Remembrance Day at Bancroft’s School, by Elliot Watson

On Wednesday the 11th, Remembrance Day, Bancroft’s School, just like the rest of the country, fell silent to honour those who sacrificed their lives for us, to maintain the political and economic freedoms that we have. Due to Coronavirus restrictions, the different years are in their so-called “bubbles,” so the service was streamed live on YouTube, with the Chaplain speaking. Afterwards, Sixth Form students in the school’s CCF, (Combined Cadet Force) stood to attention for the minute’s silence, whilst the Last Post was played too.

    As the writer is not in the Sixth Form, he was watching the service from a history classroom, eagerly watching our teacher there, who is the Head of the RAF Contingent. It was a sober moment, but there were giggles when the wind blew the Chaplain’s speech out of his hands. Nevertheless, he continued to pay respects to all soldiers, and reminded us that to this day there are still countless wars being fought, all over the world. He then ended his speech with a prayer, that all students respected, even those who are not Christian. As always, an extract of Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen” was read out. “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.  The school then fell silent, for two minutes. Once this had finished, the RCM, (student leader of the CCF) marched to Bancroft’s column in the middle of our “Quad,” to lay down a wreath of poppies.

    Unfortunately, the YouTube livestream cut out midway through, a thoroughly disappointing thing, though perhaps reflective of what has happened throughout 2020. Nevertheless, in our form time we were able to watch the rest of the service. Although the service had ended, and the school life returned to normal, the event was still firmly in people’s minds, and hopefully next year we will be able to gather, in order to celebrate properly.

On Wednesday the 11th, Remembrance Day, Bancroft’s School, just like the rest of the country, fell silent to honour those who sacrificed their lives for us, to maintain the political and economic freedoms that we have. Due to Coronavirus restrictions, the different years are in their so-called “bubbles,” so the service was streamed live on YouTube, with the Chaplain speaking. Afterwards, Sixth Form students in the school’s CCF, (Combined Cadet Force) stood to attention for the minute’s silence, whilst the Last Post was played too.

    As the writer is not in the Sixth Form, he was watching the service from a history classroom, eagerly watching our teacher there, who is the Head of the RAF Contingent. It was a sober moment, but there were giggles when the wind blew the Chaplain’s speech out of his hands. Nevertheless, he continued to pay respects to all soldiers, and reminded us that to this day there are still countless wars being fought, all over the world. He then ended his speech with a prayer, that all students respected, even those who are not Christian. As always, an extract of Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen” was read out. “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.  The school then fell silent, for two minutes. Once this had finished, the RCM, (student leader of the CCF) marched to Bancroft’s column in the middle of our “Quad,” to lay down a wreath of poppies.

    Unfortunately, the YouTube livestream cut out midway through, a thoroughly disappointing thing, though perhaps reflective of what has happened throughout 2020. Nevertheless, in our form time we were able to watch the rest of the service. Although the service had ended, and the school life returned to normal, the event was still firmly in people’s minds, and hopefully next year we will be able to gather, in order to celebrate properly.