Information

ALSO HAPPENING IN IEPER

And for those, who can’t find their satisfaction in what we’re organising, there is plenty more to do in Ieper at the same time we’re trying to satisfy you all. No hard feelings though, haha …

• “Place du tetre” on sat 25 & sun 26/8 from 13.00 at Kiekenmarkt: more than 100 artists exhibiting their works. The goal is to pay attention to art made in this area. For free.


• Every evening since 1928, at precisely eight o'clock, the Last Post - the traditional salute to the fallen warrior - has been played under the Menin Gate Memorial, that’s the big gate at the beginning of the street where the fest takes place. This daily tribute - performed by a team of local buglers - serves to honour the memory of the soldiers of the British Empire, who fought and died in the immortal Ypres Salient during the First World War. It is the aim of the Last Post Association to maintain this ceremony in perpetuity.Every evening at 20.00 you can go listen to ‘The Last Post’. Every day during the fest there is kind of special Last Post. If you go you’ll see & hear the Last Post ceremony number 27121, 27122 or 27123. Check: http://www.lastpost.be and hear for yourself.


• “Remembered & Forgotten” a double photo exhibition on the remembrance of war. Brain Harris & Julie Summer: Remembered; 90 years of Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Patrick Goossens & Wim Degrande: Forgotten; Disappearing war relics on the Western front. In Flanders Fields Museum, CCI, Coomans room. Free entrance


• “Salient & Sanctuary: India In Flanders & Brighton”, an exhibition on the evacuation and care of Indian soldiers from the front near Ieper and Neuve Chapelle to the Royal Pavillion in Brighton. In Coomans room.


• The “In Flanders Fields Museum” wants to confront his visitors. With the past, as well with the present. With the story of one particular war in one particular place – WOI in the Westhoek – but also with the universal theme of thé war, that rages on always and everywhere. With the official facts, names and dates, but first and foremost with the personal witness accounts of hundreds of ordinary people. The IFFM is a war museum with a message of peace. It helps us remember the future. Lakenhallen – Grote markt 34. More details through www.inflandersfields.be


• A ticket to the IFFM grants you free access to the Municipal Museum Ypres (Ieperleestraat 5, there is a special exhibition about François Böhm), the Municipal Museum of Education (Sint-Niklaaskerk in G. de Stuersstraat 6A) and the Godshuis Belle Museum.(Rijselsestraat 38). No sites about these museums but check www.ieper.be and click ‘museums’


• A guide will take you on “the Ramparts route” and shows you the best kept blockhouses of Belgium. Takes place on sun 26/8 from 14.30 till 16.30 and you have to pay 2,50€ & inscribe in advance. Meeting point: ‘Kruitmagazijn’ on Espanadeplein. Only in Dutch !! But you can walk it all by yourself to, but best get a map an infosheet at the information centre of the town, they have it in different languages. Go for a walk an d enjoy a route between stones, greenery & water …


• “AstroLAB IRIS” On Sundays you can get in for free and see the sun through a telescope or some that looks like a telescope and you can visit the observationcupola. On Friday between 20.00 and 23.30 you’ll have to pay 5€ and you see so much more, for example multimediashows about the moon, planets, stars, milky ways & space travels. When the weather is good you can use that telescope thing again, haha. It’s located in “De palingbeek”, a very green & lovely area, in Zillebeke, next to Ieper. More to read & see on www.astrolab.be


• “Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917”: Zonnebeke and Passendale are two little villages, at a stone's throw from Ypres. During the British attack of 1917, there were 500.000 casulaties in 100 days for a gain territory of only 5 miles. Passchendaele became an international symbol of senseless military violence in its most cruel form. In the Memorial Museum the memory of the battle is kept alive through images and movies, a large collection of historical artefacts and several life-like-diorama's. Eye-cathcher is an underground dugout tunnel with communication- and dressing post, headquarters, workplaces and dormitories. A breathtaking experience of how the British had to live underground like moles... just because there was nothing left above. The museum is set up in the historical castle of Zonnebeke (Ieperstraat 5), on the road to Tyne Cot Cemetery. Tyne Cot is the biggest military cemetery of the Commonwealth with 12.000 graves and an impressive Missing Memorial. You can also pay a visit to a recently discovered underground dressing post, the German trenches in Bayernwald and strategic points like the Menin Road, 's Graventafel and Polygon Wood with a professional guide. The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 is an ideal starting point for a visit to the old battlefields, an absolute must for tourists and specialists. Want to know more: www.passchendaele.be.


• “Scottish weekend” in Zonnebeke. Sat 25/8 at 16.30 Inauguration Scottish memorial to remember all Scottish killed in WOI at the Frezenberg for free. In the evening a show with various acts and pipe bands (5 / 7,5€). On sun 26/8 there’s the Frezenberg dawn walk, a theatre walk in the footsteps of Scots, irish, English & South Africans, with performance of ‘The prayer’ and traditional Scottish breakfast. Meeting point: MMP 1917, presale only: 12,50€. From 13.30 till 17.00 you can watch Highland games; genuine Scottish bruisers show how it should be done, 20 local & Scottish teams play for the honour at the Chateau grounds in Zonnebeke. All along you can taste Scottish delicacies such as whisky and haggis.


• Every Tuesday there are “Muzikale dinsdagen” to visit for free in the centre of Ieper. For who’s early you can enjoy Chatham Country Line, bluegrass from the USA on 21st of August and those who stay longer can watch The Shovels, who play pop, and Bataclan feat. Swinnen, a drumband missed with Belpop (Belgian pop).


• And if you see suddenly all those people walking, I think you’re witnessing ”The Four Days of the Yser", an international march, organized by the Belgian Defence. This annual 'military exercise' is open to civilians and military, Belgians as well as foreigners. And we heard that already more than 5500 people have let the organisers know that they will participate in the 35rd edition of the Four Days of the Yser. For the first time in the history of the Four Days, this number is reached before the secretariat leaves the barracks.


• And I’m as sure as I’m writing this, that I have forgotten so many other activities in so many other small villages around the well known beautiful city called Ieper. Make your visit to the fest an interesting one and go see something else too … We’ll do it to when this edition of fest can be marked as history. That’s all folks !!