Can you tell me where your school trip was and how old you were?
I went on a history trip with Anglia Tours in 2014 with my secondary school. I went to Catmose College in Rutland and I was 14 at the time. I was in year nine, and it was a battlefields trip that went to France and Belgium.
Did you already have a love of history before the trip, or did it grow more after that?
I definitely had a love of history before the trip, and both my parents are massive history nerds as well. I was always taken to the military shows growing up - I’ve never driven on a motorcycle, but I've ridden on the back of a tank! But I do think there was a slight disconnect, as I hadn't necessarily gone to places where stuff had happened. I think the only historical place I'd been to by this point was Berlin, which is quite an interesting contrast with being a big city, whereas I hadn't been to somewhere like Ypres that felt very much like ‘oh, history had just happened here’. Although I loved history before that, the battlefields trip made me think about it in quite different way.
Do you have a memory from the trip that’s stuck with you all these years?
I think the standout memory for me was when we went to the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, which is absolutely once in a lifetime. I was actually chosen with a few of my friends to carry the wreath and be part of the ceremony, which was an absolute bucket list item and a once in a lifetime opportunity. Also really, really scary for a teenager to do. It was very much like ‘you like history - do this!’ It is such a standout memory though, the fact that you were part of this serene ceremony that still carried on every day for 100 years. It just made an impact because I knew they still did the ceremony many times since, but I got to be part of it that one night. That opportunity alone is something you'd never ever be able to do in the UK. There's no equivalent that is a daily event. For me, that was probably the biggest standout moment.
Was there a particular site or moment that really lit a spark for your love of history?
We visited Tyne Cot, and I know everyone who goes there says that it has such an impact, but I think being there really did make a big difference - seeing a literal sea of white gravestones in person and walking amongst them. It is absolutely immense and a really, really hard thing to explain or to show fully in pictures to students. When I teach it, I will ask students to look at photos of it and ask how it makes them feel. But you can't feel that fully until you're actually there. They also gave us free time at Tyne Cot to reflect. I remember me and four or five of my friends just wandering in and out of the aisles of gravestones, and we were each given a poppy as well to leave at a grave. We sort of wandered around like a group of teenagers would. But, as I was wandering in and amongst these gravestones and choosing somewhere to put our poppy, it was a very real and beautiful moment. It ended the trip quite nicely and it got us to really reflect on what all these things we'd seen actually meant.
What are the standout memories of your guide from the tour?
I remember our guide had been in the military and so that in particular made such an impact on me, because he had that personal link as well. When he was talking about it, he was clearly so passionate. Battlefields trips are not always the easiest trips to be on either, like you're so young, usually knackered, you've been on a coach for so long, and you get off another coach in your wellies to go stand in another field. But at no point was I bored and at no point was I not engaged. I think it's because our guide spoke with such passion and it didn't feel like we were just running through an itinerary. It felt like we were going on a journey with our guide. I remember when we were at the cemetery for the German soldiers, telling us ‘this is a mass grave’ and that shock moment. Sometimes history is told as heroes and villains, but actually it brought home that war is terrible and it doesn't matter where we go, that is the story we're telling. I think that passion is something that the guide was able to bring across so well.
At what point did you realise the trip had a lasting impact on you?
I think I did realise that it had an impact at the time. Even now, looking back on those pictures from the trip of me and my friend outside the chocolate store, it always appears on my facebook memories every single year. Or our little poppy we'd written on with our names on it. Those little things, I realise, at the time felt important, and every year I get a reminder of that too, even after all these years. Even the fact that after I came back from the trip, I realised my parents had never done the battlefields ever, so the year after we got in our family car and I did a trip with them to show them everything I had experienced. I was the little tour guide this time and went on another journey with them. We even added some more sites and found some places where we have family relatives buried. It felt like passing the torch, or like, expanding it out. It was more than just going on the school trip and now it’s done, let's move on. It had such a long-lasting impact for me.
Would you say it played a direct role in your decision to become a history teacher?
I grew up in a history loving household and always knew I loved history. But it was that realisation of knowing I loved being where history has happened and engaging with it directly. And I think that was the moment where I realised history is a very live and active thing. I think sometimes it can just feel a bit stagnant, and especially when you're stuck in a classroom reading a textbook. I had absolutely amazing teachers, but there is still a limit as to what you can do. I think at that point I definitely thought I'm going to do this at university. I also had a passion for travelling and going to places where the stuff I'd read about or watched had happened. It definitely started there because it was the first time I've been on a trip like that and explored the history side. I think as a history teacher, it's really important my classroom gets these experiences as much as possible and it is really hard, you know, especially post-covid and with the cost of living crisis. We can't be taking all these pupils out all the time and equally, you know, a coach can only take so many people. But it’s trying to get these little things across, even when we are in the classroom. When I teach my lessons now, I include the pictures of me on my trip with Anglia Tours, and my students love it. Firstly, because they get to see awkward pictures of me at 14! But also, because it makes it feel a bit more real for them, as opposed to just being the stock picture from google. They are more like ‘oh my god, my teacher went there’.
