Do school groups respect memorial sites?

MY WIFE and I (both in our late 60s) have visited many World War I remembrance sites in Belgium and France in the past couple of years, and have had the honour of parading my Royal British Legion branch standard at both the Menin Gate and Thiepval Memorial. Not once have we ever seen schoolchildren (English or otherwise) being loud or obnoxious at any of the sites (Letters). We saw a group of children from 1st Kidwelly Scouts who, despite the cold wind that blows through the archway, stood quietly and attentively throughout the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate. A children’s choir performed before the service and their voices lifted the hearts of the hundreds of people who attended. It’s natural for children to be excited on school trips, but we’ve always found their behaviour at World War I memorial sites exemplary and a credit to their schools or groups.

JOHN M. BOWERS, Barkingside, Essex. I’VE VISITED the Belgian war graves many times and am sorry to say the behaviour of British schoolchildren there is always the same. In Ypres, I spoke to some of the teachers about it but to no avail. I was told they aren’t allowed to tell the children off! The only good behaviour I saw was by children from a private school. I did write to the Department for Education about this but got no reply. Is it too much to ask that all children learn about and respect the young people buried in these graves?

JILL MacKENZIE, Hook, Hants. AT KINGS’ SCHOOL, Winchester, we’ve been running trips to the World War I remembrance sites for as long as I can recall. Our pupils are polite and respectful, their superb behaviour commented on by locals and visitors. To enhance their understanding, pupils invite war veterans to a school Remembrance Service each November 11 when the whole school stands in a two-minute silence at 11am. We’re a large school (1,650 pupils), but this is always impeccably observed.

MARTIN MANNING, Winchester, Hants.