THIS WEEK AT FRENSHAM

Thirty-six Year 10 and 11 students headed off to France and Belgium last Thursday for a History trip. The trip proved to have multiple opportunities for Art and Physics too. On Day 1, we visited the Second World War sites of Dunkirk where the infamous evacuation of 328,000 men from the beaches in 1940 took place. We also visited the V for Vengeance weapons factory that was centre to the Nazi attempt to change the direction of the war in the final year. One of the key protagonists at La Couple where the V2 weapons were built was Von Braun, who saw his work on weapons as a stepping stone to space travel. Later, he was central to the US space program which put a man on the moon. On Day 2, we visited the First World sites in Belgium and on Day 3 in France. The weather was kind for the most part. The students engaged strongly with the material. The cemeteries, immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, always have such a powerful impact particularly as adolescent emotional intelligence develops. The weather and the time of year make such an impact on this trip. We have run this trip in March, June and now October. When the weather is bleak, it increases the empathy with those who lived in the trenches. June and October share the fact that the trees are in leaf and there are flowers throughout the graveyards. As nature has slowly retaken the war-torn landscape, a process of healing continues. When the light breaks through the rain clouds and illuminate the white of the head stones, no-one but those of the hardest heart could not fail to be touched. On Day 2, we visited Tyne Cot cemetery on the slopes outside Passchendaele, famous for the bloodshed of the Third Battle of Ypres. Over 8000 of the 12000 graves commemorate ‘a solder of the Great War known unto God’. On the backwall are the names of the men who have no known grave. Nearly 65% of the dead were due to Artillery and at Passchendaele the soldiers had to contend with the mud too. Through Flanders there are great examples of provocative art. At the Passchendaele memorial museum there was a work of art called Falls the Shadow. This was made by the New Zealand artist Helen Pollock, whose father fought in the First World War. She made it with clay from Zonnebeke and New Zealand. It depicts arms reaching up as if being consumed by the earth. Following Tyne Cot, we visited the German cemetery at Langemarck. There are only four German cemeteries in Belgium compared with 158 British and Commonwealth. The German sites are much smaller but much fuller. They provide a powerful comparison and reflect how nations manage their collective memories whether as celebrating the sacrifice of the glorious dead or hiding the dead away so as not to be reminded of their past folly. The students were then able to get their feet wet exploring the trenches and tunnels at Sanctuary Wood. This was followed by the museums of Flanders Fields in the former cloth hall in Ypres and the Passchendaele memorial museum. Many of the students commented on how great these visits were. The day was rounded off with the silence at the Menin Gate. A place where the two minutes silence is held every night at 8pm since the construction of the memorial in 1928. Each evening there is a different kind of remembrance experience. On Friday night soldiers of the commonwealth/ empire performed on the steel drums ‘I vow to thee my country’, a uniquely special moment. Our final day was spent visiting sites in France. These included the Lochnager crater – 100 metres across and 30 metres deep formed by a subterranean British mine under the German position on the Somme. We then visited Beaumont Hamel with the preserved trenches of the Newfoundland soldiers. This site provides a complete experience, with both the Allied and German shell pock marked positions visible and the area of No-man’s land to be covered. This site creates a real sense of context. As with the other sites, nature has a way of easing the soul. Scampering around the trees that grow amongst the support trenches were dozens of red squirrels. Within sight of Beaumont Hamel is the memorial at Thiepval that commemorates the 72,000 missing of the Somme. This magnificent site was designed by the Surrey architect Edwin Lutyens. His arts and craft style were often adapted to suit the contemporary. Famous not only for the striking Thiepval but also the Cenotaph memorial in London, Lutyens vision has become synonymous with remembrance. We finished the day with a visit to Vimy Ridge. This position saw no mans land shrink to less than fifty metres in places. Like Beaumont Hamel, this site provides a chance to see the whole of a section of the western front. By positioning students in both the Allied and German positions at Vimy, they were able to see just how intermit the war became. The day closed with a visit to the Canadian memorial at Vimy. Its giant white statues set against an azure blue sky provided the opportunity to reflect and consider whether the symbolic figures of Peace, Justice, Truth, Knowledge, Gallantry, Sympathy and the largest figure, a mourning figure known as Canada Bereft carved from a single 30‑tonne block, would be content with the world of today that their youth fought so hard to defend.