Shropshire pupils' role in Cenotaph Remembrance parade
Two school pupils from Shropshire will join the Queen, Prime Minister David Cameron and thousands of armed forces veterans to pay their respects to the nation's war dead at the Remembrance Sunday parade in London tomorrow.
Niamh Carlin, 13, from Lawley, and George Elliott, 12, from Dawley, Telford, will lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on behalf of the Western Front Association.
The Thomas Telford School pupils will be joined by their history teacher Martyn Hale, who is also an education officer for the association.
The school was invited to become involved because of the importance it places on teaching pupils about war, particularly World War One, and remembrance.
Mr Hale said: "The Western Front Association runs an annual national essay competitions for schools and over the past few years a number of TTS students have been awarded prizes, so the WFA wanted to recognise their enthusiasm and commitment to WW1 education."
Jo Davies, the school's press officer, said: "We have always taken this subject very seriously. For at least the past decade our Year 8s have been taken to the battlefields as part of the curriculum learning about World War One, and every year we also take the Year 8s to church in Lawley for the Remembrance Day service. Our history teacher Martyn Hale is a member of the Western Front Association, so he brings that extra knowledge he has to the lessons."
George and Niamh are learning about the Great War in school and during half term they visited the battlefields of France and Belgium with 65 other Year 8 students.
The pupils and Mr Hale will join the procession led by the Queen, cabinet members and veterans of all the armed services in London.
The act of remembrance will be repeated across Shropshire and Mid Wales tomorrow, as well as on Monday, the 95th anniversary of the Armistice to end World War One.
