Recently, Anglia Tours took a group of year nines and tens from Newstead Wood School on an enrichment trip to Ypres in Belgium. Ypres was the scene of many battles during World War One as it was a place of strategic importance to both sides. 

The group of approximately 60 students left early Friday morning before spending a day looking around the main war memorials in Ypres. First, they went to Lijssenthoak, the second largest Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium where they learnt about the two women buried there, one officially and one unofficially. The official woman was a nurse who was killed by a shell blast.  The unofficial woman was a mother who could not overcome the death of her son so when she died, she asked the grounds man whether he could bury her ashes with her son. This was only revealed in 2014 by the ground man’s son who was 92 by that time. 

Next, the students went to Bayernwald, a restored German trench system. ‘My favourite part was the trenches as we got to stand somewhere that the soldiers stood and therefore it was more realistic,’ said Matilda Bates, a year nine student who went on the trip. The students learnt about the advantages the Germans had over the British because they were on the top of the hill and could see the British forces, but the British soldiers dug into the hill and set off explosives underneath the German trenches. 

Following that, the students went to Langemarck, a German Military Cemetery that was visibly different to the Commonwealth Cemetery. This shocked most of the group as the German cemetery was very gloomy with grey colours that contrast the brightness of the flowers and white colours of the Commonwealth Cemetery. The headstones in the Commonwealth Cemetery were one per person whereas in the German Cemetery, the headstones were one for every six or seven soldiers and there was a large rectangle in the centre where 2,500 soldiers were buried in a mass grave. ‘This was a saddening thing to see,’ said Freya Carroll, a year 10 student.  

Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth Cemetery, was the next stop on the visit. The students were startled by the number of soldiers buried there: 12,000 graves, two-thirds of which were unknown soldiers. There is also a massive memorial to the missing with 34,887 names. This stop was the most moving for myself as the name of my Great-Great-Uncle is on the memorial to the missing. The students and teachers also held a wreath laying ceremony in memory of the soldiers who gave their lives, especially focused on my Great-Great-Uncle and the Uncle of one of the teachers. 

At eight o’clock, the students watched the Menin Gate Ceremony. ‘It was symbolic and significant of everything we’d said and done on the day,’ said Esther O’Neill, a year nine student. The Menin Gate memorial commemorates the missing and has done so every night since the end of the First World War excluding when Ypres was occupied by Germany during the Second World War. ‘It was an emotional moment where I was really able to appreciate the horrors of the war, and the losses so many people suffered,’ said Lorna Campbell, a year 10 student. 

Overall, the students had a really interesting and emotional day and would like to thank the teachers who allowed the trip to happen and Simon Gregor and Nathalie Harty from Anglia Tours for taking us and teaching us so much about the life in the war.