This year’s trip to the World War I battlefields held a particular poignancy for one Year 9 student. Frederick Carruthers sought out the name of his ancestor, William Keith Carruthers, on the Thiepval Memorial.
Second Lieutenant Carruthers died at the age of 25 at the Somme in July 1917. Another of the family’s ‘great uncles’, Cameron Roy Carruthers was killed at Ypres, aged 28, within three months of his brother. Neither body was ever found.
Frederick read a tribute then laid a wreath on behalf of the School at the memorial, where William is commemorated. The QE party also visited the Menin Gate, where Cameron is honoured.
Thirty-three boys from Years 9 and 12 took part in the tour to Belgium and France, taking in Vimy Ridge, the Lochnagar Crater and the Somme battlefields.
Students also visited British and German cemeteries at Tyne Cot and Langemark, as well as debating the significance of memorials for a war in which so many were killed.
“The tours added to the informative and educational value of the trip, which enabled students to appreciate the horrendous scale of human cost during the First World War,” said History teacher Laura Tobia.