Remembrance Sunday
Remembrance Sunday is an important day in the ECP calendar. This is because students represent the school at the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Olšany.
Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal
All last week, we had been remembering those who had died, not only in WWI but also WWII and subsequent conflicts around the world. This now includes Aghanistan, where soldiers from both the UK and the Czech Republic have recently died. Remembrance Week is about remembering those who died, their families and their sacrifice. Linda Novobilská and Alexandra Brízová led the assemblies in school, explaining why this week is so special in the UK. The Royal British Legion organises one of the biggest charity collections in the country. Volunteers sell the red paper poppies to raise money to help ex-servicemen and women and their families.
Flanders Fields
The red poppy is the emblem of the charity that helps ex-servicemen because it was the first flower that grew back in the fields of northern France and Belgium after WWI. A factory was opened in south London in 1922 and wounded ex-servicemen worked there, making the poppies. Every year, volunteers sell around 36 million poppies up and down the UK. They stand on street corners, outside shops and railway stations, with their collecting tins and trays of poppies.
ECP representatives
Then on Sunday, Student Council President, Michael Best, joined Linda and Alexandra. With the help of other Student Council members, Michael had organised the sale of poppies around school. Also attending the ceremony were Dr and Mrs Brown, Mr Straughan, who served in the Royal Navy, and Ms Hearn, whose Czech father had been a member of the 311 Squadron of Czech pilots in the RAF during WWII. A ceremony just like the one they attended here in Prague takes place in every city, town and village in the UK, commemorating those from the area who went off to fight and who never came back.
100th anniversary
This year’s ceremony was, of course, particularly special because 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. It was a war that claimed the lives of 16 million people. The date and time of the ceremony was significant: the eleventh hour of the eleventh month reminded us that it was on that day in 1918 that the guns finally fell silent. During the ceremony, Linda, Alexandra and Michael helped members of the 1st Prague Cubs and Scouts to lay religious symbols on the graves of those who had died in the service of their country. They paused briefly by each grave as they did so, to remember the son, husband and father who was buried there. Some of them were not much older than our students when they died.
Invitation from the British Ambassador
After the ceremony, they all went back to the British Embassy for the traditional curry lunch. They were able to see the splendid Thun Palace, with amazing views over Prague, as well as sample the tasty dishes prepared by the Ambassador’s chef.