RGS Remembrance and War Years Exhibition
On Wednesday 11 November over 60 Old Reigatians who attended RGS during or immediately after WW2 joined the entire school to remember those who have given their lives in wartime. In a moving ceremony in the playground, bugler and current pupil Yasmin Herbert played the Last Post and Reveille which was followed by silence in memory of the fallen. The Corps of Drums played and Polyphony sang ‘Abide With Me’ as the senior cadets in all three sections of the CCF took a wreath to lay at the memorial by the library. There were also readings from the Head Boy, Hugh Blayney, Second Former Phebe Gray and Old Reigatian Fred Lister (1940–47), who also placed the wreath in the Memorial Garden.
Afterwards, many ORs stayed for refreshments and took the opportunity to take a look at our War Years Exhibition. This included a wide-ranging display of photos of the school and its pupils during both World Wars, which a great many of the guests were in, as well as copies of The Pilgrim magazine from WW2 and a number of other original documents supplied by the school archives. The exhibition was well-received, with many taking great pleasure in regaling the current 2nd Formers and Prefects with their own stories of school-time mischief!
A big thank you to all who came and in particular to John Rowlands (OR 1966–73), who’s meticulously researched book on the 55 names on the WW1 Memorial was given to each guest, Peter Burgess (OR 1967–74) for providing us with so many images and objects from the school archives and finally to Tony Morgan (OR 2004–11) who spent endless hours compiling the exhibition and editing the research book.