This year’s Battlefields Tour provided outstanding opportunities for remembrance and reflection alongside plenty of space to study the history and poetry of the First World War in the centenary year of the Armistice.

Like usual, the trip saw us spend our first day up by Vimy Ridge followed by a visit to La Targette French Cemetery. On the second day of the tour, we headed into Belgium and visited the Ypres Salient and Passchendaele. It was especially interesting to examine mine craters and the brilliant Zonnebeke Trench Warfare Passchendaele Memorial Museum. An evening visit to Ypres saw the 3^rd Form stock up on ginormous quantities of chocolate when we visited the chocolatier Peter De Groote!

On the Tuesday, we drove over to the Somme and had an excellent day touring round such places as Newfoundland Park, the Thiepval Monument, the Ulster Tower, Thiepval Woods, the Sunken Lane and Serre. All these sites saw the pupils engage with the history and poetry of the war in a myriad of interactive ways. We especially enjoyed our tour around the reconstructed trenches of Thiepval Wood.

On the final day, before our long journey home, we headed across to Arras where we visited the city’s WWI Cemetery before enjoying a fascinating tour of the Arras mines which were used during the Great War.

All in all, the Battlefields Tour was a great success. It was wonderful to stay in a new hotel in Lille this year and enjoy eating out in this beautiful city in the evening. Do enjoy browsing through the photo album and Twitter moment (contains videos and photos) from the trip below.

George Beverly - Chaplain & History Teacher

KSBBattlefields Trip 2018