On 11 November 2018, gather as a community on Roseisle Beach, Moray, to say thank you and goodbye.

Please note: this is a drop in event, there is no pre-booking or registration. Suitable for all ages.

Roseisle Beach, Moray, IV36 2UB

Sand Portrait

Captain Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1915) was a British Army Officer and a Scottish war poet. Sorley was the son of philosopher and University Professor William Ritchie Sorley. He was educated at the University College in Cambridge and Marlborough College and spent six months in Germany, travelling and studying there up to the outbreak of World War I.

Upon his return to England he immediately enlisted, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Suffolk Regiment. Service from June 1915 at Ploegsteert (Belgium) led to his promotion to captain a few months later. Sorley was killed by a sniper in October, in the aftermath of the battle of Loos in France.

On The Day

In addition to the large-scale sand art, the public will be asked to join in by creating silhouettes of people in the sand, remembering the millions of lives lost or changed forever by the conflict.

Carol Ann Duffy has written a poem especially for the moment, to be read by individuals, families and communities on the day

Location Details

Time: 9.30 – 11.30am

Access:Via the B9089

Parking: Forestry Commission Car Park

Public Transport: From Elgin the 32 bus service every hour starting at 8:20am, taking 25 minutes to get to Burghead.

Toilet Facilities: Forestry Commission Car Park

About Pages of the Sea

Film-maker Danny Boyle invites you to join him in marking 100 years since Armistice and the end of the First World War. Pages of the Sea is a unique moment to say goodbye, together, to the millions of men and women who left their shores during the war, many never to return.

You’re invited to beaches across the UK where, over the course of several hours, a portrait of an individual from the First World War will emerge from the sand. And then, as the tide rises, watch as it’s washed away as we take a moment to say a collective goodbye.