While Remembrance Day is always a moment for reflection and commemoration, 2018 had added poignancy as it marked the centenary of Armistice Day. Remembrance parades and services were held around the world, and her in Launceston many pupils of St Joseph’s School paid their respects to those of the town who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Great War and subsequent conflicts.
Pupils from Year 3 to Year 11 we involved in the parade, and were proud to take their part in the community’s display of remembrance. Head pupils Lucy Dickson, Joseph Allen, their deputies Morwenna Parkhouse and Alec McDonald and Year 10 pupil Chloe Smith read the names of many of those immortalised on the town’s War Memorial.
In doing so, they followed pupils from Launceston College who similarly paid their respects. All pupils did extremely well. The decision to have the voices of the children of the town’s schools read the names of men who were not much older than children when they died was a moving moment for all in attendance.
As Headteacher, I am very proud of all of those who took part.
Remembrance Day shows such a strength of community in Launceston, and we are honoured to play our part in ensuring that those who lost their lives in the mud of Flanders and beyond are not forgotten. Through acts such as this, with so many of our pupils taking part, we can make sure that, as Binyon urges, ‘at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.’
