Retired teacher David Dykes returned to Perth Academy to be presented with his MBE medal from the Queen.
Mr Dykes, 69, was made an MBE for his services to the school and Perth community in last year’s birthday honours.
After his retiral in 2015 he worked with pupils at the school on a special project to commemorate the 168 former pupils and staff killed in the First World War.
Current pupils and staff welcomed Mr Dykes for an investiture ceremony on Monday when he was presented with his award by the Queen’s local representative, Lord Lieutenant Stephen Leckie.
The former Royal Navy serviceman taught design and technology at the school for 27 years from 1988.
He then led the Flowers of the Forest group which researched the names on Perth Academy’s war memorial.
@PerthandKinross @PKCEducation It was a huge honour for us today to host the investiture ceremony of Mr David Dykes MBE, @PaMemorial awarded by Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Perth & Kinross, Stephen Leckie Esq for services to @perthacademy #flowersoftheforest #PAfamily pic.twitter.com/J1vfpO6CEm
— Perth Academy (@perthacademy) June 13, 2022
Mr Leckie said: “The Flowers of the Forest group has had a big impact on Perth Academy and beyond.
“It is important we never forget the sacrifices made by earlier generations and this project not only commemorates those former Perth Academy pupils who fell during World War One but has also created a valuable historical resource that has brought communities and generations together.”
Mabel – the only woman of the 168 named
The five-year project, which Mr Dykes led with history teacher Laura Hobson, resulted in a resource being deposited in Perth and Kinross Archive for generations to come.
Mr Dykes also wrote a book detailing the lives of the 168 former Perth Academy pupils and staff killed in the conflict between 1914 and 1919.
Among the stories highlighted was that of the one woman named on the memorial, Mabel Lee Milne, a Dundee-born nursing sister among the 1,500 Allied nurses who died.
The hospital she was working at near St Omer, in France, was bombed by German aircraft on September 30 1917, in one of the most barbaric attacks of the war.
Mabel was seriously injured and died the next day.
Conversation