Now that you’re a teacher yourself, how does it feel to be on the other side of the experience?
It’s great to bring my experiences into the classroom whenever I can, but I also think school trips are so important because for so many students, it may be the first time they have gone abroad at all. It may be the first time they've been in a country where they don't speak English. Even little things like seeing like road signs in another language can be quite a cultural shock for some students, but it’s so valuable for cultural awareness as well. I think it’s also about making the history real and it's so important to try our best at making history feel relevant for them and not just something that they think about as ‘my grandad likes history’ or ‘I’m just doing history at GCSE’. It’s so important to make it something more active for them. Even getting them to understand that the soldiers that signed up in the war, they volunteered and were sent abroad. Helping them get the sense that when they went abroad, the local people didn't speak their language, they had a different culture, and they ate different food. It’s learning there's a different side of the war as well as just being sat in the trench, and it was actually a big cultural change for the soldiers. I think that is something you don't necessarily understand until you see it for yourself. Even seeing and walking across the landscape in the French and Belgian countryside and getting to picture what's that's like – it’s that same realisation of seeing it with your own eyes. Just a picture can't show that - you've got to be surrounded by it.
If you could say something to your younger self on that trip, what would it be?
Take more pictures of the historical stuff. I mean, I have so many pictures, like an absolute ridiculous amount of pictures! But still, being a history teacher now, I still look back and think that I could have taken more pictures of those sources. You do realise how once in a lifetime it is, because although I went back the year after with my parents, I haven't been back since. Even just knowing that if I went back now it wouldn’t be the same as being in the coach and driving around with your school – it’s just something you can never fully replicate.
Why do you think history trips are such a powerful way to teach history?
I think it's the scale of history. I've never been on a history trip as a teacher, we're planning them, but I have only ever been in my classroom. I only know how powerful it is from the student perspective currently, but I think it's getting them to understand the scale of history. How big and immense these places were and getting them to understand for themselves. Whether it’s letting them see what a trench system was actually like, understanding that the trenches weren't that deep and they weren't that wide, and all the other things that a picture can't show them.
When we teach, we have our powerpoints and we have the internet, so if a student asks a question we can immediately get a picture up. But it still doesn't quite show how big it is and also how long it is. At the end of the day, we teach the lesson for an hour and then they move on and do maths or science or drama. But actually being out there for a few days gets them to really be immersed in it. They don't understand what it was like to be a soldier – obviously we're not going to minimise that experience. But getting them to understand the place, that’s really powerful.
I mean it's the classic thing isn't on a battlefield trip, you're driving along or you're walking along and then the farmers plough this field and there's a load of shrapnel and artillery shells. You see it once and think, wow. But by the fifth time you're like, wow this is their life. Simple things like that can be such a big and powerful moment for them as well. I think the little things like that can make the biggest impact. Like of course, visiting places like Tyne Cot make a big difference too, but often the little things like a little poppy left on a grave or the shrapnel from a farmer ploughing up his field 100 years later. That stuff, the little moments, are what makes it really powerful for them.
What would you say to a teacher or student who’s not sure if the trip is worth it?
I would say it's definitely worth it because it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Especially going as a group at a younger age. Battlefields tours in particular, you're never going to realistically have that chance again. I think the uniqueness of doing it, when you're a teenager as well, you’ll know that so many of the soldiers who went over were not much older than you, depending on the age you're taking out there. That can feel very apt as a young person I think. It helps make it real and into something beyond just the illuminated rectangle that is your screen in your classroom. It helps them to understand how far some places are as well. I think when we talk about like how soldiers marched from this place to another, they're like, sure, and that’s it. But when they are there, it helps them see the real scale of things and realise that in many cases, it’s a really long distance away. Getting them in front of that is super important.
Is there anything else you wanted to say or add?
I would like to thank my school for like letting me have that opportunity because like I said, it didn't just have an impact on me, but also my family. It encouraged my parents to get in our car and drive the same distance down to the coast and drive around France and Belgium. I made our little itinerary and planned where we were going and that that would not have happened if I hadn't have gone on that trip with Anglia Tours. It was definitely a stepping stone toward me going on to study history at university and then progressing to become a history teacher myself!
