Remembrance is shared with School community

Tonbridge School marked Remembrance Day with a specially recorded service.

The Remembrance Service was recorded live in the School Chapel last week and was available for the School community, including parents, boys, staff and former pupils, to watch via live-streaming from 10.50am on Wednesday 11 November. 

The service was attended by members of the Upper Sixth and featured readings, music, prayers and the laying of wreaths. 

James Priory, Tonbridge’s Headmaster, said: “Remembrance, which marks the 75th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War, was especially poignant this year given the national lockdown.

“Owing to the pandemic, the School was not able to hold its regular Remembrance Day service last Sunday, and so we decided to mark the occasion with this short film instead. We are delighted to be able to share this with the School community.” 

The service included a performance by the School Choir of In Flanders Fields. Hector Day-Lunn (MH5), Head of School, read a poem by Sidney Keyes, an Old Tonbridgian.

The final piece of music featured the first movement from Elgar’s Cello Concerto, performed by Harvey Wen (SH5), accompanied by Mark Forkgen, the School’s Director of Music.

The School produced some DVDs and audio CDs, in order to share the Remembrance Service with a number of care homes in the Tonbridge area. Care home residents were also able to watch via the live link on Remembrance Day.

By the end of the Great War 415 Tonbridgians had died, roughly the size of the School at that time. About half of Tonbridgians killed were 24 years of age or under, and half of them were aged 20 or under. Most of them were junior officers in the Army.

The Second World War claimed the lives of 301 Tonbridgians, which includes 144 from the RAF, 85 of them killed serving in Bomber Command.