On Thursday 12th June, 166 boys travelled to Northern France on the annual French Josh models a soldiers outfit in the trenchesHistory trip. We visited sites linked to both the First and Second World Wars, and stayed with families in and around the town of Armentières on the Belgian border.

On Thursday, after crossing the channel by ferry, we visited a Second World War museum just outside Boulogne, and then either the V2 launching tunnels at Mimoyeques, or the massive V2 factory and launch site at Eperlecques.

Friday saw us head south and back in time 25 years or so to the Somme valley and several First World War sites related to the major battles of the 1st July 1916, including Lochnagar crater, the German cemetery at Fricourt, Beaumont Hamel, the Ulster Monument and the recently excavated trenches in the woods behind the cemetery, and the huge Thiepval monument.

Over the weekend boys were hosted by their French families.

On Monday we travelled north to the Belgian town of Ypres, where we attended a ceremony at the grave of Frederick Youens VC, an old boy of the RGS who lost his life just outside Ypres. We also visited Tyne Cott cemetery and museum - the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world, Langemarck German cemetery and the famous Menin Gate in the centre of Ypres. We finished off our visit with some free time in Ypres, and opportunities to stock up on some rather nice Belgian chocolates!

The following pictures show many of the places we visited.

Listening to the commentary at the Blockhaus d'Eperlecques

In front of the massive concrete Blockhaus d'Eperlecques

Where a Tall Boy bomb blasted through the structure 

Lochnagar Crater, La Boiselle, France

Walking around the impressively large crater created on 1st June 1916

Fricourt Cemetery

The German Cemetery at Fricourt

Doing the cemetery study at Pozières Cemetery 

Coach 2 boys in front of the Thiepval monument 

Marie-Elise acts as our guide around the Beaumont-Hamel Canadian site 

A view of the site from down in the preserved trenches 

Josh models the WW1 soldiers outfit, as Teddy guides us round the recently excavated trenches 

The ceremony around Frederick Youens grave in the Railway Dugouts cemetery, just outside Ypres 

The grave of RGS Old Boy Frederick Youens VC