Years 5 and 6 joined Senior School staff, students and parents for our Remembrance Service led by Reverend Thomas Wharton from Romsey Abbey. Embley CCF cadets escorted the Colour Party with military precision and Purcell’s ‘Dido’s Lament: When I am laid in Earth’ performed by Embley Orchestra set the tone for the Service.
Our Heads of School, Freya and Caleb, spoke about the 70th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the fighting of the Korean War and also of the 75th anniversary of the arrival of settlers from the Caribbean on the Empire Windrush. The contribution of the generation in uniform, who undertook National Service 60 years after the last serviceman was demobbed, were also honoured.
The congregation were visibly moved, by Army veteran Mark Aslett’s thought provoking account of his time in service which spanned 39 years. There were poetry recitals from Ellie (Year 9), and Georgia and Jack (Year 6). The Last Post and Reveille were brilliantly executed by Samuel (Year 9), dovetailing two minutes silence during which the hall, filled with over 650 people, fell silent and still.
