Whole school gathers in Act of Remembrance

RIPON Grammar School’s whole school community gathered around the school’s Memorial Stone in a poignant Act of Remembrance on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

More than 1,000 students and staff paid tribute to those who died in conflict, including the 100 former RGS students and masters killed in both world wars.

Following a moving performance of the hymn Abide With Me by the school’s brass ensemble and choirs, Neve and Faith played The Last Post on trumpet and cornet.

Overlooking the original playing fields where so many boys and young men enjoyed playing rugby and cricket before the dark clouds of war changed their lives for ever, everyone paused for a two-minute silence while reflecting on the service and sacrifice of the Armed Forces.

Following the laying of memorial wreaths - later transferred to the Roll of Honour in the school library - by head boy and girl Will and Amelia, staff and students went on to lay individual poppies on the Memorial Stone.

The Memorial Stone was established in 1922, when the Old Rips alumni association purchased a field for the school in memory of those who gave their lives in the 1914-18 war, the boundary of which they marked by installing the commemorative stone.

Since then, all our pupils have benefited from the Memorial sports field given to the school to honour the memory of those who died, sacrificing their today for our tomorrow.

Neve and Faith also played The Last Post and Reveille at Ripon Cathedral and at a service in Ripon's Spa Gardens.