A Moving Remembrance Day Assembly

Year 11 historians commemorated the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele in the moving annual Remembrance Assembly, which also looked at the personal lives of some of our fallen soldiers.

Maisie welcomed the seniors to Remembrance Assembly with her reading of a war poem by Lesley Coulson called “When I come Home”.  Lily then explained that the guns fell silent on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, after four long years of brutal war.

Head Boy Daniel then explained that Passchendaele remains one of the most notorious battles of the First World War.  During 3 and a half months of fighting, an advance of less than five miles saw around 550,000 Allied and German troops killed, wounded or lost. Yasmin explained about the life of one of those soldiers.

Aaron then commemorated the life of legendary All Blacks Captain Dave Gallaher, who was already a national hero when he went to war.

Finally Brandon told the fascinating story of Arthur Roberts, a survivor of Passchendaele.  He died in a Glasgow nursing home in 1982 aged 84, but his story was not discovered until a young couple bought the property in 2004.  His letters, diaries and other memorabilia offer a detailed insight into his life as a soldier, as well as non- combat jobs after developing a bad case of trench foot.

Everyone stood respectfully for a minutes silence, broken by the sound of the Last Post.  Well done to Year 11 for a well delivered and moving Remembrance Assembly.