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Queen Elizabeth’s School’s popular and long-established Combined Cadet Force is back in action, with boys competing against each other in a new programme specially adapted to keep them safe from the coronavirus.

The cadets will be battling it out for the rest of the term in a series of activities focused on refreshing their basic skills in field craft, weapon-handling and drill.

Contingent Commander Major Mev Armon, who is a Biology teacher, explained that the activities are being run on a two-week rotation, with older pupils alternating with younger boys, all split into their year-group bubbles. The first session, involving Year 11 and Year 13 boys, went well, he said. “They got wet, muddy and pushed themselves to achieve more than they thought possible.”

QE’s CCF, one of relatively few to be run in state schools, was established in 1992 and is sponsored by the Corps of Royal Engineers, with the Regular Army providing support in training and administration. Open to pupils in Years 9-13, it provides a training framework in which boys can develop a range of physical abilities, including endurance and co-ordination.

Mr Armon has devoted more than a quarter of a century of service to the contingent.

In response to Covid-19, the normal vertical structure of training with senior cadets instructing junior cadets has been replaced by adult-led training for the contingent’s Monday evening sessions, which are being run for the Autumn Term as a competition.

The first two weeks are focusing on Battle Field PT [physical training], including a ‘basic fitness test run’, ‘casualty drag’, ‘fire team fire-and-manoeuvre stand’ and a ‘jerry can carry stand’. This is being run by 2^nd Lieutenant Richard Scally (Head of Cricket & Head of Aquatics), assisted by Physics teacher Jonathan Leigh.

The next stage will be History teacher 2^nd Lieutenant Akhil Gohil’s military skills assessment, which will include target indication, shelter-building and field observation stands.

Other sessions will focus on ‘skills at arms’, and on drill and turnout.

The leader of QE’s Combined Cadet Force has been named the Best Adult Volunteer at the Tylers and Bricklayers 2020 Craft Awards.

The ancient livery company’s prestigious award recognises a quarter of a century of service to the CCF by Captain Mev Armon, who is a Biology teacher.

He received his award at a special luncheon at Carpenters’ Hall in Throgmorton Avenue, an event attended by the Master of the Company, Dr Michel Saminaden, and the Principal Guest, Lt Col Mark Stephenson, RE – Commanding Officer 1 RSME Regiment.

Capt. Armon has been a constant presence in the force since joining the School in 1994.

In his recommendation for the award, Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Mev has provided outstanding and inspiring leadership during his time at the School. Such an active and oversubscribed CCF remains rare in the state sector, but the energy and organisation that he has brought to his role has meant that it continues to go from strength to strength.”

The Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers received its first Royal Charter in 1568, although its roots go back to the 15th century. Its monopoly within the City was broken after the Great Fire of London in 1666, when a Royal Proclamation led to a requirement for tiles to be used in the place of thatch. This led to an influx of tilers and bricklayers into the capital.

Despite the diminution of its role in the tiling and building sector, it has continued to play a part in the life of London, pursuing an active charitable, educational and social programme. As part of its link with the Corps of Royal Engineers, the company each year makes awards to London’s Best Cadet and Best Adult Volunteer in the Royal Engineers Army Cadet Force.

“Under Mev’s tutelage and preparation, QE’s CCF has received very strong inspection reports and has been a frequent contributor to local civic events,” added Mr Enright. “His combination of high expectations, strong teaching skills, and personal warmth and charisma, have made him a role model to generations of cadets.”

In addition to his role at QE, Mr Armon has also led outreach work with other schools, for example, supporting The John Lyon School in Harrow with the development of its programmes.

“A number of QE boys have chosen to pursue careers in the military, but many more have simply enjoyed the unique opportunities for personal development that participation in the CCF has afforded.

“As Contingent Commander, Mev continues to be the driving force behind the success of our CCF and continues to be generous with his time a quarter of a century after joining us,” Mr Enright concluded.

All pupils in Years 7–10, staff and some senior boys joined together in the Shearly Hall for a special remembrance assembly to mark the centenary of the Armistice in 1918.

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, read aloud the names of the 48 Old Elizabethans killed during World War I, whilst the names of the 65 who died in World War II were projected on to a screen.

The ceremony featured music, poetry and a procession by the School’s Combined Cadet Force (CCF). The silence at 11 o’clock was heralded by six of QE’s senior trumpeters sounding the Last Post; they played Reveille to signal the end of the silence.

The two-minute silence was also observed separately by Years 11–13, although many were in fact involved in the assembly, whether as readers, musicians or members of the CCF.

At the end of the assembly, the CCF contingent marched with the commemorative wreath to the War Memorial located in the Crush Hall, where it was placed.

The Headmaster said afterwards: “This remembrance assembly was a fitting commemoration. It is important for the boys to understand fully the significance of this centenary and to reflect upon the service and sacrifice rendered by their forebears.”

In an address to the assembly, Old Elizabethan and Governor Ken Cooper (1942-50), a former officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, charted the course of the war, making clear the scale of the conflict and its great cost. He explained how the emergence of trench warfare on the Western Front led to combat that lasted for months and years yet resulted in minimal or no territorial gains for either side.

