Act One: Raleigh

Raleigh is clearly very young and inexperienced. He is helped to settle in and understand how to get by in the trenches by Osbourne who gives Raleigh advice. 
Examples of where Osbourne helps him is as followed:

"You only call me 'sir' in front of the men"
This shows Raleigh's ignorance of what to call men and it seems that Osborne is being friendly to help settle him in.

"Can we write often?"
"Oh yes, letters are collected everyday"
Here Osbourne informs Raleigh about letters after he talks about how his sister and Stanhope were together.

When Raleigh gets up to get his blanket (ill-informed of the rule of undressing on the front line) after Osbourne says "Have you got a blanket?" he replies and says "Yes, in my pack.[he rises up to get it]" but Osborne corrects him "Better wait and unpack when you know where you are sleeping".

When Raleigh is unsure of what to call Stanhope "RALEIGH: I say, I suppose I ought to call him Captain Stanhope?" Osbourne quickly corrects him "Just 'Stanhope"

Harry Patch

"We've had 87 years to think what war is. To me, it's a licence to go out and murder...... All those lives lost for a war finished over a table. Now what is the sense in that?"

"...if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn liar."

"I had about five seconds to make the decision. I brought him down, but I didn't kill him."
This is when he talks about when he comes face to face with a german and can't bring himself to kill him. 

"Too many died. War isn't worth one life"

A letter home

Dearest Family,

I have arrived in my company and am starting to settle in. The trenches are very different to home. The way into the front line is quite a journey; you start in a sort of ruined village, a few steps down into the cellar of a house, then right under the house and through a little garden and then under the garden wall and alongside an enormous ruined factory place then down ahead all along the front as far as you can see. It is quite a journey but I can see that it has to be to stay well hidden. But I have finally arrived and am starting to get used to the conditions here, for example the water has a sort of disinfectant in it, it can be rather strong.

The bottom of the trenches are also rather wet, your socks get soaked trying to keep your feet dry! I know you are imagining it to be non-stop fighting but its very quite really. Mostly it is just quiet and then it all just happens real quick, Rifles shooting, bombs going off everywhere. Don’t worry though I am fine, I am to stay here for six days before I go back to the small village to rest. I have to sleep in a small dugout with two other officers, its not too bad but the beds do not have bottoms to them, you keep yourself in by hanging your arms and legs over the sides. There are thousands of rats too, they gnaw at your boots, especially when your sleeping and you hang your legs too low.

It’s not so bad though, I will have to keep going. I miss all of you dearly, I really wish I could come home and see you again but I have to stay here and do my bit. I will write often, let you know what I’m up to. The other officers have helped me settle in an awful lot. The food here is defiantly not the same as home. We have to have tasteless soup and apricots for tea. It’s not much but at least its something. Don’t worry I will be fine, just have to tough it out.

See you soon 

John

War quotes

‘Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.’
Albert Einstein

'War means blind obedience, unthinking stupidity,brutish callousness,wanton destruction, and irresponsible murder'
Alexander Berkman

'Hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity'
Dwight D.Eisenhower

What purpose does Hardy serve in the play?

Hardy appears at the start of Act 1 and serves to give information to the audience about the conditions in the trenches that the soldiers would have to endure. It is essential that the audience understand the conditions, not only so that they can follow the play but so that they can see how ill-informed Raleigh is of the conditions. The information he gives is as follows:

Drinking Water "Don't have too much water, it's rather strong today"
Wet Trenches "Guaranteed to keep the feet dry.Trouble is,it gets so wet doing it"

Fighting "Sometimes nothing happens for hours on end; then - all of a sudden - 'over she comes!' - rifle grenades - Minnies - and those horrid little things like Pinapples - you know"

German attack "By the way, you know the big German attack's expected any day now"

Length of stay "Are you here for six days?"

Size of front controlled "We hold about two hundred yards of front line."

Sleeping arrangements "The servants and signallers sleep in there. Two officers in here, and three in there"

Number of rats "I should say - roughly - about two million; but then, of course, I don't see them all. 

Lack of officers " That is, if you've got five officers"

Lack of supplies "Twenty-five right leg and nine left leg" 

My reflections on the remembrance readings and remembrance at Wellington

I think that both the remembrance readings and remembrance at wellington is one of the most important events of the year. It is the time when all Wellington students are respectful. The readings are heartfelt with each house sat behind the board with the names of the fallen in their house and pay their respects by silently listening to the readings and music dedicated to those who died for our country. A candle is placed underneath the boards of the houses and blown out by the last person when each house leaves. This is a time to think about the men who fought and died and pay their respects to them. The remembrance service has each house line up in single file behind their house flag, everyone has a poppy and when the service is over, lays it respectfully on the ground. The last post marks the start of the two minutes silence of thinking about the 707 men who were at Wellington, and all other men who died for our country. Its a time to appreciate these men and what they have done and I think every member of Wellington, pupil or staff, uses this time to do so.