When the Light Goes Out

When the Light Goes Out was a commission by Cheshire East Council to create two large-scale multi art-form, community events to commemorate the First World War and draw to a close their four year Cheshire East Reflects programme, which finished with the extinguishing of the commemorative flame at Tatton Park.

We decided on the title of the event partly because of the flame, but also in reference to the quote:

“The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”

British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey remarked to a friend on the eve of the United Kingdom’s entry into the First World War. First published in Grey’s memoirs in 1925, the statement earned wide attention as an accurate perception of the First World War and its geopolitical and cultural consequences.

Working with artists, stakeholders and the local community we devised and delivered When the Light Goes Out. The weekend programme took place in Crewe Town Centre and at Tatton Park over Armistice weekend.

The two events included a parade, a street concert, choirs, a building projection artwork and a promenade performance created with schools, groups and individuals from the area in collaboration with professional theatre makers and artists.

The lead artists for the project were Illuminos and Yet Another Carnival.

A mockup of a tank was created. This was in reference to Crewe being one of the towns selected during the war to showcase the new military technology and was used to sell War Bonds to help fund the campaign and became known as Tank Banks.

Thousands of people turned out to reflect on the hardships, losses and untold stories of the First World War, as Cheshire East Council’s four-year programme of commemorative activity came to a close.

As the sounds of Crewe Male Voice Choir echoed out, visitors also stopped to listen to monologues about refugee and Commonwealth participation in the war and paused for a moment to hear stories of heartbreak.

They watched games being played and dance and movement pieces being performed by young people from Bexton Primary School, Minerva Arts and Amy Greenhalgh Dance.

A formal ceremony, led by Cheshire East Mayor Lesley Smetham, the Venerable Ian Bishop, Archdeacon of Macclesfield and Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire David Briggs, then brought the event – and the Cheshire East Reflects programme – to a close with the extinguishing of the commemorative flame, which had burned since the start of the commemorations in 2014.