France - Belgium '15 Pt.1

Hey, you beautiful weirdos! I'm officially back to my sketchy blogging ways after being away from the world of technology for 3 days with nothing, but my trustee incredible phone camera of my HTC One M9. 

So before I start, I should probably explain to you where I went and why...right!?! Well to make it simpler and quicker, I'm gonna bullet point everything that over the past 3 days and how it affected/inspired me.

 Here we gooooooooooooooooooo...

• About a week before the trip, I turned up to my history lesson a few minutes late...like 25 minutes late, but my teacher didn't seem to mind. Anyway, after I walked into class; she asked if I'd like to go on a trip - she didn't say where but I didn't care. All I know is that I love traveling, so I was like "YES!" 
• Originally, the trip was for Year 8 but there were 3 exact places, so I guess that's why Ms. Lovely invited my 2 friends and I. I got home and asked my mum, and she said "yes"...a bit too fast but hey, who was I to sit down and question her on why she replied too fast.
• So the trip was a three day trip to WW1 battlefields, those that had been preserved for the past 100 years as last year we'd (I don't know if 'celebrated' is the right word but I guess you see what I mean) 100 years since WW1. 
• There were 53 Year 8's and 3 sixth formers and 6 teachers and a tremendous coach driver, Keith; who put up with the Sydenham lot of 3 straight days.
• The plan was: we leave on the 21st June - arrive at school by 5:45 am (uncomfortable time) - leave school at 9:20 am to get to Folkstone for the Channel crossing into Calais 
• Then arrive back at school on the 23rd June at roughly 7:30pm - Channel crossing from Calais to Folkstone but something went horribly wrong and resulted in us getting stranded in Calais for 4 hours! (But I'll get to that soon)
• Our travel company for the next 3 days would be supplied by Equity, One Jubilee Street, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 1GE (in case you're ever in need for a double decker coach)
• When we arrived in Belgium, we stayed in Lo-Reninge; in a hotel called Oude Abdij ( here's their address, if you're ever in that perimeter: Oude Abdij, Noordsraat 3, 8647 Lo-Reninge)
• However whilst we were still on the coach, we were all given a sketch book and blue booklet that contained all the information about what we'd be doing over the next 3 days. The sketch books were for keeping a diary or perhaps drawing (if you felt like it) about what you've just experienced. (Sixth formers didn't have to do it. We were history ambassadors for the Year 8's.)
• Inside the blue booklets contained the programme that we'd follow whilst on the trip such as some of the most important sites relating to the First World War on the Western Front.
• The War broke out in August 1914 and ended at 11am on 11th November 1918. For 4 years, the Allies including the British, French and troops from their Empires fought the Central Powers - Germany and Austria-Hungary across the Western Front.
• The trip was a WW1 battlefield trip, so here are the sites that we visited over the 3 day course: Essex Farm Cemetery - during the tour of this cemetery, we learnt that it was believed that John McCrae began the draft for his famous poem 'In Flander Fields' on the evening of 2 May 1915 in the 2nd week of the fighting during the Second Battles of Ypres. It's believed that the death of his friend, Alexis Helmer, was the inspiration for the poem. We then visited Passchendaele Museum - which is called The Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 as it keeps alive the Battle of Passchendaele where in 1917, in 100 days, 500,000 casualties fell for only 8 km's gain of ground. After looking at uniforms, battlefield archaeology and artillery; we went to Tyne Cot Military Cemetery - is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world in terms of burials. There are 11,956 Commonwealth servicemen of WW1 buried or commemorated in Tyne Cot Cemetery. 8,369 of the burials are unidentified. There are special memorials to more than 80 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate 20 casualties whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. There are also 4 German burials, 3 being unidentified. At the suggestion of King George V, the Cross of Sacrifice was placed on the original large pill-box.  The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. To end the first day, we visited Langemark German Cemetery - which is a German cemetery commemorating Germany's First World War dead. We were also told that Hitler visited the cemetery twice. The cemetery is also called the Student Cemetery as most of the German dead were students.
