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Walking with Ghosts art installation to return to Folkestone Harbour Arm for remembrance weekend

13:24, 20 October 2023

An art installation which projects images of soldiers who left for war from Kent is returning for remembrance weekend.

Multimedia art experience Walking with Ghosts will be on display at the former station at Folkestone Harbour Arm – where many soldiers departed from during the First World War.

Walking with Ghosts will show some of the troops who departed from Kent. Picture: University of Kent
Walking with Ghosts will show some of the troops who departed from Kent. Picture: University of Kent

The project is led and produced by the University of Kent in partnership with the Imperial War Museum and the experience features a marching ‘ghostly army’ representing Britain and its empire forces projected onto a wall.

Although the harbour’s railway station was closed to the public, commercial shipping continued during the conflict.

It became known as the ‘gateway to the trenches’ as thousands of soldiers and workers passed through.

The installation premiered in Folkestone last year and attracted more than 20,000 visitors on remembrance weekend.

Following the success it will return on Saturday, November 11.

The installation will be on display at Folkestone Harbour Arm Station. Picture: University of Kent
The installation will be on display at Folkestone Harbour Arm Station. Picture: University of Kent

After the launch event at 11am, the projection will be screened on Saturday and Sunday between 3.30pm and 11pm.

Professor Helen Brooks, Walking with Ghosts producer and professor of cultural and creative history at the University of Kent, said: “We’re delighted to be bringing Walking with Ghosts back to Folkestone Harbour Arm this November.

“Since the premier in 2022 we have been working with local community groups and organisations to embed Walking with Ghosts within a wider programme of remembrance activity in Folkestone and we look forward to seeing this come to life next month.”

At 4pm on Saturday, November 11, Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old”, a documentary that uses colourised footage and stories from the front to show trench warfare from a new perspective, will be shown on the screen at the harbour.

On Remembrance Sunday, the screen will show the broadcasts live from London.

The immersive show will return for remembrance weekend. Picture: University of Kent
The immersive show will return for remembrance weekend. Picture: University of Kent

Remembrance weekend will also see the return on The Mole Café on the harbour arm, a recreation of the small pocket of sanctuary that served tea and cake to soldiers just before they left for France.

It sat halfway along the pier, just before the elbow of the arm and was run by sisters Margaret Ann and Florence August Jeffery, and Mrs Napier-Sturt.

Paulo Kingston-Corriea, general manager of Folkestone Harbour and Seafront Development Company said: “The project brings the community together to experience a poignant artwork in a historic and appropriate setting.

“We are deeply proud of the work we have done to restore and preserve the heritage and history of our site which played a significant role in the First World War.”

Walking with Ghosts is a free event that is open to everyone.

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