More than 160 pupils from the district have made a poignant trip to the battlefields and graveyards of the First World War.

The Year 9 pupils from Ilkley Grammar School, aged 13 and 14, made the trip to Belgium and France as part of their studies on the Great War.

They had tours of the trenches that divided the two sides during the 1914-1918 conflict before sobering visits to the graves of tens of thousands of English, French, Canadian and German soldiers.

History teacher Jeff Pancott, who led the trip with 16 other members of staff, said it brought home the horrors and tragedy of war to pupils.

He said some of the youngsters recognised family names on graves.

“We visited Ypres and Passchendale and also the Somme,” he said. “We chose these areas because there are a lot of the Yorkshire Regiments and a lot of the children will recognise the family names.

“We went to Diksmuide, in the north of Belgium, which has what is called the Death Trench. It’s one of the longest type of trenches.”

“Then we went to Langemark cemetery, which is a German cemetery with over 40,000 bodies in it.

“But because it’s on Belgian soil, the Belgian people wouldn’t let them bury one to a grave so there are a lot of mass graves in there.

“We went to Vancouver corner, where the Canadians and the French came under the very first gas attack.

Other locations visited by the group included the small Essex Farm cemetery, the Belgian town of Poperinge, the Somme and Vimy Ridge.

Mr Pancott said the trip had a profound effect on some of the pupils and the experience of war hit home.

“It most certainly is an eye-opener,” he said. “When we come to the names and see the amount of graves there are.

“It was by the time we got on to the Somme, when we come to the reality of it, that starts to bring it home.”

Mr Pancott thanked the staff and bus drivers for their efforts.