Students and staff from Skipton’s Aireville School have just returned from a visit to the First World War battlefields of France and Belgium.

The 40-strong group visited Ypres Salient and The Somme as well as Skipton’s twin town, Erquinghem-Sur-Lys.

A school spokesman said the visit to Erquinghem had been particularly special.

“It was doubly poignant for staff and students as it was there that Tunstill’s Men, of the 10th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) first saw action in 1915.”

At last month’s Grassington Festival, the school put on a production based around the experiences of Tunstill’s men, which was devised by the school’s history teacher, Dr Bill Smith, and involved staff and students from both the school and other schools.

“Aireville’s Promenade production of Tunstill’s Men at last month’s Grassington Festival was a massive success,” the spokesman added.

A wreath was laid at Erqunighem Cemetery where three Duke of Wellington’s soldiers are buried and the Skipton group also attended a civic reception at the town hall where Aireville teacher Dominic Fitzgerald acted as interpreter.

Gifts were also exchanged with the town’s Mayor, Monsieur Alain Bezirard.