Peace Field Project at Chailey
Thursday 16th October 2014
On Thursday,16th October,120
primary school children from seven schools, as well as many parents, alongside
staff and students from Chailey School commemorated the Christmas Truce of 1914
in Chailey School’s Peace Field Football Tournament. As part of the National
Children’s Football Alliance’s scheme to provide schools with the opportunity
to twin their designated areas of play with the Flanders Peace Field and the
Peace Village, Messines, Belgium (site of the 1914 Christmas Truce), the nation-wide
Peace Field Project has invited schools not only to commemorate World War One
and the Christmas Truce but also to celebrate peace through reflecting on a
moment in history that inspires humanitarianism. Chailey School is one of the
first schools to complete the process, and the school is developing a series of
events and activities over the next four years as part of its own ‘Remembering
the Great War’ project.
The tournament itself was officially opened by
Chailey School headteacher Lesley Young, along with Nici Rice of the NCFA and John
Hayward of the Royal British Legion who movingly read the poem ‘In Flanders
Fields’. The matches were much enjoyed by those who attended on a warm autumn
afternoon with the winners of the Year 5/6 trophy being Barcombe CoE PS, and
Plumpton PS taking the Year 3/4 competition. In keeping with the spirit of the
event, a ‘Fair Play’ award was an important element of the afternoon with Plumpton
and Newick adjudged the best teams in this category.
