Artist Andy McKeown brought the Market Place to life on Saturday evening with a breathtaking show of light and image projections onto the Cenotaph with a narrative of the stories of the soldiers involved in the WW1 conflict which was hosted by the Preston Remembers organisation.

People gathered in the cold and dark to witness coloured light projected scrolls of the Preston Roll of Honour upon the whole length of the newly restored War Memorial. All of the names were listed by regiment and included the soldier’s occupation. There were also images of the graves in France of those men listed on the Roll of Honour from the East Lancashire regiment, along with WW1 postcards from the Harris collection, images of Preston during WW1 and Preston regiments in the front line.

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Emma Heslewood, curator of history at the Harris, said: “This project was inspired by the original roll of honour forms and makes the connection between these and the cenotaph.”

“The work gives us the opportunity to highlight some of the personal stories behind the names.” “I hope that everyone who sees it will think about the sacrifice that Preston men made.”

There were very poignant moments when occasionally people recognised names of soldiers from their past family who fell during conflict and how wonderful it must have been for them to see their long gone loved ones to be commemorated in this way.

More photos in Flickr slideshows of the evening’s event below:

Did you go to see the Cenotaph light show, what did you think of it? Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments below