On 1st July 2016, 1,400 voluntary participants dressed in First World War uniform appeared unexpectedly in locations across the UK to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

” We’re here because we’re here” was a UK-wide event commissioned by 14-18 NOW, conceived and created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller in collaboration with Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre.

A truly haunting and modern commemoration of the events which was superb in two ways, that the organisers were able to keep the whole thing a secret, and that the commemoration was done in a stealth type way, just fitting a remnant of the past in to the bustle of modern day life, but in such a way to make you stop, look and think.