The Last Post

The 24 hours that followed the end of the Cargilfield The Western Front Way walk, were truly memorable. While the Menin Gate in Ypres is currently boarded up and the evening on which we were gathered saw steady rain, the crowds attending were still many deep. We were joined by Scottish air cadets who paraded and laid a wreath and the Cargilfield group present numbered fifteen, including former Head Boy and his wife, Jonathan and Vicki.

I was honoured to be joined by a current and former pupil as we laid our wreath before the Last Post took place. This event is repeated every night of the year at 8pm and has done since 1927 (albeit this took place in England during the invasion of the Second World War). We dined dined together that evening and chatted about Cargilfield past and present.

The next morning involved a service at St George’s Memorial Church where we were invited to read lessons and prayers before the Cargilfield plaque to remember our former pupils was unveiled in amongst those from many other British regiments and schools. The church was founded during the re-building of the entire city in the 1920s and served the British community that was living in that region to build the various cemeteries as part of the Commonwealth (then Imperial) War Graves Commission. There had even been a small school set up for over 50 children which was built by Eton College as a memorial to their former pupils. We were made extremely welcome within their congregation, including visitors to the city.

The final act before we headed home was a more personal one. My father and I drove 30 minutes east to the small town of Harlebeke to find a grave for a soldier who died in October 1918, less than a month before the close of hostilities. He was buried in amongst soldiers from both wars, dating as far back as 1914 and so I will need to do more research to understand why he was there. His name was Howard Thomas and he was a Captain in the Royal Scots. The dedication on his grave said: ‘His men used to say “we will follow Tommy anywhere”’. He was the son of Harry and Mary Thomas who were Headmaster and wife of Cargilfield through the war, living where we do today. Having heard such awful news about so many of their former children through the war, the parting blow was to lose their own son.

May I take this opportunity of thanking all those who joined me on the walk and those who couldn’t make it but sponsored wreaths so that we could honour our former pupils.