St Mary’s Catholic High School / 8 Nov
Flanders Trip Day 3:
After breakfast this morning, we visited the town of Poperinge. ‘Pop’ was a very important city during WW1, since it was one of only two in Belgium cities that was not under German occupation. It was used to billet British troops and also provided a safe area for field hospitals. Here, we were able to take in Talbot House, an ‘every man’s house’ that allowed soldiers some rest and recuperation from the front line, as well as a chance to build a relationship with God. As is tradition, we had cups of tea, tinkled the ivories on the piano and climbed the rickety stairs to the chapel in the attic.
Mr Peach then took as to a shooting post to explain what could have happened to British soldiers who failed to follow orders. Here, pupils explored the cells where soldiers were kept for poor behaviour. We then headed on to Hill 60 for a spot of lunch on the coach.
At Hill 60, we climbed to see the giant crater caused by the 32,000kg of explosives that the British lay in mines underground. En route, we saw the remains of pill boxes and bunkers.
From here, we moved on to Sanctuary Wood cemetery where Miss McDiarmid gave a talk about her grandfather’s uncle, Robert, and his story of the war, showing artefacts that have remained in her family since 1918.
At the Sanctuary Wood Museum, the pupils were able to walk through what are reportedly actual trenches that were once part of the British front line, as well as musing at the many exhibits. Mr Strachan talked us through how trenches were dug and how they were interconnected and fortified.
Our trip today also allowed us to visit Tyne Cot, the largest commonwealth war grave cemetery in the world, where we were able to pay our respects to a Canadian soldier, Private James Robertson, who won the Victoria Cross for valour. Mr Peach told us Robertson's story by his grave, in addition to the fact that there are a remarkable 35,000 names of the missing on the back walls of the cemetery.
Before our last stop of the tour today at Langemark, we took a brief stop at the site of the first chlorine gas attack where the statue of ‘the brooding soldier’ has been erected. Mr Cox read Wilfred Owen’s famous poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est and gave the pupils some context about the gas attacks that took place during the war.
As the sun was setting, we made the last visit of the day to the German cemetery in Langemark. In total, there are about 44,000 burials in the graveyard, in what is a very dark and dismal surrounding. The pupils were really shocked at the scale or the plaques with the names of the soldiers buried in the crypt and could see how different the cemetery was from the Commonwealth graveyards we have been to this week. Before we departed back to the hotel, Mr Peach led us in prayer because our tour of Flanders had come to an end.
We returned for our evening meal, and so that students could pack ready for our return journey tomorrow. We hope to be back at St Mary’s by 7pm, but we will update parents and carers once we know more.
