Bedales remembers
The three Bedales Schools have marked Remembrance Day on 11 November at 11am.
At Bedales Pre-prep, Dunannie, the children had a special remembrance assembly where they learned about the significance of the poppy, as well as hearing about some of the Bedales community who lost their lives in WWI. They also heard a poem read by a serving member of the armed forces and written by a boy whose father is on active duty. Following this, Year 2 and 3 gathered on the playground to join in with the two-minute silence around the country to mark Armistice Day.
Pupils and teachers at Bedales Prep, Dunhurst all gathered in their socially distanced pods on the school’s Cobb’s Field for their remembrance event and to learn more about this annual act of remembering those from across the Commonwealth who have given their lives serving the country. This was the first time the whole school had gathered since the start of the COVID pandemic.
Due to the ongoing restrictions, Bedales Senior School marked Remembrance Day differently this year, with an Act of Remembrance livestream which included poignant contributions from staff and students. In the school’s Grade 1 listed Arts and Crafts Library, which was built in 1921 as a memorial to those who died in the Great War, the head students read the names of Bedalians who died in the world wars. Students learned the true identity of one of those being remembered, Cyril Wilde, son of Oscar Wilde, and why he fought and died under an assumed name. There was then a beautiful student/teacher collaborative rendition of ‘Dido’s Lament’ from Henry Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas, in which we hear the repeated invocation ‘Remember me’. The Last Post, and Reveille, which framed the two-minute silence, were played on trumpet by music scholar Harry Hornsby. The memorial ended with a reading of the ‘Ode of Remembrance’ from Robert Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For the Fallen’ by the Head, Magnus Bashaarat.
Bedales music scholar Jamie Loudon also played The Last Post and Reveille for the Steep remembrance ceremony held at the village war memorial.
A short clip of the Dunhurst Remembrance can be viewed here, and the full livestream from the Bedales Remembrance is available here.
