Good morning. Today, as we head towards Armistice Day on Wednesday, the Headmaster talks about 2nd Lieut Alexander Douglas Gillespie, an old boy of Cargilfield and Winchester College. See our Facebook page for the video.
Alexander was Head Boy in 1903, and after leaving Winchester he joined up and headed out to the Western Front.
Whilst there, he wrote a series of letters to his old Headmaster at Winchester, and in his letters he talked about the hope that one day there would be a 'Via Sacra', a sacred way, allowing people to walk along the Western Front and enjoy the wonderful beauty where the Great War was taking place. Just over 100 years later, Gillespie's dream has become a reality with over 100km of beautiful paths created from the French Alps to the Belgian coast.
BBC Countryfile's Tom Heap, Gillespie's great nephew, is one of the trustees of the charity which has worked so hard to create the 'Western Front Way', and he came to open our Astroturf in February 2019 which is named after Alexander and his brother Tom, who also died in WW1 having won a Silver Medal at the Stockholm Olympics in the Men's Rowing Eight.
We shall remember both of them and also the 188 other old boys who appear on our War Memorial in Chapel, on Wednesday.
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Welcome to Cargilfield! We hope this short film gives you a glimpse of what life is like for the girls and boys at our school. We would love to welcome you in person to tour Cargilfield and explain more fully exactly what makes a Cargilfield education so special and so different. Please get in touch with Fiona Craig, our Registrar if you would like to find out more; her email address is [email protected] or you can telephone her on 0131 336 2207.