Shortly before 11.00am on Friday morning, the whole school assembled for our Remembrance Service, and we were very honoured to be joined by members of our armed forces community and families; some of whom are veterans and some are still serving in the RAF and Army. We were delighted to have members of the Brampton Branch of The Royal British Legion attend too. Our service was held on Friday, in advance of 11th November, so that guests and cadets who will be involved in countywide commemorations could attend.
A beautiful recital of ‘World in Union’ from our choir began the memorial, while students who are members of the RAF and Army Cadets paraded in, led by Callum Hughes. Head student, Nicole Todhunter, gave a moving reading of the poem ‘Flanders Field’ and The Exhortation was read by Tom Day (Head Student). Year 10 student Ewan Isherwood (together with Mr Tugwell) bravely took on the task of playing The Last Post, which heralded a minute silence followed by the Reveille.
Following the service, our visitors joined the cadets and Ms Pigdon (Headteacher) to lay wreaths in our newly developed memorial garden. We were delighted that Paul Davidson from Storey Construction, who kindly project managed the recent construction work in the garden, was able to join us.
Remarking on the event, Ms Pigdon said: “Our Remembrance service was a truly poignant experience for our whole school community and our honoured guests. It was moving to see everyone come together to commemorate those who have sacrificed so much. Our students were a true credit to themselves and those who we stood to remember.”
In the run up to today, House Council members created a stunning Remembrance wall display in the Foyer, with poppies and messages that were created during House Tutor Time. It made a fantastic backdrop to the scene constructed by RAF Spadeadam, depicting the conditions soldiers would live in during WWI.
We will be continuing to focus on Remembrance throughout the week with special assemblies.
During assemblies last week, Sixth Form students Tom and Callum (who are also Army Cadets) read an extract from the journal of Richard Hewlett, a soldier in the Second World War.
The diary extract had been sent to us by Richard’s daughter, Charmi (who happens to be a former Wren). We are delighted that Charmi was able to join us for some of the assemblies. She was visibly moved by hearing her father’s words read out by the students.
We will dedicate a Photinia ‘Red Robin’ shrub in our newly planted Remembrance Garden to Richard Hewlett.
Charmi said: “I would like to thank the staff that I met and the pupils who read my father’s words, for making me so welcome at the school. It was a pleasure to take a part in the two assemblies and I appreciate the idea of a dedicated plant in the memorial garden. I will look forward to seeing it planted and having a memorial of my father close to hand, it means a lot.”
Sarah Ledger, Director of Learning for Year 10 said, “What an excellent job Tom and Callum did – their presentation was very powerful, and Year 10 were transfixed!”
Richard’s Story:
When WWII broke out in 1939, Richard Hewlett was a member of the Territorial Army (TA) having joined the Westminster Dragoons in 1938, which was a mixed tank regiment. When war was declared on 1st September 1939, the regiment was instantly mobilised. In the years leading up to the D Day landings, he was involved in tank recovery, repair and training. When WWII broke out in 1939, Richard Hewlett was a member of the Territorial Army (TA) having joined the Westminster Dragoons in 1938, which was a mixed tank regiment. When war was declared on 1st September 1939, the regiment was instantly mobilised. In the years leading up to the D Day landings, he was involved in tank recovery, repair and training exercise.
In 1943 the training for the D Day landings began in earnest and Richard spent a few months in Scotland doing Beach Operations training. In the first half of 1944, training intensified and on 28th June he crossed over to France where he was tasked to see to the clearance of vehicle casualties from the battle area.
He recorded:
“My job during the winter of 1944 was pretty hectic and at times dangerous. The weather was freezing and tanks had to be rescued from frozen ponds and such like.
Then came the thaw and wooden box mines (undetectable by a mine detector) laid before the frost, rose to the surface and played havoc with tank tracks. Recovering tanks was a problem as we had to find a way through the minefield by probing – not much fun and even our recovery vehicles suffered. This led to a rumour I had been killed – (luckily for my wife’s sake never made official). This came about as after the battle for the Siegfried Line, I had to reconnoitre and report on all tank casualties. If these were off a road, I never drove round them but left my Jeep on the road and walked round the casualty (a person could not set a box mine off – they weren’t heavy enough). As we had to move on, I reported the locations to HQ who passed them back for someone else to move. The officer who got the job unfortunately drove his Jeep round one casualty and got blown up – hence the rumour. Once we crossed the Rhine, we started moving across Germany pretty fast”.
