Cast In Stone

Friday 6 June 2025 saw the unveiling of the new school memorial to all those OPMs who have laid down their lives for service to their country over the last 125 years. The list of names appear embossed on large bronze plate which itself is set within an impressive granite stone that measures well over two metres.

The event was organised by an OPM former serviceman, Jason Cox (87), and as you would expect from a military man it went like clockwork. Even the weather held up, the summer rain not arriving until hours after the event had concluded. Peter Watts set the tone with an extremely measured and well composed speech ultimately referring to the memorial as beautiful, dreadful and awful. Beautiful because the finished article is indeed a thing of beauty and more worthy of those who made the ultimate sacrifice than the existing indoor tablets of wood and metal.

Dreadful because it is with more than a degree of dread that we face the future in this country, an observation reinforced by MP Luke Pollard, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Defence who later unveiled the memorial. And awful as it will doubtless fill all those who view it with a sense of awe, as they reflect on the great number of names that grace the metalwork and the sacrifices that those named men and boys made. The Head’s speech was followed by two female members of the School Cadet Force, Corporals Dixie Turner-Moore and Leonie R reciting In Flanders Fields, the poem by the ill-fated Canadian poet of the Great War, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. Leonie, a German student at the school, adding poignancy to the occasion by repeating the lines in German.

This in turn was followed by an address from the Bishop of Plymouth, James Grier, himself an OPM (92). His presentation was both moving and heartfelt, tinged as you would expect with sadness at the fact that war between nations is even a reality we all have to deal with.

After the school choir, conducted by Jess Eglinton, gave a rousing rendition of Eternal Father aka the Navy Hymn, it was time for the MP Luke Pollard to divest the memorial of it’s school colours covering.

His improvised speech, without being overly frightening, acknowledged the fact that these are troubling times and that Plymouth as an historically significant base for the armed forces faces greater challenges than most ‒ a fact that is reflected in the list of names that take us from the Boer War through the two World Wars to, most recently, the fighting in Iraq. It was in the Kuwaiti Desert that the last man named on the memorial, Major Jason Ward, lost his life. Jason was just 34 years-old in March 2003, when the Sea Knight helicopter in which he and 11 other British and American servicemen were travelling into Iraq crashed.

Echoing the sentiments of the Bishop, the MP encouraged us to think not only of the names on the plaque but also of those whose lives were irreparably damaged by the various conflicts and the lives of their friends and families.

Major Ward’s mother, Jacqueline, and his brother, also an OPM, were guests of honour, as were Rebecca Smith, local MP for the South Hams, Brigadier Mike Tanner, Royal Marines, Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Cathy Watkin, Adrian Vinken, Deputy Lord Lieutenant, and Caroline Anne Harlow, High Sheriff.

All branches of the Armed Forces were represented and a number of serving OPMs as well as a good few retired OPM servicemen were in attendance ‒ among them Eric Sambell OBE and Colin May.

Current OPM President, Chris Robinson, and his immediate predecessor, Bob Foulkes were also present, representing the OPM Club who had generously agreed to underwrite the cost of the memorial.

In his closing speech, fellow Royal Marine and OPM Jason Cox, who was the same year as Major Ward, paid his respects to his friend and thanked the OPM Club for their munificence.

A reception was held in the now small garden in what had been the Headmaster’s House and is currently the main admin block. Much of the garden have been given over to play areas for the Preparatory School that moved up to Ford Park a few years ago.

Among the many other OPMs present were a group of Jason Ward’s contemporaries and good friends. Since Jason’s early and unfortunate demise, the gang have endeavoured to meet annually in March, on the anniversary of his death. Over the years they have congregated in a variety of venues, including America, Dubai, Scotland, London and Plymouth, indeed they once hired Colson House at Ford Park for one of their ‘Wardy Reunions.’

As well as the merry band pictured below are Andy Plackett, Matt Aire, Simon Lucas and retired Brigadier, Al Lister.