St Dunstan’s College marks Remembrance Day

St Dunstan’s College’s annual Service of Remembrance took place on Monday 11 November.

Pupils and staff from across the College gathered in the Great Hall for a Remembrance assembly led by Canon Boswell and the Headmaster, Mr Nicholas Hewlett.

During the assembly, Mr Hewlett spoke to pupils about the importance of Remembrance and St Dunstan’s significant loss during the First and Second World War.

He said: ‘Our school endured one of the highest percentage losses of any in the world.

Our remembrance is of those Dunstonians and all others, in the Great Wars and in the many other theatres of conflict that have characterised our history.’

‘Evil thrives on annihilating the past, refusing to learn lessons from it and insisting with all the egotism and arrogance that comes with it, that this time will be different.

‘It never is. We must always learn from our past.

We must always make a point of looking back, learning from the mistakes of humanity and acting upon it, individually and collectively.

Remembering those, now no longer with us, who fought so that we might have the freedoms to learn, develop and change for the better. And that is what Remembrance is all about.’

Following a performance from the Chapel Choir, the College then moved outside onto the front crescent for the two-minute silence and laying of the wreaths.

This year, St Dunstan’s unveiled a large poppy installation featuring more than 650 poppies of varying sizes.

The display is made up of two rivers of poppies hanging down the side of the front building and a giant three metre by three metre poppy.

The front crescent also included a large cross, where the wreaths were laid by Senior and junior pupils, and more than 150 smaller crosses representing St Dunstan’s loss in the Second World War and following conflicts.

Last year, the College featured more than 225 crosses on the crescent as a symbol of the number of students who fell during the First World War – one of the highest for an independent school in the world.

Following the Service of Remembrance, Canon Boswell read out the following prayer:

Ever living God, We remember those whom you have gathered
From the storm of war into the peace of your presence;
May that same peace
Calm our fears,
Bring justice to all peoples
And establish harmony among the nations,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
When you go home, tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow, we gave our today.