The Cenotaph Memorial – RoBeck Land in Second Life

I’ve recently given over a section of one of my regions, RoBeck Land, in remembrance to the armed forces and all of those that have given their lives in the defence of freedom throughout the world from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam right up to the present day in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The “Garden of Remembrance” is actually meant for the UK but it is there for all to use and it is in memory of ALL the armed forces from the UK, British Commonwealth, the USA and Nato as well and for all the reserves and volunteers. Although Veterans Day in the USA is the same as Remembrance Day for us in Britain and also in other countries too. This memorial is, as I said, for ALL to visit and to use and the Cenotaph will be in my region permanently. I made this version of the Cenotaph the other year and have used it previously, and also given copies of it away to a few friends so they can use it on there land as well. It is made of normal prims and so it can be viewed using any viewer. It constists of about 95 prims if I recall as the flags/flagstaffs took the most due to the detail on them.

This memorial is my version of Edwin Luytens original version in Whitehall, London.
I made my version as near to the real one in London as I can make in SL and I made about two years ago as well. The Cenotaph in Whitehall was designed by Luytens and the style has been copied and used around the World. I’ve used a square in the region for this memorial, and this is near to Heroes Nightclub so if you wish to use it or even just to take a look, and maybe even lay a wreath in memory of those that have given their lives for us then please do. Also if you would like a copy of this then please do contact me in-world via a notecard please, no IM’s as they get capped and I’m not online in SL at the moment on a daily basis due to RL commitments that have reduced my time in SL for the next week or so.

For the time being this will not be on the SL marketplace as I will not put it on there to let LL get any money from it as they charge people to place free items on there (if I recall correctly that is, someone will correct me mo doubt if I am wrong and if that is not the case then I’ll happily place it on there for people to get a copy. In the box there is a copy of the Cenotaph with some textures to use for posters. These are pictures that I downloaded from the net and are freely available to anyone who searches for them. None of these cost me anything so if anyone has to pay for this memorial and or anything that is in this box then please let me know asap, as I’ve set all of these items to be mod/copy/no transfer to reduce the chances of this happening. I’ve also added a Free Poppy wearer (not of my making as I was given this by a good friend a few years ago) in this box as well. This is already available on the marketplace and is also a free item on there too.

There is also a media screen there that has clips and links on it as well with regards to the Cenotaph and is set to autoplay when anyone gets within a set range.
The current clip that is playing is called “Wootton Bassett – The Town That Remembers” and is on Youtube, this is a BBC documentary that was screened here in the UK earlier this year and I recommend that you do watch it in it’s entirety as it is really well worth watching. If you don’t get time to watch it all in the region then you can see it on Youtube.

I will more than likely be setting this media player to allow anyone to use it so they can select anyone of the clips I’ve loaded. I’ll be placing a poster next to it so people can see how to use it, if they are not familiar with this medai player. The clips are taken from UK Remembrance Day services that have taken place over the past few years in Whitehall, between 2008-10. Unfortunately these youtube clips loop and cannot play in sequence as I’d like them to be, this is due to the scripting, and is beyond my control as I can only use the settings that the media player allows me to use. These clips are in the Youtube folder and when you open that you will see a selection that will show on screen so when they have played you will need to click on the bottom left arrow at the base of the media player to return to the menu and then select another clip. Please do allow a little time for these to load as there can or could be some lag, either SL lag inworld or lag in the time to load due to settings, video quality etc and I’ve done everything I can do to reduce these potential problems.

This is a link to the Memorial in RoBeck Land and it will open a SLurl webpage to enable you to go directly to the memorial.

The Cenotaph War Memorial in RoBeck Land

If you already know the region then you can use the Heroes CLub SLurl, or anybookmark you’ve made to it, as the memorial is not far from there. I’ll be adding a signpost to the Memorial near to the club so any newcomers to the region will know where to go. The region is set to no-fly so you’ll have to walk if you go there from the club, but it is only a short walk up the road and is opposite the metro station and next to the Grand Hotel and the memorial square is on the T-junction of the road next to it. There will also be a few links to places where I purchased items in there as well and also I’d like to thank a few people for some donations that have been given to me to aid in this Memorial Garden as well.

Below is a list of websites that you may like to visit online with regards to this memorial and also The Royal British Legion website who are a registered charity and any dontations you may like to give can be given directly to them via the link below

The Royal British Legion website

The Royal British Legion Donations

Remembrance Sunday in the UK
Taken from Wikipedia: Each year, the programme of music at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the UK’s National Ceremony remains the same, and it is as follows:

Other pieces of music are then played during the unofficial wreath laying and the march past of the veterans, starting with Trumpet Voluntary and followed by It’s A Long Way To Tipperary, the marching song of the Connaught Rangers, a famous British Army Irish Regiment of long ago.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and feedback on this blog would be appreciated and if you want to contact me in SL then please do use Notecards as this would be preferred as I’m not online as much as I’d like to be due to current RL commitments and as such my IM’s will be capped, so if you’d like a copy of this, as I’ve said I’ll give you a free copy of it.

Footnote
I’ve just found this on the BBC website and added this link so people may like to view it and think of these families of these soldiers at this time who are no longer with us.
UK military deaths in Afghanistan
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