Memorial
The Scandal (a dramatisation):
Once upon a time, a small group of bright eyed students discovered a box of historic documents. Amongst the withered pages, they found a painting. This was no ordinary painting though, oh no. This was a painting detailing the original designs of the war memorial that sat in their schools hall. However, the painting and the plaque did not match. Seeing it as the only conclusion, the students believed that the memorial in the hall was a fake (dun dun dun). Understanding the crucial nature of the task before them, the students made a pact to uncover the truth of the memorial.
Much to their dismay, this proved to be a difficult task, and despite their efforts, no conclusions could be drawn. The myriad of lists could not agree on the number of men lost, confusing the students even more. Eventually, they found a letter. Sadly, not a magical letter, but a letter all the same. It disclosed the original plans for the memorial, such as size, material, company and date. Now the students had something to work with!
After days, weeks, even months of intense searching for some clue of an answer, a ground-breaking discovery was made: a small stamp on the bottom corner of the memorial matched the letters from the archive. The memorial was not a fake. The students were deeply disappointed, and spent several minutes in outrage, upset, distress, fury and heartbreak. Now the students wander the school in a state of melancholic rage at the mystery that tragically never was, searching for a new secret to uncover.
These watercolours show the different designs considered for the memorial. What made them choose the plain version that sits in the Old Hall, we will never know.
This letter tells the story of Eric Cutler, whose name was included on the list of Old Boys who died. As this letter shows, he was not, in fact, dead and had returned home safely after 6 and a half years at war. However, his brother Norman was killed at Dunkirk in 1940. This shows the difficulties in compiling an accurate list of casualties.
This letter was sent out to ex students. It shows that, along with the memorial, the school intended to set up an annual prize in memory of the fallen Old Boys to preserve their memory for future generations.