Although we can’t be together in school, the ECP has still been able to collectively remember those who died serving their country. The theme of the school year is TIME and therefore it was appropriate that Dr Brown, in his address to students at the Remembrance Week assemblies, spoke about how the passage of time affects our view of past events.
The Colours of WWII
He told students about conversations he has been able to have with his parents, both of whom were children during WWII. Both of them remember the colours of this period of history. For his father, the colour of the war was yellow. It is because it was the colour of fires caused by incendiary bombs, which lit up the night sky. His mother remembers the wartime years as being very grey. Everything was rationed and you had to have coupons to be able to buy things in the shops – even food. But when the war ended, it was as though the lights had come back on again. For some, it was the arrival of American soldiers, with their brightly coloured clothes and comics.
Written History
There is now no-one left who was alive at the time of the First World War. We therefore have to rely on written history for accounts of the battles that took place in the fields of Flanders. Of those who fought against the Nazis in WWII, only a handful of veterans now remain.
Poppy Appeal
Remembrance Week is a way to keep their sacrifices alive. At the ECP, we hold annual assemblies during the week before Remembrance Sunday. We sell red poppies for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal. Ex-service men and women make the poppies to support the charity’s work, helping those who still need its support today.
Alexandra Brízová, President of the ECP Student Council, also contributed to our reflections during Remembrance week. Here is her video in which she explains that the poppy was adopted as a symbol of remembrance after WWI. It too meant the return of colour, as the poppy was the first flower to grow again after the battles ended.
Remembrance Sunday
The culmination of Remembrance Week is usually our participation in the Remembrance Sunday ceremony, which is organised by the British Embassy and held in the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Olšany. On this day, we remember all the men and women who fought and died in the service of their country and subsequent conflicts and similar ceremonies take place in every village, town and city in the UK. ECP students play an important part in the ceremony by helping young Scouts, Cubs and Beavers from the 1st Prague Scout Group place religious symbols on the graves of the war dead buried in the cemetery.
Poppy Blanket
This year, we are not able to attend the Olšany ceremony, but this didn’t stop Alexandra from organising a team to ensure that the ECP could still remember. They created this poppy blanket, which we laid on the steps of the school.
