#Lusitania #Anniversary 102 in #Kinsale, #Ireland #RMSLusitania

Profuse apologize for the long absence (the reasons for which would be another long post in itself, but that’s not what this post is for), but the Lusitania anniversary is upon us once again.

Thanks to Janet Hereward (from the family of survivor Herbert Ehrhardt) for passing along the following information:

A Lusitania Memorial Garden is being created as part of the Old Head Signal Tower Restoration Project at the Old Head of Kinsale. The official opening ceremony will be on Sunday May 7th, beginning at 2 pm. For more information, please see http://www.oldheadofkinsale.com

To quote the organizers,

The motivation for the Garden is to create a restful contemplative space to remember the 1,962 crew and passengers who were aboard RMS Lusitania on May 7th 1915 and especially those people who lost their lives in the tragedy. An iconic, 20-metre long ‘curved wave’ sculpture in bronze, listing the names of all 1962 passengers and crew, is the centre-piece of the Garden. The artists, Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring, who have been working on the sculpture for over twelve months, have included a symbol after each name to indicate whether the person was lost or rescued. Some of the panels also illustrate the history of the Cunard liner. The sculpture will be legible from above and below.

Relatives and researchers will also be spending the weekend together in Kinsale to remember the tragedy and those affected by it. A group of relatives of those on board the ship will be at the ceremony and wreath laying to remember those who were on board the Lusitania‘s ill-fated voyage. Right after the ceremony there will be a get-together at the Old Head Golf Links from which the sinking could have been seen on that fateful day over a century ago.

Regrettably, the editor is not able to attend the ceremony this year, but hopefully I will be able to return to Ireland to commemorate the sinking in person next year and in future years to come.