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27 POeTrY and sTOries Connor McGrath in august 1914 H.g. wells wrote a little-read piece in a London newspaper commenting upon the declaration of war signed only a month or so beforehand. From this wells began work on one of his first contemporary pieces and entitled the work The war to end war. in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference woodrow wilson the Us President paraphrased wells to the world press. The phrase although according to wells it did get into common circulation for the duration of the war would be lodged into the history books as the bywords of the great war. walking through the corridors of the school gazing into classrooms and looking with raw admiration at the academic Honours displayed in Big school Hall i find it ever more moving that my time here is drawing to a close. The history of the school shown in all of its grandeur and splendour in the stained glass windows and dark oak panels that cover the victorian walls of the Hall is nowhere more sombre than the two brass plaques that hang either side of the famed window from where our house names originate. These are records of the sacrifice of the 152 Handsworthian Old Boys from both world wars names that will forever be remembered within the walls of the school and beyond. as you will know 2014 marked the centenary of the outbreak of the great war a war that would undoubtedly change the future of warfare irreversibly and also one that took its toll on the Old Boys of the school. 85 Handsworth Old Boys who walked these corridors just like myself would fall in the great war of 1914 to 1918. i feel as i write only months away from becoming an official Handsworth Old Boy i feel ever closer to these names no men these men although barely out of boyhood who gave their all for freedom and civilisation. Looking through the roll call of the lost i notice in their forces records their addresses and recognise the names of roads that i walk past day in day out. To think of the history of these houses and roads but more of the pupils and later soldiers seamen and airmen that spent their days at the school brings a lump to the throat. These boys would have walked around these corridors sat in this school hall and studied in these very classrooms over 100 years ago today. The history of the school is steeped in tradition that lives on into the 21st century there is not a moment when i do not walk into my Politics classroom and spare a thought for the Boys who read Latin in the same four walls. and perhaps once every so often but especially at times like this how many of them went on to serve suffer and sacrifice on battlefields from the somme to Passchendaele and gallipoli to the atlantic. There is no way to escape the history of the walls of the school i often wish that the bricks could speak The stories they could tell would bring laughter nostalgia and almost certainly a few tears to the eye. H.g. wells was wrong though. wilson and all those who dared to dream that the phrase was true would see war the most natural human state remain as a part of their lives until the end. sadly through the last 100 years only one thing has been proved right. The more things change the more they stay the same. these men although barely out of boyhood who gave their all for freedom and civilisation. Looking forces records their addresses and recognise the names of roads that i walk past day in day out. To think of the history of these houses and roads but more of the pupils and later soldiers seamen and airmen that spent their days at the school brings a these very classrooms over 100 years ago today. Passchendaele and gallipoli to the atlantic. There is no way to escape the history of the walls of the 100 years of the Great War. 27