With a wide range of ways provided this week to pay our respects to those who gave their lives in war, we will remember them.

Songs for the Voiceless, Chatham

Kent will play host to one of five exclusive concerts being held across the country during Remembrance Week.

Some of the UK’s finest folk artists are preparing to bring their acclaimed Songs for the Voiceless CD to life on-stage at Chatham’s Brook Theatre.

The highly original album, released this month in aid of the Poppy Appeal, saw some of the brightest British roots talents form a collective to release a work marking the First World War centenary.

The live concert of the album brings together numerous award-winning musicians including 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Folk Singer of the Year, Bella Hardy.

Originally the brainchild of Sheffield musician Michael J Tinker, of the Bright Season trio, it also features 2013 Folk Awards Best Duo nominees Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts, plus Jackie Oates, Ian Stephenson, Tom Oakes and The Young ‘uns.

In the hands of top folk music producer Andy Bell, the result is nine original songs from the perspective of both soldiers and civilians, victims and survivors, set in places from English villages to the trenches. Inspired by poems, diaries, memoirs and books, the songs give a voice to the unheard ‘everyman’ stories from a period of history that impacted the lives of so many and left Britain mourning a lost generation of husbands, fathers and sons.

Making it even more pertinent, some of the tracks were inspired by the artists’ own ancestors while the bonus track comes from one of folk music’s leading lights – the multi award-winning Bellowhead frontman, Jon Boden.

The tour of the live concert during Remembrance Week will visit Bury, London, Winchester, Salisbury and Chatham only.

Songs for the Voicelsss will be at Chatham’s Brook Theatre on Saturday, November 8 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £20. Visit www.tickets.medway.gov.uk or www.songsforthe
voiceless.co.uk

Time Bleeds, Imperial War Museum (filmed in Folkestone)

A wartime film telling the story of an enlisted soldier leaving Folkestone is being shown at the Imperial War Museum (IWM).

The docu-drama, called Time Bleeds, was shortlisted for the IWM 2014 short film festival and contest and part-filmed at Folkestone Harbour Station.

The competition saw entries from film-makers inspired by the collections shown in the London museum.

In Time Bleeds, the main character, Nick, is shamed into enlisting by the White Feather campaign that started in Folkestone. After a tearful farewell with his mother on the platform, Nick is sent to Ypres, where he is shot for cowardice a few days later.

It was filmed last year when production team Violafilms came to Folkestone, gathering residents who lived by the seaside. It was cast using a mixture of students, amateurs and professional actors - all of whom had to envisage what it might have been like living in war conditions.

Karol Steele from River, near Dover, plays the mother of Nick, played by teenage actor Nick Young, who is from Ripple, in scenes that were shot at the historic harbour station and the Drop Redoubt in Dover.

The judging panel for the IWM contest will announce the winners in an award ceremony on Monday, December 1 at the museum.

Meanwhile, the film is being shown at IWM until Monday, November 10.

All films by the winners and runners-up will also have a public screening at IWM on Sunday, December 7. Visit www.iwm.org.uk

The National Destroyer Memorial, Historic Dockyard Chatham

The National Destroyer Memorial will be one focal point for quiet reflection in the county this week.

The bronze monument at the Historic Dockyard Chatham will be the site of two minutes’ silence at 11am on Remembrance Sunday, November 9 and a more formal an Act of Remembrance at 11am on Armistice Day, Tuesday, November 11.

On Tuesday the short ceremony will be led by the Rev Andrew Huckett, chaplain to the HMS Cavalier Association, and will include the two minutes’ silence at 11am, Last Post, Exhortation, the Kohima Epitaph and prayers.

As chairman, Admiral Sir Ian Garnett KCB will lay the first wreath on behalf of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust following which there will then be opportunities for others to lay a poppy wreath or poppy cross at the monument. Mr Huckett will bring the proceedings to a close with prayers.

Anyone wishing to visit on Sunday or to attend the Act of Remembrance on Tuesday will be made welcome to do so, and will be provided with free access to the Historic Dockyard for that purpose, Such visitors are asked to be in position by 10.55am. Veterans and their families will have free of charge access to HMS Cavalier on both occasions.

As the National Destroyer Memorial HMS Cavalier is memorial to 142 Royal Navy destroyers sunk during the Second World War and more tan 11,000 men who lost their lives as a result.

Visit www.thedockyard.co.uk

Family History Day hosted by Step Short, Folkestone

Want to know more about a family member who served in the First World War?
Visit Folkestone’s Step Short Visitor Centre in the Tram Road car park on Saturday, November 8.

The charity will be launching the newly-refurbished visitor centre with a family history day, where experts will help members of the public research their ancestors or any other member of the armed forces they are interested in. The genealogical research day will make good use of a number of new desktop computers that have been installed at the centre following its recent refurbishment.

Step Short volunteers will be available from 10am to 5pm on Saturday to provide advice and guidance on researching the military service of anyone who took part in the 1914-18 conflict and helping visitors navigate the numerous sources of information available online.

The visitor centre also has a number of original artefacts from World War One on display and people without a specific relative or ‘name’ they would like to research are equally welcome to drop in. Contact Ann Berry on 01303 268644 or email annber35@supanet.com

Gravesend - Chalk Commemorates is a display which will honour the men, women and children who lost their lives in the two wars with a connection to Chalk, near Gravesend. The talk will be held on Sunday, November 9 at St Mary’s Church at 3pm. Entry is free but donations will be appreciated.

Herne Bay - Invicta Concert Band give a concert commemorating Remembrance Weekend with military marches and patriotic music in the style of Last Night of The Proms at the United Church in Mortimer Street, Herne Bay, on Saturday, November 8 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £6 on the door, refreshments included. Call 01227 366427.

Capel-Le-Ferne - Kent musicians Martin Milnes and Janet Tootal have recorded For The Fallen, a song based on the poem by Robert Laurence Binyon, and are selling copies to raise money for the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust. Composed by Geoff Stephens, the song was first aired at the trust’s annual Memorial Day at the National Memorial to the Few at Capel-le-Ferne in July. Copies of the CD are now on sale for £5. Call 01303 249292 or email battleofbritain@btinternet.com