Year 8 pupils returned to the First World War Battlefields of Ypres on Friday resuming a tradition that began nearly 25 years ago.
Beginning with a service of remembrance at Toc H in Poperinge located behind the frontline, the party toured the salient which saw some of the fiercest fighting on the Western Front.
Visiting the graves of two of the 69 Old Roffensians to give of their lives, the group also made stops at Lijssenthoek and Tyne Cot Cemeteries, as well as exploring authentic trenches at Bayernwald and the darkly sombre German Friedhof at Langemark.
Gusty winds made for a memorable return Channel crossing but these thoughts were subsumed by the sound of the Last Post signalled at the Menin Gate and the words of Sassoon’s verse read by torchlight at the grave of fifteen year-old Private Valentine Strudwick.
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