Ypres day trip

From 1915 the hamlet of Lijssenthoek became the site of the biggest evacuation hospital in the Ypres Salient. The military cemetery is the resting place of 10,785 casualties and the second largest British and Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium, all but 41 of the burials were casualties who died while being treated here. The visitors centre offers a unique understanding into the story of this site.

The Ploegsteert Memorial commemorates over 11,000 British and South African servicemen who died in this area and have no known grave. Standing next to the Memorial is Berks Cemetery which contains 876 burials, whilst across the road sits Hyde Park Corner Cemetery which contains 83 Commonwealth burials and four German War Graves.

Ploegsteert, or Plug Street as it was called by the soldiers, was the location where Roland Aubrey Leighton wrote ‘Villanelle’ – Violets from Plug Street Wood, which was later published in his fiancé’s memoirs together with other letters and poems.

The Battle of Messines started on the 7th June 1917 with the detonation of 19 mines under the German lines, the devastation they caused can still be seen in the preserved craters at St. Eloi and Spanbroekmoelen. The Messines Ridge Cemetery is the final resting place of 1,534 soldiers, of which only 577 could be identified and on the Memorial to the Missing you will find the names of over 800 soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

The story of the Christmas Truce is also brought to life in this area and the Christmas Truce statue can be found in the nearby town of Messines.

Vancouver Corner was the site of the first ever large-scale gas attack during the second Battle of Ypres, the perfect location for Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum est”, describing the gruesome effects of gas on man, all under the watchful eye of "The Brooding Soldier".

Commemorating the 1st Canadian Division, the “The Brooding Soldier” memorial and its magnificence is clear to see standing at 11 metres high. Dedicated to the men who held their position against all odds after the German Army launched the gas attack. The battle started at 1700 hrs on the 22nd April and during the next few days heavy fighting resulted in some 2,000 casualties.

One of only four German cemeteries in the Flanders region, a particular feature of this cemetery is the larger than life sculpture of four mourning soldiers. The layout of the cemetery is different from Allied cemeteries, as eight soldiers are buried in a plot with their names on a horizontal lying gravestone.

Essex Farm was the location of an advanced dressing station and is now the site of a CWGC cemetery. As well as the cemetery the remains of several bunkers can still be seen, some of which were used by the dressing station. There are 1,200 soldiers buried or commemorated in this cemetery, of which 103 are not identified. One of the youngest British casualties is also buried here, Rifleman Valentine Joe Strudwick, who was only 15 years of age when he died on the 14th January 1916.

This was also the place where Canadian doctor John McCrae wrote the famous poem “In Flanders Fields”.

Ypres is a major city in Flanders and during WW1, control of this city gave control of the surrounding areas. The city was embroiled in the war for over four years and it is hard to imagine that it was razed to the ground and later totally rebuilt. In Ypres you will find numerous reminders of the war including two Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries, where some of the earliest casualties are buried and two great memorials - The Menin Gate which stands on the site of the old Antwerp Gate and Saint George's Memorial Church. The renovated Cloth Hall, in the scenic square, houses the In Flanders Fields Museum and is definitely worth a visit.

The Menin Gate is the most famous Commonwealth War Memorial in Flanders and stands proudly on the site of the old Antwerp Gate. Tens of thousands of soldiers passed through this gate on their way to the front, many of them never to return. This gate displays the names of over 54,000 soldiers missing in the Ypres Salient between the outbreak of war and 15 August 1917.

OPTION: Stay in Ypres and following dinner, you will attend and participate in the Last Post Ceremony, where a few selected students will lay a wreath on behalf of the school. Highlighting the theme of remembrance, it is a time for reflection, to show respect for others and recognise the sacrifices made by an entire generation on our behalf. The Ceremony finishes at approximately 8.30pm and you then make your way back to Calais.

The 'Last Post' was first sounded in 1928 under the arches of The Menin Gate and each evening for a few brief moments, the modern world comes to a stop, the crowd is hushed and stillness descends over the memorial as the Last Post ceremony takes us back in time, as we pause to remember our dead. The Last Post, traditionally the last salute to the Fallen Warrior, is played in memory of the soldiers of the then British Empire and Allied Forces who fell in the Ypres Salient.