RGLI trust aims to move from ‘commemorative to cultural’
IDEAS put forward by the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Charitable Trust include a student exchange programme, as well as a recently-launched website.
The trust, which was formed in 2016, was initially seen as a focal point for the 100th anniversary of the service of The Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, a regiment in the British Army that was formed from the Royal Guernsey Militia in 1916 to serve in the First World War.
Its objectives still remain as remembrance, commemoration and education, but now with the establishment of a cultural connection between Masnieres in France, which is twinned with St Peter Port, the aim is to keep history alive today.
The RGLI Charitable Trust’s co-founder and trustee Chris Oliver said they had a lot more in store to continue to do this.
This includes the delayed RGLI ‘Big’ Memorial Ride from Guernsey to France, paying a visit to sites to pay respects, which will take place next May.
‘We’ve got lots planned as we move from the commemorative to the cultural,’ said Mr Oliver.
‘Lots of initiatives, such as next year’s exchange student programme between Blanchelande and schools in Masnieres, there’s lots of people involved in bringing this about, including the French consul. The hope is that we can share our cultures, Victor Hugo, see the islands and vice versa with Cambrai and the battlefields of World War One and perhaps learning the language.
‘We want to become more than the commemorative and get people involved in what these acts of solidarity mean today.’
Their newly-launched website boasts a new name simply under RGLI and features the trust’s journey so far.
Pages on the site direct visitors to upcoming and past events, resources and a gallery of what the trust has been up to.
Its funds came from the hugely successful 2017 campaign for the 100th anniversary of the RGLI’s defence in the face of a fierce German counter-attack in Masnieres as part of the Battle of Cambrai on the Western Front in 1917.
It saw members of the public able to contribute towards the proposed memorial to be placed in Masnieres, which was so successful it funded a sister memorial placed in the Sunken Gardens.
Mr Oliver has also promised there is more to come.
n Tomorrow at noon will see the RGLI Memorial Day Service take place in the Sunken Gardens, marking what is known as Guernsey’s finest hour.
In the run-up to the service on the same day there will be the annual Cambrai ‘Ride Out’, an informal ride from Pembroke Bay to the RGLI memorial in St Peter Port, starting at 10am.
n For more information on the events and to view the new site, visit www.rgli.org.
