PARLIAMENTARY FIELDTRIP

Posting by Bev Bishop, Marketing Co-ordinator

Everyone loves a good fieldtrip! The summer term kicked off with just such a fieldtrip for A level Politics students this week, as a coach of 38 students and 3 staff (myself included) journeyed to London to visit the Palace of Westminster and the Imperial War Museum.

A surprising good journey saw us arrive in London early. We braved the rain and walked down to Downing Street to catch a glimpse of the street that is home to the Prime Minister. A glimpse is all we did get, because security is tight at this famous address these days, with high gates and police officers guarding the entrance.

The main focus of the trip was another place where you will commonly see the Prime Minster; the Houses of Parliament. Again, security was tight. After going through airport-style security checks we each had our photo taken for a pass we had to wear round our necks for the duration of our visit.

We congregated in Westminster Hall, which is a big stone room, which dates back to 1099!! Monarchs traditionally lie in state in this massive hall when they die, prior to burial. This is an honour occasionally extended to Prime Ministers, as was the case with Winston Churchill. The Hall has also been used for centuries for coronation banquets and trials, including that of Guy Fawkes and King Charles I.

We were met by our guide Cliff in Westminster Hall and our official tour began. We went into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, recognisable from their frequent appearances of television. Our guide explained the rituals and traditions of both houses, including the role the monarchy plays in opening parliament; something that will happen shortly. The history and the architecture was also explained to us and we admired the many paintings, tapestries and statues that adorn this famous building.

The visit was fascinating and seeing it first hand helped bring Parliament to life for the students, for whom this forms part of their A level Politics and Government course.

After lunch, we walked across the river and south to the Imperial War Museum. This is one of London’s many fabulous museums, which offers fantastic exhibits entirely free of charge. We had two hours to take in as much of the museum as we could. Truthfully, two hours is not enough, but we saw what we could.

From a lobby full of tanks, guns and aeroplanes from past conflicts, the museum then expands to exhibits on the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Faulklands War, the Gulf War and the Troubles in Northern Ireland, plus much more. The World War One exhibit even includes a mock-up of a trench that you can walk through, complete with unpleasant but realistic smells piped in.

The highlight of the museum – if you can call it that – is definitely the Holocaust exhibit. This is an immensely hard-hitting and moving exhibit, telling the tale of the persecution of Jews and many other groups by Nazi Germany during World War Two. It includes a model of Auschwitz and many artefacts rescued from this concentration camp, including hundreds of shoes from people who were killed in the gas chambers. There are video screens dotted throughout the exhibit, showing actual footage from the time and survivors talking of their experiences. Many of the videos are very difficult to watch, but act as a fitting tribute to a terrible chapter in history that it is important we do not forget.

This particular exhibit was so fascinating to one student that he missed the scheduled time to meet and a search party had to be sent in to retrieve him! He returned to cheers from the students at the end of an absorbing day.