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Unveiling of the Book of Remembrance

The following extracts from The Crosbeian Review of December 1952 set the background to the Book of Remembrance which has now been installed on the Web Site, one page of which will in future be turned daily (click here to view today's page).

THE WAR MEMORIAL - THE UNVEILING OF THE BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE

Perhaps the most impressive Ceremony ever to take place in Crosby was held at the School on Sunday, May 25th, 1952, when nearly 2,000 people and boys gathered in the School Grounds to see the Book of Remembrance unveiled in honour of those Old Boys who died for their Country in the last War.

The Service was conducted by Canon E. W. Grensted, D.D., M.A. After the opening hymn ("For all the Saints who from their Labours rest")-and prayers-there was a short address by the Headmaster.

He spoke of how this Ceremony was to mark the completion of the first stage of the Memorial, which will also one day take the form of a new Gymnasium for the School. He spoke of how the project was initiated in 1946 and how fitting it was that it should have been conceived and carried out by Old Boys of the School who had played on the same fields as those who had fallen. It was felt, said Mr. York, that a Gymnasium would be a fitting memorial to the fallen, to be used as it would be by many hundreds of boys who passed through the School.

Mr. Pape, the President of the Old Boys' Association, unveiled the Book which was then dedicated by Canon Grensted. The Roll of Honour was recited by R.D.L. Williams. After the Buglers from the 5th Battalion The King's Liverpool Regiment had sounded the "Last Post" and "Reveille" the book was given by the President into the safe-keeping of the Governors and of the School.

After H. Preston Reynolds had spoken on behalf of the Association, the Book was handed to the Head Boy and taken by him and a Guard of Honour from the School's Combined Cadet Force to its final resting-place.

The Hymn "O Valiant Hearts who to your glory came'' was followed by Prayers and the Benediction and the National Anthem.

After the Ceremony the Book was inspected by the relatives of the boys who died. The Book is now in its resting-place by the Main Entrance to the School in a special case designed by the School Architect, Mr. John Nelson, B.Arch., A.R.I.B.A, It is in itself a beautiful work of art and the Association are grateful to the artist who inscribed the Book, Miss Grace Best, A.R.C.A.

The Ceremony was enhanced by the singing of the School, and the drill and precision of the Guard of Honour from the Cadet Corps, while the recital from memory of the names on the Roll of Honour by Ronald Williams was felt by everyone present to be a tribute to those boys whose names they were.

W.A.Gale.

The following quotation is taken from the farewell message by Mr John Pape to Old Crosbeians shortly before he handed over the Presidency of the Association:

"The most important day during my year of President was undoubtedly May 25th when the Book of Remembrance containing the names of the Old Crosbeians who gave their lives in the last War, was dedicated by an Old Crosbeian, Canon L. W. Grensted, M.A., D.D. To have had the honour of unveiling the Book of Remembrance will long be my most treasured thought as of those whose names are on the Roll of Honour - I knew personally all but two. The precision and the dignity with which everything was carried out during the Ceremony created a marked impression on the vast assembly.

The Book of Remembrance now rests in an alcove just within the Main Entrance to the Hall. A fresh page is turned and seen each day when the School is open."

Yours sincerely, JNO. PAPE."

An extract from a Message from the Headmaster Mr T.J.P. York

"I am grateful to the Editor for allowing me space in the Old Boys' section of the REVIEW in which to recall my ten happy years at the school, which began in such different circumstances from the present. With many of those whom I now know best among Old Boys I made my first contact in the series of News-Letters to service-men. I was greatly encouraged by the response which those letters evoked, and by the sustained interest in the school shown by so many who had passed through it before I came. Many Old Boys' functions of a school, set in the area where the majority work and where they meet each other constantly, are necessarily not on the scale of those where meetings of Old Boys provide the only opportunity of renewing friendships forged many years before. But when the great occasion comes, as it did at the Dedication of the Book of Remembrance this year, the strength of the ties which draw Old Boys to each other and to the School are plain for all to see, and a source of inspiration for those who work in it now. T.J.P.Y."