SCHOOLBOYS have just returned from Belgium after paying their respects to the fallen.

A group from Bury Grammar School visited the graves and other places of commemoration of Bury soldiers who died during the Battle of Passchendaele.

The theme of the 24th annual Battlefields Tour was the fighting which raged around Ypres during the latter half of 1917.

As in previous years, the tour focused on the stories of Bury Grammar Old Boys and relatives of people on the tour who were caught up in the war.

Pupils visited the graves of 1914 school captain John Hartington MC, of Heywood, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Boardman DSO, and 19-year-old fighter pilot Jack Binns.

They also visited reconstructed German trenches at Bayernwald and Pond Farm.

A World War One enthusiast and young farmer showed the group weapons and relics he has recovered from Pond Farm, including a full-size working replica of the British tank which was abandoned in the area on July 31, 1917.

At the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, school captain Joe Edgar, vice captain Ali Chalabi and senior cadet Harry Sumner laid a wreath, commemorating Old Boys who fell during the nightly Last Post Ceremony.

Joe said: "The occasion was sombre, yet true beauty and the best of humanity were encapsulated within its very essence as vast crowds of people lined the Menin Gate to pay their respects to the fallen.

"The personal connections of many visitors particularly struck me; it served as a reminder that behind every name engraved on the walls of the Menin Gate, and on every tombstone we visited, lies the story of a person's life and all they may have become were it not for the tragedies of war."

On the final day of their tour, the group visited Tyne Cot - the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the world - where eight Old Boys are buried or commemorated.

Pupil James Bishop played the Last Post in their honour, their names were read out and a silence was observed.

The final stop was Passchendaele village, where the group placed a ceramic poppy, specially made for the tour by the school's head of art.

Next year's school tour will commemorate the last battles of 1918.