Ballymena War Memorial: 'Wreath of Remembrance' event at The Braid to mark centenary
The centenary of Ballymena War Memorial will be marked in November with a special commemoration event at The Braid Arts and Civic Centre.
‘Wreath of Remembrance’ will highlight the story behind a photograph of a wreath laid by four Ballymena boys in memory of their fathers in November 1924.
The programme of narrative, readings, prose, poetry, music and song will take visitors to a bygone era in Ballymena, looking at the war and the local stories connected to it.
The event will take place in the Studio Theatre at The Braid on November 7, 2024, starting at 7.30pm.
Admission is free, but tickets must be pre-booked online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/meaevents.
Memorial’s history
As early as 1917 in Ballymena, plans were afoot to honour those who had been killed during the conflict.
The scheme evolved from an idea in the mind of local landowner Sir Robert Adair. Adair owned a plot of land to the south west of the town centre, not far from the railway station, and in the spring of 1917 he wrote to the town’s Urban District Council offering this plot as a ‘Memorial Park.’
The War Memorial Park was developed between that year and 1918, and was supplemented in November 1924 when an obelisk was dedicated in the centre of the park by Sir Oliver Nugent, former commanding officer of the Ulster Division.
Like most memorials, the unveiling ceremony in Ballymena was a great public event, attended by what the Ballymena Observer described as “an immense gathering of the inhabitants of the town and district.”