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The Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project
'... a moment of humanity in a time of carnage... what must be the most extraordinary celebration of Christmas since those notable goings-on in Bethlehem.'

- Piers Brendon, British Historian

Introduction

The Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project is a concept developed by the Irish author and humanitarian, Don Mullan. It has two primary goals:

(1) To create a Flanders Peace Field where young people from around the world, especially areas of conflict, will gather to play sport in the vicinity where, during the 1914 Christmas Truce, German and British soldiers played a game of football; and to reflect on the relevance of that game, and the lessons to be learned for our troubled world today; and

(2) Create an International Christmas Truce Carol and Folk Festival in Flanders with satellite concerts around the world, at which that ‘moment of humanity’ is explored and commemorated through music, song and verse. 

Background

Christmas Eve 2014 will mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most remarkable events in the annals of human conflict. The sound of Christmas carols drew soldiers of the First World War from their trenches into No Man’s land where they shared gifts, family photographs, held joint religious services, buried their dead and even engaged in football with their enemy. It was, perhaps, one of the most remarkable events associated with the Christmas story since that wondrous night in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.

Vision On 28 August 2008, the Irish bestselling author, filmmaker and humanitarian, Don Mullan, visited Flanders in the hope of locating the actual site where German and British soldiers are said to have played a game of football during the Christmas Truce of 1914. Mullan was in the process of developing ‘The Fans World Cup’, a new concept for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and wanted to incorporate foundation stones from the site into the new trophy, he was creating with the UK artist/sculptor Andrew Edwards. 

As he surveyed a rich and sprawling harvest of maize which, in 1914, had been the barren wastes of No Mans land, he had a vision of a Flanders Peace Field, a modest College type sports ground, commemorating the German/British football game, with young people from across Europe and the world coming to play on it.  It would be a place that would encourage learning and reflection on the meaning of the soldiers Truce and its lessons for the 21st Century. Mullan identified, as a primary partner in the development of his idea, the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace, whose current Special Adviser to the Secretary-General is Mr. Wilfred Lemke.

Mullan has travelled many times to Flanders and has gathered considerable support for the idea. On April 19, 2011, he was named by the Mayor of Mesen (Messines), Sandy Evrard, and by the Board of Directors of the Messines Peace Village, the Worldwide Ambassador for the Christmas Truce Project involving the creation of the Flanders Peace Field, the Flanders Christmas Truce Carol and Folk Festival and international satellite concerts around the world.

The Flanders Peace Field
Mesen (Messines) is the smallest town in Belgium with an annual budget of just €1 million euro. It must, therefore, in order to realise this project for the 100th anniversary, seek external support. The project has four phases:

Phase One:

September-October 2011

Initial feasibility study establishing the cost of designing and building The Flanders Peace Field Stadium and facilities, together with annual running costs of programmes in association with the Messines Peace Village.

Phase Two:

November 2011-January 2012

Identifying:

(a) key financial backers to be approached for funding; (b) core interest groups in Europe and abroad; (c) key partners such as the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace in developing educational programmes based around the Flanders Peace Field.

Phase Three:

January-December 2012

On January 25, 2012 Mr Willi Lemke, UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, together with the British Peer, Lord Bates, will ‘break the ground’ at the site presented by the Mayor of Messines, thus heralding the beginning of the Flanders Peace Field. At the site that will become the Flanders Peace Field, both men will call for a worldwide truce to be observed during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Preparation of site will then begin, funded by the people and youth of Ireland, with the aim of having a four nation tournament on the field in December 2012. Mr Lemke will also deliver the inaugural Christmas Truce Lecture in which he will outline a vision that will shape the development of peace building programmes, related to the Flanders Peace Field, to be developed and managed by the Messines Peace Village, linked to the UN theme of Sport for Development and Peace.

We believe that this will be one of the most positive and inspiring legacy projects to emerge out of the horror of World War I; a legacy project – inspired by ordinary soldiers who faced each other along the Western Front in 1914 – and who, in the simple and heroic act of reaching across No Man’s Land, were visionaries of the peace and stability that the European Union would, eventually, seek to establish across the European continent.

Phase Four:

April-October 2012 Worldwide design competition inviting entries for stadium designs, to be inspired by the themes of the Christmas Truce and the Flanders Peace Field Project.

December 2012 Winning design announced.

January – March 2013 Tendering Process for Building Contract.

April – December 2013 Building of Flanders Peace Field Stadium, to be opened early December 2013, in the lead-up to the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Christmas Truce

The Christmas Truce Carol and Folk Festival
A related but independent idea which the Christmas Truce Project is developing along with local communities in Flanders is an annual International Christmas Truce Carol and Folk Festival to be held around the Feast of St. Nikolas, December 6. This Festival was opened on the 10th December 2010 by the Desmond and Leah Tutu Peace Choir in the Church of St. Nickolas, Mesen, Belgium. The aim is to grow it into the largest Christmas Carol and Folk Festival in the world, with satellite events happening throughout the globe in memory of the 1914 Christmas Truce.

The first satellite Christmas Truce Concert was held in Dublin on Saturday 4 December 2011, at which His Excellency, Dr. Eckhard Lübkemeier, German Ambassador to Ireland, attended. Next year it is planned to have 10 satellite concerts around the world and considerably more in subsequent years. The concerts will be built around the story of the 1914 Christmas Truce, told through contemporary letters, as well as poetry, songs and Christmas carols. The theme of the Flanders Festival and the worldwide satellite concerts will be to promote a culture of peace and goodwill across the world. 

Patron: Archbishop Desmond Tutu

The Patron of the Project is Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Speaking at a meeting in Croke Park Stadium, Dublin, on April 13, 2009, he spoke directly to young people present as follows: "At the present time we adults are not bequeathing to you the world you'd like to live in. We hope that with some of the projects that Don is proposing we might be able to redeem ourselves… Don has been quite extraordinary in his inventiveness and in his capacity to feel for others. We back Don to the hilt."

It is also hoped that Pelé will accept an invitation to become Patron of the Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project. In 1968, during the Nigerian Civil War, warring factions agreed a 48-hour truce so that they could travel to Lagos to watch Pelé play for Santos FC.