Students on parade to honour Veterans and strike back against the yobs

Date published: 11/11/2005

More than fifty Pre-Services students from Hopwood Hall College paraded to receive a group of visiting war Veterans in honour of Armistice Day on Friday 11 November.

The students who are aged between 16 and 18 wanted to do the Guard of Honour for the Veterans in response to recent negative publicity surrounding vandalism and yobbish behaviour directed at veterans and war memorials in the local area. The students wore their uniforms and poppies as a mark of respect. 

Terry Morley, who leads the course, served in the Army in the First Battalion Kings Regiment and was injured whilst in active service in Northern Ireland in 1991, leaving him bound to a wheelchair. He will be leading the students in the parade. One minutes silence will be held by the students and the Veterans as they hold up a picture of 17 year old former College student Rifleman Luke Jamieson of the First Battalion Royal Green Jackets who was killed whilst on duty two years ago.  

Whilst visiting the campus on the way to an Armistice Day ceremony in Bury at 11am, the Veterans also met with a group of students, who as part of their HND New Media course will be creating a website for the Veteran’s Association.

Terry Morley, Section Leader for the Pre-Services Course said: “The students were keen to take part in a ceremony to show that they have the utmost respect for the men that gave their lives for their county in the great wars. They were appalled, as we all were to hear about what happened at the Collyhurst War Memorial, which is close to where some students live.”