College team prepare for Armistice Rugby Festival

As part of Remembrance Day observances members of the Peter Symonds Rugby team welcomed Lieutenant-General (Retd) Louis Lillywhite to the College, where he presented representatives of the team with a commemorative shirt to wear ahead of their departure to compete in the Armistice Rugby Festival in Compiegne, France, over the weekend of Remembrance Sunday.

The Peter Symonds Rugby team will be travelling to Compiegne, France, where they will take part in the rugby festival and a number of ceremonies to commemorate the centenary of the signing of the Armistice in the town where it was signed 100 years previously.

The team will lay a wreath in remembrance of the 51 former Symonds students and the governor who gave their lives in World War I. They will visit a number of significant memorials and have the opportunity to consider the very different experiences of the young men who left Peter Symonds College 100 years ago to travel to the battlefields.

Team Captain Peter Ryall said: “Leading my team to compete in Compiegne is a perfect metaphor for following in the footsteps of the Symonds alumni who crossed to France just over 100 years ago. It’s an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of World War I, pay my respects to all of those who fought in the Great War and appreciate what we have today.”