Well done to Alex Wu who played “The Last Post and Reveille” from the roof of the Chapel Tower. The Chapel Tower
was extended in 1919, and the memorial clock and bells were installed as a lasting war memorial to commemorate
those members of the Copthorne School community who lost their lives in the First World War. It has been chiming
continuously now for 101 years. In 1919, Ernest Skeete Workman, Headmaster, wrote this poem:-
School Memorial Clock
You schoolboys who my dial scan, with oft impatient glance,
Think me, no doubt, some senseless thing that strikes the hours by chance;
You little know that I reflect, and ponder on the ways
Of this small world beneath me placed, with censure and with praise.
But, still, I’m never partial; for the steady rapid flight
Of time – in school, in play, throughout the day, throughout the night
Is never changed, and by my means the longest term is gone;
I speed the flight of holidays, I hurry next term on.
I like to think that I recall the dead undying names
Of Copthorne’s sons, whose dauntless valour now my knell proclaims.
Schoolboys, awake, and mindful of their great example live
For home, for school, for country, ready of your best to give.
E.S.W (MDCDXIX )
The School Memorial Clock – 100 years on
I wonder what the clock thinks now 100 years to the date,
Of children whose lives were lost by a simple twist of fate;
Of all those who have passed since then, beneath your extended Tower,
Whose lives have been enriched by your chimes and spiritual power.
You challenged them to be their best – not just now but always,
To stand up strong, do right not wrong, for all their living days.
To remember today those from this school; lives lost fighting for a cause,
And for all those whose lives have changed in all the other wars.
Copthorne then and Copthorne now – 100 years apart,
Still wants you to be your best – to feel this in your heart;
To do what’s right; always be kind; treat others with respect;
This is the Copthorne way, and the least that we expect!
C.J.J. (MMXIX)