Welwyn Garden City school pays tribute to World War One veteran

STAFF at a school in WGC have paid an emotional tribute to Britain's last surviving soldier of the World War One trenches, following his death. Monk's Walk School, in Knightsfield, joined the Queen and the Prime Minister in saluting Harry Patch, who

STAFF at a school in WGC have paid an emotional tribute to Britain's last surviving soldier of the World War One trenches, following his death.

Monk's Walk School, in Knightsfield, joined the Queen and the Prime Minister in saluting Harry Patch, who died on Saturday, aged 111.

The school had made links with Mr Patch in recent years, with staff visiting him at his care home in Somerset, and students sending him DVDs of their visits to Passchendaele, France, where Mr Patch fought in 1917.

This week, deputy headteacher Noel Kelly said: "We will miss him badly. It is important that we celebrate the whole of his life rather than just the few months he spent in the trenches of World War One."

For more tributes from the school, see this week's Welwyn & Hatfield Times, out Wednesday.