21 December 2023
The CWGC in 2023 – July to December
Discover some of the biggest news stories and events from the CWGC throughout the second half of 2023.
July
We started the month by saying goodbye and good luck to one of our strongest supporters. Lt Gen Sir Bill Rollo KCB CBE served as one of our commissioners since he joined us in 2013, serving as our Vice-Chairman in July 2019. He stepped down from his position this summer after 10 years of dedicated service to the CWGC.
Thank you and goodbye to Sir Bill Rollo
We were delighted to announce Sir Bill’s successor as Vice Chairman, Vice Admiral Peter Hudson CB CBE. Peter joined the Commission in July 2019 after a long career in the Royal Navy and was one of our commissioners before becoming Vice Chairman. We were delighted to welcome Peter who’s has dived straight into his new responsibilities, visiting our sites, attending events and meeting our hardworking staff.
Welcome to Vice Admiral Peter Hudson
August
This year’s Rugby World Cup was held across France – with a number of Commonwealth teams competing for the championship. Many squads took the opportunity to visit some of our French cemeteries and memorials, where they paid their respects and learned about the stories of the men and women we commemorate.
The Australian squad visited the CWGC Villers-Bretonneux Cemetery and memorial and heard the story of William George Tasker, the Australian international rugby player who died on 9 August 1918. We also welcomed the New Zealand team to our Caterpillar Valley Cemetery and the Scotland squad to the iconic Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.
The world cup may be over now, but you can still discover more about the rugby legends who lost their lives in the world wars through our interactive map.
September
We were delighted to announce that 51 of our sites across Belgium and France had been inscribed with World Heritage Status at the UNESCO World Heritage Council in Riyadh in September. Our cemeteries and memorials were among a range of other sites that received this honour as part of a wider initiative to inscribe Funeral & Memorial Sites of The First World War (Western Front).
See the full list of UNESCO sites
We also received grant funding to digitise recently uncovered service records of the King’s African Rifles and several associated East African units. The funding is courtesy of a grant from the Endangered Archives Programme through the British Library and Arcadia.
This is an important part of our wider non-commemoration program which aims to ensure all those who died in the world wars, no matter where they were, where they died or how they died are remembered equally.
Find out more about the digitisation and our work in Kenya
October
We were proud to launch For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen, our new stories portal, in October this year.
This new portal is the product of a lot of hard work from our teams here at the Commission and will become a valuable resource for those wanting to commemorate the fallen of the two world wars and to share the memories they have of family and loved ones.
News of our new portal spread far and wide, including a spot on BBC’s The One Show. We were blown away by the amount of positive feedback we’ve received about For Evermore, and the huge number of excellent story submissions we’ve received so far.
Explore For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen
The work of our Non-Commemorations team continued with the announcement of the first stage of a partnership in Malawi.
This new agreement means that we were able to designate the King’s African Rifles Memorial in Zomba as the official CWGC point of commemoration for more than 1,300 Malawian war dead of World War One.
The designation of the memorial is the first stage in a wider programme of work with partners in Malawi to raise awareness of world war heritage sites across the country.
Learn more about our Malawi partnership
November
November is always a busy month at the Commission, and this year was no exception. We started the month by welcoming His Majesty King Charles and Queen Camilla to Kariokor War Cemetery in Kenya.
The visit was a fantastic opportunity for us to spotlight the amazing work of our Non-Commemoration team in ensuring that all those who supported Britain’s efforts in the world wars are properly commemorated.
Read more about the Royal Visit
We were also delighted to welcome His Holiness Pope Francis to Rome War Cemetery where he led a traditional All Souls’ Day service. His Holiness took a moment to pay his respects to the 426 war dead commemorated in the cemetery, as well as meeting Commission staff and our Vice-Chair Vice Admiral Peter Hudson CB CBE.
Watch the Pope’s service from Rome War Cemetery
As always, our sites around the world played host to commemorative services on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, but this year’s remembrance period was particularly special as we were able to announce His Majesty King Charles as the first ever patron of the CWGC, his first patronage since his Accession.
At the same time, we were delighted to announce that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal would be taking over as President of the Commission, replacing His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent who was stepping down having served as our president for more than 50 years.
Find out more about The King’s patronage
Join us in saying thanks to the Duke of Kent
December
We were delighted to welcome our supporters to our annual Christmas service at the Guards’ Chapel in London. Joined by our special guests Gyles Brandreth and Dr Hilary Jones MBE, we enjoyed the talents of mezzo-soprano Emma Brown and the Guards’ Chapel choir.
These events are always a fantastic event, and we were glad to round out the year in style.
See some snaps from our 2023 Carol Service
We also took a moment to celebrate our incredible Eyes On, Hands On team who’s hard work throughout the year lead to one of the busiest months in the programme’s history. We’re incredibly proud of the Eyes On, Hands On team and the incredible volunteers who give up their time to help care for the CWGC headstones across the UK.
Find out more about our amazing Eyes On, Hands On volunteers