History Battlefield Trip
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The History trip to France and Belgium was a wonderful experience and the whole visit was very interesting. Our first stop was at the Menin Gate memorial for the missing soldiers who fought in WWI in Ypres, Belgium. The ceremony of the Last Post was incredibly sad. We visited a lovely chocolate shop who supplied us with the finest chocolate to suit our sweet treat needs. The final event of the evening was checking in to our hotel which was absolutely spectacular and I was VERY impressed. Next morning we were woken up and driven to Mametz Wood. We placed a poppy wreath at the memorial for the 38th Welsh Division. We then visited the Flatiron Copse cemetery which was very disturbing. All the graves had been kept in a miraculous condition. We placed two crosses on the graves of two boys who had gone to Stanwell School. It was very emotional. We then visited several places around the Battlefield of the Somme. It was a huge area, and took a while to drive through it. I was amazed by the scale of the battle. We went through an underground Somme museum, which recreated the tragedies of the trenches. As we walked through them, we faced the same experiences the soldiers felt. It was very good, and the displays were very interesting. Our final stop was the Newfoundland Memorial in Beaumont Hamel. You could see where the trenches had been, and it was fascinating learning about how they were made and how they were used. I really enjoyed the trip, it was very interesting and I learnt a lot. It was absolutely fascinating, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Luke Morely (9E)
The first main historical site we went to was the Menin Gate memorial in Ypres, Belgium. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and had a massive number of names on the walls of British and Commonwealth soldiers who died with no known grave. We were there for the Last Post ceremony that takes place every night at 8pm and has done since 1927. After that, we went to a lovely little chocolate shop that gave us some free samples. Then we arrived at the hotel for a lovely night and had a bit of time to relax. The next day, we went to Mametz wood and saw the memorial for the 38th welsh division. Steve the tour guide explained to us what happened there and then 2 people laid a poppy wreath as a sign of respect. After that we went to the Flatiron Copse cemetery. For me, this was the most hard-hitting part of the trip. There were so many grave stones and they were all in amazing condition. It was a VERY well respected place. Myself and one of the boys had the pleasure of laying a cross on the graves of 2 brothers who both went to Stanwell 100 or so years ago, one brother was shot and the other saw this happen, but as he rushed to help him, he was also shot. They fought together until the end. Apparently it was a reasonably small cemetery compared to others but it was definitely big enough to make us emotional. We went to a few different places around the Somme battlefields and drove through fields where the battles were fought; it was massive. Whilst we were on the coach, Steve told us about some tragedies that really happened including a 16 year old who was killed within the first few hours of the Somme. We also went to an underground Somme museum, it was very interesting and had different items and weapons they used to fight with 95 years ago. Our last stop before the journey home was at the Newfoundland Memorial in Beaumont Hamel. It had many grassed over trenches that gave us a rough idea of the size of them, they were also in zig zags which was a method of defence. Overall, it was a great experience for us all, it’s definitely not a trip we will ever forget.
Becky Thompson (9X)
