Saturday 14 November, 8pm – Reflections on the Blitz film
The Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee for Peace and Reconciliation are also marking the occasion with the release of a new film looking back on the Blitz from the perspectives of five different people who lived through it.
Set to premiere online at 8pm on Saturday 14 November, the film will feature the voices of two Belgrade Young Company members – Semilore Kaji-Hausa and Georgina Gibson – along with three volunteers from the Lord Mayor’s Committee – Paul Maddocks, Pru Poretta and Rhys Davies.
The idea for the project came about after the Committee published a book on behalf of Coventry Cathedral last year. The publication, Ruined and Rebuilt by Provost Howard, tells the story of the night bombs fell on Coventry, when Provost Howard and three other men ran through the Cathedral, trying to put out the fires. The very next morning, Howard resolved that the Cathedral would be rebuilt, and it was largely through his vision and leadership that Coventry was established as a city of peace and reconciliation.
Originally, the Committee had planned to host readings from the book in the ruins of the old Cathedral on the night of the 14 November. Over time, however, the idea developed of telling the story in a different way, with Dean John Witcombe reading the words of Provost Howard, alongside perspectives from a range of other people from the city.