Nescot (North East Surrey College of Technology) in partnership with the Epsom and Ewell branch of the Royal British Legion held a solemn Act of Remembrance for students and staff at the college this week, on Thursday 06 November.
Julie Kapsalis, Principal and CEO at Nescot in her opening speech said, “Welcome and thank you for coming together to share this moment of reflection as we affirm our continued commitment to honouring our service personnel. Remembrance Day remains a solemn occasion to honour the courage and sacrifice of those who have given their lives in service to their country. Let us honour the memory of the fallen by renewing our commitment to the values they upheld.”
Invited guest, Barbara Warwick, Chair of the Epsom & Ewell Branch of the Royal British Legion in her speech, spoke about the importance of remembering and of taking the time to look through the Epsom and Ewell Book of Remembrance in the Town Hall that contains the names of everyone in the borough who gave their lives.
Nescot’s Remembrance commemoration featured readings from the moving poem, ‘For the Fallen’, by students representing the college’s Public Services Level 3 cohort. They took it in turns to read out each verse of the poem with the last verse read out by all the students taking part.
The commemoration also included a thought-provoking display of Remembrance by students on our Foundation Learning programme. Our Entry Level 2 and 3 Customer Service and Supported Living students, wrote and signed their own poem, ‘Remembrance and a Hope for Peace’, and the phrase ‘We shall Remember them’ in British Sign Language along with tutor, Clarrie Rodgers. Each student then took it in turns to place hats representing various service personnel on a large poppy wreath to pay homage to all who served. The display ended with a cascade of poppies from the Skills Park balcony by the students. Entry Level 3 Computing Pathway students’ creation of silhouettes of soldiers that featured letters decorated in poppies that spelt out the words, ‘We will Remember’ hung from the balcony in Skills Park. Poppy wreaths were also laid by the moving display of hats by Principal and CEO, Julie Kapsalis and Deputy Principal, Andy Cowan.
The poignant bugle melody, the Last Post was played by invited guest and bugler Dennis Sexton, following which everyone in attendance observed a two-minute silence which ended with the sounding of the Reveille on the bugle.
Closing the event, Julie concluded, “As we come together to the close of this event, let us carry forth the spirit of remembrance through kindness, unity and commitment to peace. Thank you to our honoured guests from the Epsom and Ewell Royal British Legion, to our veterans and to everybody who took part in today’s commemoration at Nescot. Thanks also to our Public Services and Foundation Learning students and teams for their incredible efforts to mark this really important occasion.”
Along with the college’s students and staff, the event was also attended by representatives from the Epsom & Ewell branch of the Royal British Legion, Chair, Barbara Warwick, Dennis and Anne Sexton.
This year’s Remembrance commemoration at Nescot also featured a display of historical items donated by staff from the World Wars and other conflicts which are on display in the college’s Igloo room of the Immersive suite. The poignant display brought to life the significance of a moment in history for students and staff to browse, reflect and pause to remember. The week-long display organised by our Foundation Learning team included:
- A Spitfire MJ627 copper pipe sculpture built by our Plumbing apprentices for the 80th anniversary of the historic D-Day landings.
- Replica RAF jackets – WWII RAF Sergeant jacket which featured in a 2025 short film, ‘A Memory Owed’ – an emotive film about loss and remembrance centered around the RAF Bomber command, and a 1970s Corporal RAF jacket.
- Collection of vintage hats from WWI & II that were worn by Royal Navy officers, RAF pilots, Artillery officers, Red Cross volunteers, field and home Brodie and Turtle helmets as well as 1940s civilian hats.
- War medals and precious letters including a letter dating from 1917 from the Unit Sergeant addressed to a staff member’s great grandmother to convey the passing of her great grandfather on the battlefield in France.
- A letter from King George addressed to children to thank them for their bravery during the evacuation of WWII.
- A 1940s cookbook.
- A Morse code box and even a field phone.
Foundation Learning students created beautiful poppies for the display and researched information for the captions and signs. They also created presentations and created QR codes linked to interesting videos to provide more information. Entry Level 3 student, Finnley who along with some staff members wore lanyards of family members that served, said that he was incredibly proud of his great grandfather’s service as a Navy officer on board the Pembroke in WWII.
Nescot’s Public Services and Business and Enterprise Studies students also fundraised for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal by selling poppies around campus. Frederick shared, “We are giving up our time to fundraise for the charity to support those who gave up theirs to protect us.”
For information on Remembrance please see visit the Royal British Legion website here.
