The brilliant autumn Sunday sunshine seemed a sudden armistice from days of cold and wet.  The school assembled in the Memorial Hall for the annual service to honour the fallen.  This year the choir sang out that love is stronger than death. 

The Headmaster read from "Goodbye Mr.Chips" about international and timeless values of decency and proportion.  The Head of School read the familiar lines of verse, well-worn through the fingers of countless families' grief.  The New Testament came to us in German, courtesy of two of our international boarders. 

The Chaplain spoke of the silence found at Langemark cemetery on the Somme.  The long list of names was read out unadorned in measured rhythm - the precise cost of freedom.  

Then downstairs to the open air and poppy wreaths, an old stone cross, the voice of rooks, and a bugle call to attention: echoing across the playing fields. 

Afterwards we planted our individual buttonholes and walked free. 
 
Andrew Watkinson-Trim, Chaplain (11- S)