Pupils’ poppy profusion
HUNDREDS of pupils from 11 schools have contributed to poppy wreaths for each of a parish’s 293 men who fell in the First World War.
The wreaths were laid in St John’s Church in Killingworth in preparation for a civic service today to remember the men from the 1914 parish of Killingworth, which included the communities of Benton Square, Burradon, Dudley, Holystone, Killingworth, West Allotment and Westmoor.
Bailey Green Primary School in Killingworth Village produced twin wreaths for brothers David and Ernest Reed, as well as for cousins George and Thomas Sancaster.
At Westmoor, pupils have researched Charles Waugh, one of three local stokers who died when the Jarrow-built battlecruiser Queen Mary sank at the Battle of Jutland. They also made wreaths for Robert Rutherford, the school’s deputy headmaster, who died on the Somme, and airman William Kinghorn of the local George Stephenson Inn, who was training to be a teacher when he enlisted.
Burradon Primary’s wreaths include one for George Hunter from the local Co-op, while Backworth Park Primary has included Raymond Foster Pratt, a trainee surgeon.
Fordley Primary’s wreaths include ones for brothers William and Joseph Merryweather and their cousin William and amongst Holystone Primary’s wreaths are three for the Varley Adamson brothers.
The vicar of St John’s Church, the Rev David Gray, said: “The pupils have researched and got to know these men and there have been emotional moments as they have brought forward their work to lay it in the church.
“It is now festooned with individual wreaths.”
The church will be open to all tomorrow and Saturday.