War Memorial Dedication
On Tuesday 5th November we had a lovely service of Dedication for our new War Memorial which was gifted to the school by the parents of the leavers of 2018-2019. The school gathered to hear Padre Jonathon Daniel of the Royal Army Chaplain’s Department deliver a lovely short sermon on being ready. Our children stood in silence as prayers were said, poems were read, the names of the fallen were read aloud by our Head boy and Head girl and wreathes were laid.
It is a very Elms memorial. It is quite simple, it is not flashy, and it is, in fact, almost understated. It has not been added to the school for any reason other than to remember the names of the boys who ran on these fields and played in the stream, sang in Chapel and climbed in the jungle as our children do today.
They lay in bed here, granted they will be different beds, but the dreams that they had will not have been altogether different to those that our children have today. Dreams of playing rugby for England, the lead role in a big musical, passing the Latin test, or scoring a century at Lords.
Clearly our new memorial will be there as a focal point at this time of year for years to come and if children stop on their way to the jungle, or muddy and wet on the way back from the stream, and think of those boys and what they gave for our opportunities it will be fulfilling a promise to ensure that we don’t forget.
“When you go Home, tell them of us and say, For your Tomorrow, we gave our Today” John Maxwell Edmunds, 1916