Abbey Gate College Summer Saightonian 2023

To finish the day, Sophie L-J and Marcus E laid a wreath during the Menin Gate ceremony that happens every night in remembrance of the fallen. On behalf of everyone in the Abbey Gate community, we wanted to give personal thanks for the freedom we have on account of all this sacrifice. It is both easy and hard to under­ stand how such a devastating conflict could have taken place. If only the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and their wider supporters could somehow come together in a event of this type. The great, great, great uncle of Maria could certainly have told them a thing or two. His name is one of nearly 55,000 inscribed on the walls of the Menin Gate whose bodies they never found.

FINAL DAY

Day 3 saw us head back to France, this time to the Somme region to explore some of the sites associated with the infamous 1916 battle. Although time was short, we saw two sites key to the events of that fateful first day in July. The Thiepval Memori­ al lies testament to the enormous sacrifice made by British, French and Common­ wealth soldiers - over 72,000 listed in panel after panel - and those were the missing. Further up the front stands the Ulster Tower, and here we were taken into the Thiepval woods to see where the Ulster Division launched their attack.

Disobeying the wider order to walk that day, these men successfully took their initial objective - the heavily fortified Schwaben Redoubt - but catastrophes on either side of them meant they had to give up the ground they so bravely won.

We've run the battlefields tour now for many years, and each time it is a moving and intense experience. This year, however, was particularly difficult to compre­ hend, because the form of warfare we thought was consigned to the past was now going on throughout our visit.

Ukraine had just launched its counterattack against well dug-in Russian forces across a huge front, and we can only pray the killing stops soon.

It seems that it is harder to learn from History that we might think.

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Imogen R, part of the Paws2Palm team, has provided us with her reflection of her experience in the company, and taking part in Young Enterprise this year: “We’re incredibly proud to have won the Cheshire and Warrington Business of the Year award for Paws2Palm. Our team has worked hard to create eco-friendly, fun dog leads and it's been amazing to see the impact it's had nationwide and even worldwide.

I’m so grateful for the YE experience, which has helped us all grow as individuals and as a team. I’m proud of what we've achieved so far, but also excited about the future of Paws2Palm and all the opportunities that lie ahead. We're grateful for everyone who's supported us along the way - we couldn't have done it without you!”