In this centenary commemoration year of the First World War, thirty Year 10 IGCSE historians travelled to the trenches, memorials and battlefields of the Great War. The aim of the trip was to help the students gain a greater understanding of how the war was fought and what it was like to be a soldier in the trenches or a nurse in a field hospital.
Led once again by excellent guide, Neil Matthews, the students listened to accounts of teenagers and young men and women who experienced incredible challenges in what many thought would be a wonderful adventure and a fulfilment of patriotic duty. This year the pupils were presented with two poppy wreaths by the Parents' Association to commemorate OPMs who fought and died in the trenches. These included Vernon Caley who was awarded the Military Cross for his acts of bravery but died at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, and former Captain of the First XV Rugby and First XI Cricket, Percival Finnemore, who was killed in the same battle. The stories of former Plymouth College students helped bring the extent of the war home to the IGCSE historians.
The students were excellent ambassadors for Plymouth College and are now well set for their research coursework assignment next term. The 11th November Remembrance Day ceremony will also now have far greater meaning.
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