Christmas truce football statue unveiled in Liverpool
- Published
The Christmas truce statue was designed by Andy Edwards
A sculpture commemorating the World War One Christmas truce has been unveiled in Liverpool.
Two fibreglass figures, about to shake hands, capture the moment British and German soldiers stopped fighting and played football on Christmas Day 1914.
Named All Together Now, the statue, designed by Andy Edwards, is on display at Liverpool's bombed-out church.
St Luke's Church, which faces down Bold Street, is itself a monument to the 1941 Blitz on Liverpool.
The building was almost destroyed by an incendiary bomb in May 1941 and has remained as a burnt-out shell ever since.
Tom Calderbank, who led the project behind the statue's creation, said Edwards had "captured that moment of humanity amidst all the horror and the carnage".
The sculpture will be on display at the church for a week before being transported to Flanders in Belgium where it will be displayed.
St Luke's Church was built in 1831 by John Foster and John Foster Jr and continues to stand as a memorial to those killed in the war.
The walls and gates of the church are Grade II listed.
A Christmas kick-about?
Along parts of the Western Front, some men emerged from their trenches into No Man's Land on 25 December 1914.
Where truces did happen, enemy soldiers met, spent Christmas together and even exchanged gifts.
Although first-hand testimonies suggest there was no single organised football match between German and British sides, small-scale kickabouts were held between soldiers.
There was no official truce, however, and along other parts of the frontline bloody battles continued to take place over the Christmas period.
- Published7 July 2014
- Published24 March 2014
