A SCHOOL which saw dozens of its old boys march off to war never to return is backing a campaign to honour their sacrifice with a battlefield memorial.

Hundreds of pupils, staff and old boys from Barnard Castle School volunteered to fight in the First World War and 150 paid with their lives.

Many of them signed up with the 18th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, better known as the Durham Pals, who were slaughtered on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Now, as the 100th anniversary of their sacrifices approaches, the school is throwing its weight behind the Durham Remembers campaign raise £20,016 to pay for a lasting memorial to the Pals where they fell.

Headmaster Alan Stevens said: "Each November our current boys and girls recognise the sacrifice of the 145 boys and five staff who were killed in the Great War.

“Each of their names is read out during a service in the school chapel and a cross is planted at the front of school remembering each one.

"Every day in chapel our boys and girls are surrounded by the names of the fallen.

“The chapel was built just two years before the First World War started and initially had very little in the way of furniture.

“They are the result of tragedy, but the chapel's most prominent features - the panelling, pews and the great east window - are all memorials to the boys and old boys who were lost.

"Our current boys and girls visit the site of the battlefields regularly to learn and to pay their own respects.

“As generations pass, though, a permanent memorial where these brave young men fell will be an important reminder of their spirit and their sacrifice."

Three Barnard Castle School boys who died while serving with the Durham Pals are remembered in the school’s chapel: Edward Wilson, 23, Ellis Thompson, 20 and Francis Lockey, 34, who died 100 years ago this month.

School parent Pat Burgess, of Richmond, North Yorkshire, has painstakingly researched all the soldiers associated with Barnard Castle School who died in the war. Of the 740 who volunteered, 150 were killed.

Mr Stevens added: "The level of sacrifice was immense. Fatalities among the school community during the war, at more than one in five, were extraordinarily high.

“The average age of those who died from the school was just 20”.