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The Old St Beghian | |
| July 2018 | |||
Bill Affleck (SH 45-51) writes:
“Dacre Watson’s account of his visit to Ypres was evocative. I took my father there, at his request, in 1969. We looked amongst the names of the war dead on the wall of Tyne Cot Cemetery and he found some he recognised as one-time colleagues.
My father (Johnson M. Affleck) was born in Gateshead in 1886; he was at St Bees from 1900-1903 and, after a period learning ‘pioneering’ skills, went out to Canada in 1906 where he was when WWI was declared. He joined up in British Columbia but was told his eyesight would probably preclude active service. He resigned and travelled under his own steam to Europe where he enlisted in King Edward’s Horse as a cavalryman. In 1916 he was selected for officer training and at the end of 1916 was commissioned into the 7th Batallion Northumberland Fusiliers, with whom he saw service around Ypres and Passchendale, service for which he was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he stayed in the army escorting German POWs on their marches back to Germany. He was discharged late in 1919 and made his way back to Canada in 1920. He was a survivor, a veteran. His name, like thousands of other survivors, isn’t carved into any war memorial. We don’t use the word sacrifice with the veterans; destined to live out their lives with memories of mud, blood and death which few chose to share.
St Bees was a different matter. He was determined that my brother and I should be sent to St Bees. He was amongst those who supported the school in 1938. He sold the orchard in British Columbia and the family started for England on VJ Day. Six days by train to Quebec and seven days by ship to Liverpool. Train(s) to Pickering in North Yorkshire and then, after a few days recovery, by train via York, Newcastle and Carlisle to St Bees for me to start the school year in September 1945.”
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The St Beghian Society
St Bees School,
St Bees, Cumbria, CA27 0DS.
Tel: (01946) 828093 Email: osb@stbeesschool.co.uk
Web: www.st-beghian-society.co.uk
