ORs Remembered

Members of the School community, pupils, staff, governors, ORs and long-standing friends of Repton all counted themselves extremely fortunate to have been part of a recent trip to the battlefields of Flanders. Expertly organised by Major John Cotterill ( Mercian Regiment) and John Bowley (Director of Music), this was an introduction to some, a reminder to others of the horror that was unleashed upon the town of Ypres and the normally peaceful surrounding countryside during the Great War. We gathered at Tyne Cot, the largest of the Great War cemeteries, for the unveiling of a monument to the Sherwood Foresters who fell in the conflict. Attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Flanders, the Lord Lieutenants of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and the Vicar of St George’s Anglican Church in Ypres, music was provided by the regimental band of the Mercian Regiment and the Repton School Chapel Choir.

The following day a plaque (organised by OR Edward Wilkinson) was unveiled in St George’s Church, Ypres in memory of the 355 Reptonians who fell in the Great War. This memorial fittingly joined the many others which record the sacrifice of Britain’s public schoolboys between 1914-1918. Music by the Chapel Choir and first hand accounts of ORs who served in the conflict, read by ORs, pupils and staff made the service all the more moving.  A battlefields tour conducted by Major Cotterill was another important event. Building on five years of research conducted by the School Librarian, Mr Paul Stevens, five ORs were selected and their graves visited. Learning about their achievements and exploits at Repton together with the manner of their deaths at the spots close to where the fell and where they now lie, was extremely poignant. None could have failed to be moved.

Photographs of the weekend can be seen by clicking here