Douglas is to join local authorities and national organisations across the UK on Monday August 4th by supporting the national Lights Out event, a campaign marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Lights Out invites everyone in Douglas and across the Island to support the UK initiative and turn off their lights from 10 to 11pm on August 4th leaving on just a single light or candle for that one hour.
The campaign takes its name from words spoken late in the afternoon of August 3rd 1914 by the British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey: ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.’
In support of Lights Out Douglas Borough Council will be turning off its decorative lighting throughout the town and the street lighting at Douglas Head at 10pm on August 4th and has arranged for a short commemorative service led by the Ven Andrew Brown, Archdeacon of Man, to be held at the viewing platform on Douglas Head once the lighting has been extinguished.
Council Leader Councillor David Christian said: ‘10pm on August 4th will mark the hour in 1914 before the UK joined the First World War and the world changed forever. It is therefore fitting that Douglas Borough Council pays its respects to the many millions - among them brave Manxmen and women – who paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure the freedom we enjoy today.
‘The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Jon Joughin and Mrs Angela Joughin and members of the Council will be joined by members of the public at the viewing platform on Douglas Head from 9:50 pm when the commemoration, led by the Archdeacon, will commence and during which candles will be lit. This will provide a vantage point from which to observe the town’s decorative lights on the promenade going out at 10pm and when two large-scale images of poppies will be projected in the vicinity of the war memorial.
‘We hope this short service will give the people of Douglas the opportunity to unite in quiet contemplation and reflect on that cataclysmic event in world history.’
