Last Friday a group of 44 students from Years 9 & 10 set off on the Battlefields Trip to the Somme region of northern France, in what is the 100th anniversary of that famous campaign. Arriving in France via the Channel Tunnel, we headed to our accommodation after a stop at the Notre Dame de Lorette Military Cemetery. This is France’s largest burial site to their soldiers from WWI and began to give us a sense of what the trip was all about. Back on the coach just in time to narrowly miss a hail storm, we continued to the Poppies Hotel in Albert, where we were assigned our rooms and settled in before heading out into town for dinner. We also got to enjoy our games room and celebrate the first of two birthdays on the trip - happy birthday Isla and Freya!
On Saturday morning we went to a great market in beautiful Arras, where everyone had an opportunity to buy nice food, shop for bargains and practice their French. Our driver then took us to the Arras Military Cemetery which was very moving, with over 45,000 Allied soldiers buried or remembered there who had fallen in the Battle of Arras. Darcie was able to find the name of one of her relatives whose name was engraved on the Memorial Wall. We then visited the Wellington Tunnels, named after the capital of New Zealand as it had been miners from that country who expanded the existing quarries into large tunnels so that Allied troops could get closer to the German lines undetected and surprise them in the Battle of Arras. There were original drawings and signs from 1917, including pencil drawings made by soldiers on the rock walls which were remarkably well preserved. After spending time in the cold, wet tunnels on our excellent audio/visual tour we all empathised with the 24,000 men who had sheltered underground in the tunnels for 6 days prior to the attack. We also visited a German Military Cemetery in Fricourt, which was a big contrast to the Allied ones we had seen. In addition to the darker grave stones, each with four names upon it, one thing that really stuck out was when the Nazis came to power they didn’t want Jewish Germans to be remembered for their war efforts, so the names had been removed from the crosses. After World War Two new gravestones with the names of the Jewish soldiers had been returned to their rightful place in the graveyard. We were all moved, as with every memorial and cemetery we visited, by the fact that people still came from all over the world to pay their respects. We rounded the day off by visiting Vimy Ridge, walking through the trenches where Canadian soldier had fought in the Battle of Arras and seeing the ground all around still filled with shell holes and mine craters. We weren’t allowed off the pathways in case there were still unexploded ammunition in the ground! At Vimy we also saw the majestic Canadian Memorial to the fallen soldiers, set on a ridge overlooking a huge expanse of what would have been front line fighting during the war. After a full day it was back to Albert for dinner and some time to relax at the hotel.
On Sunday morning we began the day by heading to the Somme Museum in Albert. The models and memorabilia they had assembled were very life-like and gave a lot of interesting information, which helped us understand more about the war and particularly the events of 1916. The museum was set in a long underground tunnel which helped create a fitting atmosphere. The tunnel ended with a walk through a replica trench, which gave a sense of being bombarded as we escaped out into the beautiful day outside! In fact, we were very lucky with the weather throughout, not needing our wellies once. From there we headed to Lochnagar Crater, which blew us away with its size before stopping at Newfoundland Park and hearing the incredibly sad story behind it. Our penultimate stop on Sunday was to the immense memorial to the missing Allied soldiers of the Somme Campaign at Thiepval. Coming together and laying a wreath here was one of the most memorable moments of the trip. Leaving Badminton's sign at such a significant Somme Memorial was very special. Actually standing there on the battlefields or at the memorials is very different to learning or hearing about what happened. One only manages to contemplate the horror of the war when one is actually standing there, on the grave of soldiers who are not much older than yourself, who lived normal lives just like you. However, it is also very uplifting to pay respect to such brave people who died for such a cause and it makes you appreciate life that much more. We finished our day on the Somme battlefields at Ulster Tower, where Teddy, our enthusiastic guide, showed us restored trenches and bunkers and told us some fascinating stories from a hundred years ago before we enjoyed ice creams in the sunshine. After that it was back to the hotel again for some much appreciated rest and relaxation.
On Monday it was time for us to begin our journey home, but we were able to visit Amiens on the way and then stop at Étaples Military Cemetery where Lizzie’s Great Uncle was laid to rest having been fatally wounded at the Battle of Arras. The fact we had been learning all about these events on the Saturday made this an incredibly moving stop, not just for Lizzie but for all of us, as we each lay simple wooden crosses in honour of the soldiers. The gravestones here had many more individual inscriptions and the messages on the graves really moved a lot of us, as they added a personal touch to the stones standing above the fallen soldiers. Then it was time to cheer ourselves up again with some retail therapy at the hypermarché before heading through the Tunnel and back to Badminton.
We would like to thank Mr Hambly, Ms Kaye, Ms Wertheim, Ms Lovelace, Mr Gibbons and Ms Goldsack for making the trip happen and also our driver Mark, who gave us a very detailed tour of the area and made the trip very entertaining. In all it was an amazing experience and we fitted so much into our 4 days away. It was full of emotion, as there was time for great fun with our friends but we also learned so much and visited places that really make you stop and reflect on the past and the present.
