ROYAL Navy officer and Chaplain of the Fleet The Venerable Ian Wheatley, Chaplain of the Fleet, led a special reflection on Remembrance at The Royal School, Haslemere last Wednesday.

After joining the Royal Navy as a military chaplain in 1997, he was deployed to Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. He was appointed Deputy Chaplain of the Fleet in 2012 and the Principal Anglican Chaplain and Archdeacon for the Royal Navy, before becoming Chaplain of the Fleet in 2014.

Students from year nine through to the upper sixth attended his thought-provoking presentation about the Battle of Jutland in 1916, which changed the course of the First World War but saw the loss of 14 ships and more than 6,000 lives.

Mr Wheatley gave a moving account of the courage and selflessness of two servicemen – Jack Cornwell and Major Francis Harvey – who were awarded the Victoria Cross in that battle, before speaking of the importance of faith and the role of the chaplain in the Royal Navy of the 21st century.

School principal Anne Lynch said: “It was an excellent presentation that reminded our senior students of the importance of Remem- brance and of faith.”

The Royal School’s Remembrance Service on Remembrance Day focused on the Battle of the Somme, using newsreel clips and including readings of poems, letters and extracts from the Bible, to trace the main events of the conflict and bring to life the stories of servicemen caught up in that battle. At 11am, senior and junior schools observed a two-minute silence to reflect upon the sacrifice made by so many in conflicts down the ages.

The junior school’s assembly was divided into two parts. The first focused on the role of animals in war and the ways in which cats, pigeons, dogs and horses played their part.

In the second, pupils watched news footage and reflected on the importance of remembering the Fallen, before the head boy and girl laid a wreath outside the schoool’s main entrance