• The second concluded with visits to Poperinge Death Cells - where a 'small' number of soldiers were convicted in WW1 by a Military Tribunal for deserting their posts; cowardice or murder spent their last night in the cells at Poperinge before being shot at dawn the next day. I found it really saddening that these soldiers suffered such traumatic episodes, and then they were falsely accused of abandoning their mates. From there we traveled to Talbot House - a rest centre for British soldiers to have a respite from the Front Line as well as an opportunity to develop and examine their understanding of the Christian faith. The House was for soldiers of all ranks stationed in the Ypres section in Flanders.  Reverend 'Tubby' Clayton established the center in 'Talbot House' in the Belgian town of Poperinge. Later on in the day, we made our way to Sanctuary Wood - a site that's one of the few places on the Ypres Salient battlefields where an original trench layout can be seen in some semblance of what it might have looked like. Shortly before the whether turned for the worst, we managed to go into the In Flanders Field Museum - which I would describe as 'simple exquisite'. The museum presents the story of the First World War in the West Flanders front region. It is located in the renovated Cloth Halls of Ypres, an important symbol of wartime hardship and later recovery. Moreover, I had the chance to visit the top of the building which is a tower with 300 steps with my former Geography teacher, Glend and my bubs, Fatima. P.s if you do get the opportunity to visit this extraordinary museum, just before you exit it; you should have a read of the "In Flanders Field" poem and announcement of former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George on 11th November 1918, it's on the plaque that features 1914.18 - 2014.18 - The WAR that will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN 
• To finish day 2 off, we attended The Menin Gate - which is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area known as the Ypres Salient. There was a memorial service held remembering 'Private William Walton of the Second Battalion, who died aged 16' . It's still unfeasible for me to comprehend that such young, brave and innocent men, who were merely kids died so young for their country. After the service, my friends Mina, Fatima and I went into one of the shops along the high street where I purchased 'In Flanders Field' poem for one of my project and a copy of 'Under Fire' by Henri Barbusse. What caught my eye about the book was the thought-provoking quote: "Men are made to be husbands, fathers - men, in short! Not animals that hunt one another down." 
• For the last day, we made our way to France to the Beaumont-Hamel Memorial Park - which was attacked by the 29th Divison on 1st July 1916, and while some units reached it, the village wasn't captured. Of the few battlefield parks in France and Belgium where visitors can see a Great War battlefield much as it was, Beaumont-Hamel is the largest. The actual trenches are still there and something of the terrible problem of advancing over such country can be appreciated by the visitor. On our way to the Park, we got to see The Golden Virgin and the story behind her; as it was destroyed during the War, it was said that had if it fell, it would have meant the end of the war but it never did fall. The other visits of the last day included the Thiepval Memorial - which is the Memorial of the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known graves. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyen, was built between 1928 and 1932. Furthermore, we also learned the inscription on the Stone of Remembrance was proposed by Kipling, author of the Jungle Book. The phrase on the Stone is a quote from the Wisdom of Sirach: "Their Name Liveth For Evermore". Our last stop was the Lochnagar Crater - the crater on the 1916 Somme battlefields in France is the largest man-made mine crater created in the First World War on the Western Front. The mine exploded before 7:30am Zero Hour at the launch of the British offensive against the German lines on the morning of 1st July 1916.
• Unfortunately, we had to speed up the last few sites due to the migrant incident occurring in Calais. We were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours and during those hours, Kieth and our teachers instructed us to shut the blinds, whilst they run around the coach preventing migrants from getting on. It's an unfortunate situation for the migrants as they are escaping leaving their homes because of some conflict, only to be turned away when they need help. Honestly, I blame this insolent British government who are encouraging their countries to take in more migrants just so they can keep turning away those that approach their doors for help. FUCK YOU! What are you teaching the future generation!?!

I'd like to thank Miss Lovely for inviting me to this trip as it's been an eye-opener. I've learned to be more appreciative of what I have and where I go as several men lost their lives just so that we could have what we have now. 

Our playlist consisted of 80's music. Our best songs were 'Get outta of my dreams, get into the car' by Billy Ocean and the ultimate duet by Glend and Storytime of 'I wanna know what love is' by Foreigner 

Part 2 of France - Belgium will feature some of the pictures I took whilst on the trip like the one below.

Thanks to Aussie, Ireland, Miss Lovely, Espanol, Storytime, Glend and Kieth for the reflective trip.

This picture is entitled 'Strudwick Amongst Many' in memory of V.J. Strudwick
Died aged 15

We will never forget them!