Very early in the morning on September 27, 25 bleary-eyed students and three teachers boarded a coach and headed away from school.
Destination: the WWI battlefields of France and Belgium. On the ferry, we all felt a bit drunk due to the combination of the crossing and the hour! We then arrived in France before heading across to Ypres, Belgium, arriving there at midday.
In Belgium, we visited Sanctuary Wood – a reconstructed German trench system, the cells and shooting post at Poperinge and the second largest British cemetery – Lijssenthoek.
Over the holidays, we had to do research in pairs on a soldier from Swindon who died in the war. Six of these soldiers are buried in Lijssenthoek, including ours – Private Stephen John Arthur Hughes, of the Wiltshire Regiment. While we were at Lijssenthoek, those who had soldiers there felt quite emotional. On his remembrance cross we wrote ‘Happy Birthday, 3rd October 2010’, the date when we visited and our names. What we found a coincidence is the fact that Casey and Steven shared the same birthday! Then we travelled back to our accommodation.
Over the next three days, we visited Canada and South Africa – the French had given them the land in thanks for fighting for them – at Vimy Ridge memorial and Delville Wood memorial respectively.
We also went to Newfoundland Park, where we were shown round by a really annoying Canadian who said “Alrighty!” 24 times! We are so sad, we actually kept a tally!
We also went to Thiepval memorial, the British memorial to those missing in the Somme, and the Menin Gate in Ypres, dedicated to those missing in the battles of Ypres and Passchendaele.
We also visited many more cemeteries including Tynecot, the biggest British War Cemetery, and Langemark, a German cemetery.
As part of our visit to Ypres, we visited a chocolate shop, with a very friendly shop owner called Hans. Everyone bought loads of chocolate and felt really excited on the way home.
It was a brilliant trip, yet it was quite moving and emotional also. It’s amazing in the difference between the British and German cemeteries, yet you can picture each side more as individual men with their own stories to tell, mainly because of this project we did over the summer. It was a fantastic trip, and thanks to Mr Kerslake, Mrs Clarke and Mrs Whittington for taking us.
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