HUNDREDS of school children and staff paraded in memory yesterday of the 208 Old Barnardians who didn’t come home from war.
Barnard Castle School honoured all those people who died in conflict as the nation stopped to remember the dead.
The name of each former student was read out in front of the whole school in a moving ceremony officiated by the Vicar of St Mary’s Parish Church Canon Alec Harding.
A colour party led the school’s 216-strong Combined Cadet Force on a parade around the school. Bugler Heather Brown sounded The Last Post and the congregation fell silent in a two minute tribute.
Headmaster Tony Jackson told the gathering, on the school’s back fields: “Each and every one stood where you stand now. They walked the same corridors, they ate in the same dining room and called themselves Barnardians like you – but 209 never came home.
“This is a special day and despite the current sense of gloom it is events like these and the support they receive that continue to warm the soul. This day isn’t about the glorification of conflict, it is about acknowledging and remembering service.
“Service is such an important thing and is ingrained at Barney and we must always remember those who served. We are more fortunate so we must never forget that this is down to those people who gave their lives for our tomorrow.”