Remembrance

The festival of remembrance has become very important for me since I learned to appreciate the sacrifice a member of my own family made amongst the small villages of the Somme in 1916. Patrick, my grandfather's brother, was born to a soldier. His father had fought at the battle of Tel- el-Kebir in Egypt in the 1880s. Patrick was born in the early years of the 1890s and when he grew up he became a porter. Shortly after the First World War started, he joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers and was posted to France in November 1914. He took part in many of the important battles of the war in France and later, in 1915, he joined the Machine Gun Corps.

He was seriously wounded at the Battle of Pozieres in August 1916 and died of his wounds a day or so later. The family really knew very little about what had happened to him and what his life was like in the midst of what we now call the Great War. Some years ago, I began to research his war record and was filled with admiration for what this young man from the same area in which I grew up went through. In the next few weeks, I will share much more of his story and the story of the brave comrades, including many Australians, who fought alongside him.

Today, on Remembrance Sunday, I think of him, as I do very, very often and I think of those who lie in the many great and small burial grounds which dot the landscape of the Somme. It is a time to honour them and to stand in awe of their sacrifice.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

The US Election

This morning in our Key Stage 2 assembly we discussed the momentous events which unfolded in the US during the night. Pupils have taken an extraordinary amount of interest in this election and many of them watched this morning's news reports on the election results. It has been a very good exercise in highlighting the importance of voting and in demonstrating that every vote does count. I hope that it will lead our pupils to engage with politics in this country as they grow up.