behind the first new Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Fromelles to be built in nearly half a century. Further information about the exhibition from the Imperial War Museum website Copies of the book which accompanies the exhibition is also available for purchase through the Commission website _______________________________________________________________ Exhibition on the work of the Commission in the UK: exhibition continues until 28th January 2011. North Lincolnshire Museum, Oswald Road, Scunthorpe, DN15 7BD Tel: 01724 843533 North Lincs Museum website For further information and opening hours, please contact the Museum 
P is for Panama We continue our way through our A-Z of countries; now over half way, at P, so this month we briefly cover the Commission's commitment in Panama Our commitment here is small, with fifteen Commonwealth war graves. Further information on Panama can be found here. For information, our other P commitments are: Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal and Puerto Rico (and by the way we have no Q entries!) The responsibility for these graves lies with the Director of Commission's Outer Area, who is based here at Head Office, in Maidenhead, UK. For those of you interested in further information about Outer Area, and the total commitment, you may wish to view the map attached here. Don't forget to let us know if you have an interesting story we can feature about one of our sites from further afield. 
As many regular readers will know, we often feature a story from one of our visitors and what Remembrance means to them. This month we focus on the work of some school children in Tasmania. Over the past months, a group of primary school children from Newtown, Tasmania made and signed 209 wooden crosses to be placed on each of the graves at Bethleem Farm East Cemetery, and Bethleem Farm West Cemetery (pictured) . Both of these cemeteries commemorate servicemen from the Australian Infantry, A.I.F, who died as a result of enemy action during, or following, the Battle of Messines in 1917. On 11 November, His Excellency Dr Brendan Nelson, Australian Ambassador to Belgium, took part in a ceremony at which time the crosses were laid on every grave. The Ambassador placed one of the crosses written on by the children on the grave of Private William Henry Whelan from North Hobart. William was 27 years of age when he was killed in action on 16 December 1917 and is commemorated at Bethleem Farm West Cemetery . 
If you would like to receive more regular updates, why not join our Facebook and Twitter pages? The links to these can be found on the right hand side of this newsletter. Our Facebook page has an ever increasing number of fans and we are always interested in seeing your photographs and receiving your comments. Feedback email address: Don't forget you can let us have your comments and feedback about any aspect of the Commission's work through this address. Please remember this is not a general enquiry address and general enquiries are likely to be forwarded to our Enquiries Section. The Commission has several offices around the world, including an office based in Centurion, South Africa, which is responsible for war graves both in South Africa and Namibia. Our next newsletter will focus on the work by the Commission in South Africa to give all our readers a flavour of our work all over the world. If you have a story about a relative commemorated in South Africa, please do let us know. 
Charity Support On Thursday 18th and Friday 19th November, Commission staff who work at our Head Office in Maidenhead participated in various activities in support of Children in Need, the BBC's annual charitable event. By running car washes, buying raffle tickets and participating in other fun activities we were delighted to raise over £800 for the charity which aims to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK For further information please visit the Children in Need website. |
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December 2010 newsletterIn this Issue CWGC social network sites 
Season's Greetings from everyone at the Commission Berlin War Cemetery *TWGPP (War Graves Photographic Project) *The Historic Dockyard Chatham *CWGC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites Pass it on Do you know anyone who would like to receive this newsletter? |
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