Remembering Stephen
St Edward’s School Remembrance Assembly 2022 (Click Image to Play)
The children of St Edward’s School in Poole held a special assembly to remember and reflect on the contribution and sacrifices made by service men and women. They also paid special tribute to Stephen Ford who was a pupil at their school growing up around Constitution Hill. The words spoken to accompany the presentation above are here:
At this time of year, we often reflect on the contribution and sacrifices made by service men and women. Poppies are sold to raise money for veterans and their families, and there is a televised parade through central London on the nearest Sunday to the 11th November. More locally, on this Friday, the 11th, the school will pause at 11am, for a moment of silent reflection, as the country has done every year since 1919, exactly one year after the end of the First World War.
2022 though marks forty years since the Falklands War. It therefore seems appropriate to spend time this year, in this remembrance assembly, to reflect on the act of remembrance through the lens of this specific conflict.
To the students in this room, forty years ago may seem distant, however there are members of our school community today who can remember this far back. Today though, we will be thinking about a member of our school community who is no longer with us, who died for his friends as today’s scripture reading said: Stephen Ford.
The Falklands War began with the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina. At the time, as today, the Falkland Islands were a British overseas territory, and despite being twelve thousand kilometres from here, the islanders very much felt themselves British. The decision was therefore made by the government to send a fleet to the South Atlantic to liberate the people of the islands.
Stephen, who grew up on Constitution Hill, made special effort to learn to swim, especially to pass the Royal Navy entrance tests. Aged eighteen he was sent to the South Atlantic on HMS Ardent, as part of the British naval taskforce. Given the opportunity to disembark, he instead chose to stay with his crewmates, ‘shoulder to shoulder’.
On the 22nd May 1982, Argentine aircraft attacked and sunk HMS Ardent, resulting in the deaths of 22 sailors on board. Stephen Ford was one of them, and one of the 255 British service personnel killed in the war.
Stephen though was in many ways like you. He attended St Edward’s School like you, leaving in 1979. He knew the same streets as you. He wore the same badge that you wear. He played football on the field with his friends like you. He walked the same corridors that you walk. Many of the sights, sounds and experiences which make St Edward’s School unique, were as familiar to him as they are to you.
He is not forgotten in the town. There is a memorial to him in the viewpoint park overlooking Poole Harbour, on the site where he had played as a young child. On the 30th anniversary of his death, Stephen’s father knelt at his son’s memorial to place a wreath of red poppies in the shape of an anchor. Nor is he forgotten in the school either. His father wanted a lasting legacy to remember his son and gave St Edward’s School the Stephen Ford Memorial Trophy, in honour of his son, who persevered to learn to swim in order to reach his aim of joining the Royal Navy. Each year it is given to a student who has overcome difficulties and demonstrated resilience.
He then represents a member of the St Edward’s School community, our community, across and through time. All here gathered today are members of that community and if during the moment of silence at 11am on Friday you are struggling to reflect on the enormity of remembering the contribution and sacrifices that service men and women have made in the last century, I would invite you to think of one of our own, Stephen Ford.
