Year 9 History Trip to Ypres

On Friday morning just over 40 pupils joined Mr Speakman, Miss Stevens, Miss Wooltorton and Miss Limer on the trip to Ypres in Belgium. We arrived at school at around 5 am and boarded the bus. We soon arrived at Folkestone and travelled through the Eurotunnel. After we arrived in France we took a 5 hour journey through to Belgium including stops.

The first place we visited was the Lijssenthoek military cemetery. It has over 10,000 graves making it the second-largest commonwealth cemetery in the country. The site included a museum and an interactive room with models. The museum contained information about individual’s stories and facts about the war and the impact locally. Through this information we learned that the cemetery contains the largest number of airmen in Belgium, likely because the cemetery was only a few kilometres from an airfield. Around the museum there was the opportunity to listen to audio pieces from letters, diaries and registers which hit you with the reality and seriousness of the war.

On the second day we went to a local museum called In Flanders Fields Museum. It contained so many artifacts and lots of information. The museum is located in Cloth Hall. The collection of pieces in the museum is astonishing and the stories of individuals are told. Many of the pieces in the museum belonged to actual soldiers. The site gives you a chance to learn about individuals and their personal experiences, which was a unique opportunity. We learnt about specific soldiers who were assigned to us at the start and were guided through their life during war throughout our way around the museum.  There are uniforms and equipment that show what soldiers may have had to carry with them. There are multiple screens around the museum which give you an insight into the battles and how the land developed from trenches and devastation to the modern-day towns we see today.

Afterwards we got the opportunity to visit a chocolate shop and buy some souvenirs. We walked around the local market and explored the square in separate groups.

We visited another interesting place called the Sanctuary Wood museum. It had many pictures from the war and outside there was a British trench system. We walked through the partially restored trenches and explored a tunnel. The trenches were extremely muddy and wet which provided an insight into the experiences soldiers had and what life was life for them in the trenches. On the site there was a tree which had been rebuilt from remnants found. The tree had experienced the war and is an important place where people visit and place poppies in remembrance. Further up the road from the museum was the Hill 62 memorial which commemorates the Canadian Corps who defended the Southern parts of the Ypres salient. During the operation German forces seized the hill but after some careful planning the hill was recaptured. Despite the Canadian forces recapturing the Hill it was a costly mission resulting in over 8,400 casualties.

We also visited Tyne Cot cemetery which is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world. The World War 1 cemetery is built upon the Battle of Passchendaele site. It has almost 12,000 graves and holds the names of nearly 35,000 officers who are missing. The site shows the large number of people who lost their lives and puts the war into perspective. It was a privilege to visit the cemetery and pay respects to the many who lost their lives. The site originally contained German Bunkers. It is said that Tyne Cot was named so after the Northumberland Fusiliers’ nickname for the German Bunkers (pill-boxes) which they believed resembled Tyneside worker’s cottages (which reminded the soldiers of home).

In the evening, we attended a Last Post ceremony which took place at Menin Gate, only a few minutes walk from the Hostel. The ceremony is held every night at 8pm in honour of over 54,000 commonwealth soldiers who were listed as missing in action in Ypres during World War 1. During the ceremony Henrietta M and Felix G laid a wreath in tribute to the soldiers. Volunteers from the local fire brigade sounded the Last Post bugle call. The tradition has been continued since July 2^nd, 1928. Afterwards we looked at all the names around the gate and the man who led the ceremony talked to us about the soldiers and answered any questions about the memorial.

On the last day we visited the Lochnagar crater (located in France) which was created by the largest and loudest bomb of its time. The crater was created at the very start of the Battle of the Somme, and the bomb was detonated by British forces. The explosion created a hole 100m in diameter and 21m deep. It serves as a reminder to the many people who lost their lives in the war and the impact it created on many others. Around the crater are plaques and information boards including the empty chair – a memorial piece, a chair carved out of oak. The piece was installed at the site in 2018. The piece symbolises the empty chair left in many homes after the war. The tree, the chair was carved out of, was an oak tree which had fallen in a recent storm but would’ve been a sapling at the time the war started. It would’ve been passed by many soldiers bringing the memory full circle.

On the trip we visited many places which were all extremely interesting to learn about. The trip was a great opportunity to learn about the war and engage in new experiences. The war serves as a poignant reminder to all those who lost their lives and the empty chair left in many homes. Their memory shall live on and that should be a reminder that we should seek peace rather than confrontation.