Fourteen S3 pupils have embarked on a War Memorial Tour of Scotland with Mr Crawford and Miss Gallagher.  Back in March, Mr Crawford was fortunate to be selected to attend a British Council for Schools workshop in France which, with the aid of the European Commission, was set up to forge relationships with partner schools in Europe.  Following the conclusion of the course, Mr Crawford had partnered with high schools in France, Holland and Germany to create an online e-Magazine that would showcase the First World War Memorials in each country.

Following a very competitive selection process, fourteen S3 pupils were chosen to collect and record the information on Scotland’s main First World War Memorials and with funding provided by the school and Scotrail, they will travel to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling, Inverness and Aberdeen in the coming months to collate their information.

Saturday’s excursion started with a subway trip to Kelvingrove Park to document the Cameronian Scottish Rifles monument located outside the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. Regarded as one of the finest war memorials in Scotland pupils learned that the statue, which was designed by army captain Philip Clark, commemorates the sacrifice, victory and determination of the Cameronians and was opened by Field Marshal Douglas Haig in August 1924.  After a quick tour of the nearby museum it was onwards to George Square to see the city’s main civic memorial to the Great War.  The George Square Cenotaph was opened by Field Marshal Haig in May 1924 and is dedicated to the 200,000 Glaswegians who volunteered to defend their country in its hour of need.  The pupils learned that 18,000 of those soldiers did not return and the monument was built as a permanent reminder of the ultimate sacrifice made by those young men.  Statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had to be moved to the west side of George Square to accommodate the Cenotaph and the entire structure was built initially in wood so that the city’s fathers could see if it ruined the view of the City Chambers.

Next week the pupils will be travelling to Stirling to document the towns memorial and visit Stirling Castle.