Thirty Plymouth College Historians visited the key sites and memorials of the First World War in a very moving but 
fascinating three-day trip to France just before the start of term.
Starting at the site where John McCrae wrote "In Flanders' Fields", the GCSE students explored the muddy trench network at Sanctuary Wood still pot-marked with shell craters.
They imagined their peers almost one hundred years before signing up for the great adventure that would quickly turn sour.
Key moments included walking from the British front line on The Somme towards the German machine gun positions, wondering how anyone could have survived it in 1916, and sitting in "Tubby's" chapel safe from the fighting listening to accounts of the soldiers' free time.
Lighter moments included the inevitable visit to the chocolate shop with the incredible special offers. The weather held out and the students were great ambassadors for the school.