Harry Patch Day – 22 September 2017
We hold a Harry Patch Day on 22nd September each year. This year we decided that we needed to do something very special to mark the 100 years since Harry Patch was injured and his three best friends killed.
We have planted a “Peace Garden” at Clyst Vale. Mr and Mrs Manaton, Miss Matthews and Mrs Padden spent a lot of time over the summer holidays digging the ground and preparing the garden. We aim to remember the young men, on both sides of the line, who fought in that awful conflict. I contacted local nurseries. They have all been generous with discounts or even free bulbs. We now have almost 800 bulbs to plant.
The aim is to commemorate all of the nations. As the centrepiece of the garden we have 4 “peace” roses (for Harry and his 3 friends) We have rosemary for remembrance and forget me nots. For the Welsh regiments we have daffodils, for Scotland, ornamental thistles, for Canada a Maple tree and a variety of white tulip named “Calgary”. For India we have a stone elephant to place in the garden, for New Zealand a metal kiwi and for Australia a koala who is going to sit in a tree looking over the garden.
Jasmine Daniels has designed a stunning banner for the garden. The Design Technology department are also preparing a plague with information about Harry.
The picture of Harry was painted in 2017 by Jasmine Daniels. The poppy was painted by Anna Sharkey (now studying in France)
Jasmine Daniels designed the banner and Sam Giles (13HP) loaded the design onto the banner making website.
The post 16 students who planted the 700+ bulbs are Syed Alam, Luca Assante, Emer Cunningham, Freya Westney, Holly Daniels. They did all of the planting on Monday 18th September.
On 22nd September I hope that all students will be able to donate 50p. This will go to the RNLI at Exmouth. We will also have a draw and cake sales.
At 3.30pm on 22nd September we will officially open the garden. We will have representatives from the RNLI Exmouth and some local friends joining us to open the garden.
We hope this garden will be a lasting legacy to a wonderful man of peace.
Mrs H Padden
Head of History
Teacher of Politics
Clyst Vale Community College
Station Road | Broadclyst | Exeter | EX5 3AJ
Tel: 01392 461407 | fax: 01392 460594