The 100th anniversary of Armistice Day was marked throughout the School with a series of events and activities which paid tribute to the soldiers, including Old Pocklingtonians, who died in battle.

In the days leading up to Remembrance Sunday, Prep and Senior School pupils and staff contributed poppies to a Tree of Remembrance in the School Library. Pupils and staff made poppies and added details of fallen WW1 or WW2 soldiers from their own families or soldiers whose histories they had researched. 

Year Six pupils learned how the First World War started and how propaganda posters were used to encourage men to enlist.  They watched two short videos, one from a special WW1 Antiques Roadshow looking at original letters written from the ‘front line’ by real people with real lives.  They also watched an animated film called ‘War Game’ by Michael Foremen which followed the trials and tribulations of a village football team who joined up together and sadly died together during The Great War.  As a follow-up the children wrote letters from the front line to their loved ones back home and designed posters in the style of the time. 

The Prep School held an Act of Remembrance on Friday, when the names of former pupils who had died in action were read out and a minute’s silence was observed. A moving Remembrance display was created in the entrance area and activities included Year Three pupils making poppies out of plastic bottles.

On Saturday, the Senior School gathered for a Remembrance service around the William Wilberforce statue. The Bursar, Paul Bennett, gave an address which focused on the significance of silence: what it meant to those soldiers still at the front when the gunfire stopped, and what it signifies to those who observe the silence around the world today.

Events on Sunday 11 November began with a Boarders’ Remembrance service at the School Chapel, led by Rev Jim Roberts. The Heads of Boarding Houses read out the Roll of Honour, a two minute silence was observed, and a wreath commemorating the WW1 dead was placed at the altar

Everyone moved to the Memorial Cricket Pavilion, erected to honour OPs who died in the two World Wars. OP President Trevor Loten spoke about the OP casualties and the history behind the Pavilion’s creation, before laying a wreath on behalf of the OP Association. The Chaplain re-dedicated the pavilion to the memory of those that had died, pupils scattered poppies and the Last Post was played by former parent Michael Cooper. After a minute’s silence, Reveille was played and a final prayer said.

The Boarders then inspected an original 1913 WW1 Thorneycroft truck, brought by OP John Marshall (64-70), who renovated it after discovering it in a farmyard. The lorry, which was used to carry ammunition to the British Army in France, is now in pristine condition and pupils were able to climb into the cab and inspect the engine.

The Thorneycroft led Pocklington’s town Remembrance Parade on Sunday afternoon, followed by the School’s Combined Cadet Force, led by Officer Commanding CCF, Sam Cheadle. The parade walked through the town, laying wreaths at the WW1 and WW2 memorials, before moving to All Saints Church for a Remembrance Service.

To view the Pocklington School Flickr album 'Armistice Day 100' please click here.