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To view the video of the School Remembrance at Rossall please click here...
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Eighty nine years after the end of World War One, the fallen soldiers of the Fylde Coast’s oldest independent school have been given a permanent memorial on the site of one of the War’s most infamous battlefields.
The 283 men of Rossall School, Fleetwood, who lost their lives in the Great War, are now remembered on a memorial to the fallen in Ieper, Belgium (formerly Ypres), where tens of thousands of allied troops fell in one of the bloodiest battles of the conflict. Rossall’s memorial finally joins the likes of Eton, Harrow and Rugby School memorials in St George’s Church, close to the hallowed Menin Gate, the British erected tribute to the 70,000 soldiers who lost their lives in the battle but have no known grave.
In an unprecedented move, the Belgian Government and British Armed Forces allowed Rossall School’s Combined Cadet Force to march through Ieper and the Menin Gate in full British military uniform, led by the school’s own CCF marching band and two bandsmen from the British Army garrison at Catterick, North Yorkshire, who sounded the Last Post in a service in St George’s Church, led by Rossall’s own chaplain, Rev Stephen Cooper. The service commemorated the 33 Rossall pupils who died at Ypres and the further 250 who lost their lives in other battles in the four year war.
The dedication of the memorial plaque was the culmination of eighteen months work by Rossallian Club president, David Dixon, who had long called for the school’s heroes to be remembered at the war cemetery. As one of his first jobs, following his election as president of Rossall’s former pupils’ association, Mr Dixon had liaised with Belgian officials since early 2006 before securing the right to install the memorial. Old Rossallians from around the world flew to Belgium for the dedication, swelling the congregation to 70 strong.
Headmaster Tim Wilbur is pleased that the sacrifices of pupils have been recognised by the memorial. He commented: “It was a rare privilege to be allowed to march to the Menin Gate, even more so to be allowed to have our marching band lead the way and our Chaplain read the nightly exhortation to the fallen after the Last Post, so we are delighted to be granted this honour.
“The dedication of the memorial was particularly fitting for our school, which was founded originally to offer education to the children of the clergy and military. So, like many similar schools of the time the implications of conflict were profoundly felt - a point our pupils are reminded of every time they visit our chapel, where the names of the many pupils who gave their lives in both world wars are listed on the walls. Rossall today might have a multi-national campus, which is the very antithesis of rivalry and conflict but it is important for our pupils to know about the sacrifices of previous generations and the horrific price mankind pays when accord gives way to conflict. Our visit to Ypres certainly brought home the point for all in attendance.”
Wreaths will be laid in honour of the fallen of both world wars and subsequent conflicts when the Rossall’s Remembrance Day Service takes place in the school quadrangle on Friday at 11.00am. Around 1,000 staff and pupils will attend the service led by Rev Stephen Cooper.
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