Prior to the introduction of conscription in 1916, some 2.5m Britons had volunteered to fight. Participants from many nations sacrificed themselves in the service of the greater good of their communities and home countries. And although there were, of course, many instances of heroism, Mr Cooper said World War I was less about such individual acts than about the huge numbers of ordinary people making the ultimate personal sacrifice in service. He spoke about the importance of remembering, quoting Churchill’s maxim: “A nation that forgets its past has no future,”, which he related to the boys’ understanding of the School’s own history.

The assembly, which took place on Friday, was organised and compèred by English teacher, Micah King, an Extra-curricular Enrichment Tutor. He began with these words: “Welcome to this assembly to commemorate Remembrance Day. In almost exactly 48 hours’ time, it will be the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month.

“At that time, 100 years ago, the First World War finally came to an end. It was an Armistice, a peace agreement, signed a few hours earlier in a railway carriage in France, that ended four long years of hostilities. Millions had died. Millions more were wounded. And even those who did not directly take part in the fighting, had to endure heartache and grief, as men and women from around the globe fought, and suffered, and died; and the world changed forever.

“Yet amidst the suffering, heroes on both sides of the battlefield risked their lives and safety for their countries. Incredible acts of courage, dedication and service were witnessed both on the battlefield and on the home front, and today, we will remember and honour those who sacrificed so much for so many.”

The assembly featured:

• A recording of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s reflective 1978 piece, Spiegel im Spiegel
• A poem written especially for the occasion by sixth-former Rivu Chowdhury
• School Captain Aashish Khimasia recounting the heroic actions on the battlefield in 1917 that led to Old Elizabethan Acting Captain Allastair McReady-Diarmid being posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross
• The Senior Wind Ensemble performing John William’s Hymn to the Fallen, conducted by Year 13 pupil Binu Perera
• Binu then reading perhaps the most famous single poem from the extensive World War I corpus, John McCrae’s In Flanders Field
• The Barbershop Group performing the hymn, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, during which a scene from the film, Atonement, was shown, which captured a moment on the Dunkirk beaches in 1940.

Before the retiring procession to the accompaniment of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Mr King said that if the boys would use their “gifts and talents as leaders to share the message of peace, then that would fill me with a deep sense of hope and optimism for the future”.

The assembly concluded with the School Prayer, which includes the following supplication: “Inspire us, O Lord, so to do our work today that, even as we are being helped by the remembrance of the loyal lives of those who came before us, so our faithfulness in thy service may aid those who shall take our places.”

Pupils and staff honoured those who lost their lives in conflict in remembrance events held both at the School and in the centre of Barnet.

With 11th November falling on a Saturday this year, the School held its 2017 remembrance event on the preceding Friday, while on Remembrance Sunday, 19 cadets from QE’s Combined Cadet Force turned out for the church parade, which started from the Barnet Army Reserve Centre.

The Headmaster said: “As a School, we continue to cleave to the importance of remembering Old Elizabethans and others in our local community who made the ultimate sacrifice. Such ceremonies are important not only because they honour the past, but also because they inculcate values of service in the pupils of today that will strengthen the School for the future –  a sentiment reflected in the petition of our School prayer that “even as we are being helped by the remembrance of the loyal lives of those who came before us, so our faithfulness in Thy service may aid those who shall take our places”.

At the end of a week in which poppies had been sold in School, the QE event began when a party of CCF cadets marched to the World War I memorial in the Crush Hall (the boys’ time-honoured name for the main entrance area). The short act of remembrance that took place there included the playing of the Last Post by Year 11 pupil Tristan Boldy and a two-minute silence at 11am.

The ceremony also included a reading about Old Elizabethan Allastair McReady-Diarmid, which featured the Account of the Deed – the summary of the events which led to him being awarded the Victoria Cross. On two consecutive days in late 1917, Acting Captain McReady-Diarmid led soldiers through a heavy barrage on the Western Front, engaging the enemy and regaining ground which had been lost. The Account states: “It was entirely due to his marvellous throwing of bombs that the ground was regained, but he was eventually killed by a bomb.” On next month’s 100th anniversary of his death, a memorial paving stone is being dedicated to his memory in New Southgate, where he was born. The School will be sending representatives, including members of the CCF, to the event.

For the Remembrance Day Parade, QE’s cadets gathered in the cold at the Army Reserve Centre, where they were led by the Contingent Commander, Major Mev Armon, who is a Biology teacher, together with Charlie Maud-Munro, a Schools Direct trainee teacher in the Technology department, who is also part of the CCF.

“We met at 9.30 and stepped off at 10.15, marching with two Army reserve units, Army veterans, the Army Cadet Force, the Air Cadet Corps and others, including the St John Ambulance and the scouts and guides,” said Major Armon. They marched to the accompaniment of the Corps of Drums of Mill Hill School.

“When we arrived at St John the Baptist Parish Church, our wreath was laid on the memorial by Cadet Sergeant Major Shyam Gadhvi, of Year 13. A service was held at the church and we all marched back to the Army Reserve Centre. Many parents were in attendance.”