A MILITARY theme was prevalent at the Bury Grammar School for Boys annual prizegiving night.

Guest speaker for the evening was old boy and Honorary Colonel of the Combined Cadet Force, Brigadier Alasdair Wilson.

A commissioned Royal Engineer with the British Army since 1967, Brigadier Wilson is currently responsible for training senior NATO officers in peace support and counter terrorist operations.

Brigadier Wilson was welcomed to the ceremony in the Tenterden Street school hall by headteacher Mr Keith Richards, along with the school's prizewinners and their parents.

Mr Richards paid tribute to the achievements of his pupils in both the academic and sporting fields, citing a series of successes in football, athletics, swimming and basketball.

He also praised the individual achievements of some boys in the disciplines of rugby, squash, cross country and badminton.

Of the boys' academic accolades, Mr Richards was triumphant and proud.

He said: "Outcomes at GCSE surpassed expectations and those members of the new Sixth Form, who secured genuine success across the board have been made awards tonight.

"At A-Level, the pass rate was 99.4 per cent (with just one failure), and A and B grades, the grades required for entry to the most competitive courses at the best universities, accounted for 64.1 per cent."

Five pupils had gained four A grades while two went one better with five A grades.

The event's military theme continued into Mr Richards' speech as he touched on the school's extra-curricular activities. In particular, he recalled a visit made by two pupils to the battlefields of Gallipoli in Turkey.

The visit, arranged with the help of the Gallipoli Association, enabled Philip Douthwaite and Tom Filer to see the graves or places of commemoration of four former BGS pupils who died there in 1915.

One of the four old boys, Private Gilbert Buxton, is commemorated on the Helles Memorial to the Missing as his body was never found.

His niece, Mary Dowse, arranged for the two pupils to lay a card at the memorial in memory of her uncle, attached to a BGS wreath.

Another military trip involved 60 students travelling to Belgium for the Tenth Anniversary Battlefields Tour, where a special poppy wreath was laid on the grave of 1914 Bury Grammar School captain, John Hartington.

The group also delivered a plaque, donated by the Parents Association, at St George's Memorial Church in Ypres in memory of the 97 BGS boys who died in the Great War.

Members of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) were praised for their conduct on that trip by an ex-Grenadier Guardsman who took the trouble to email the school afterwards.

They also received words of praise from the Duke of Westminster at the biennial inspection of the CCF who commented on the "impressive enthusiasm, intelligence and good humour of the cadets."

Mr Richards closed his address by thanking the governors, staff, parents, Old Boys and Friends of the School, and headteacher of the Girls School Bobby Georghiou

Award winners

Oliver Entwistle prize for the captain of the school, W J Webster; Mary Forrester prize, M S A Ghobrial; Cecil Heap Memorial prize, D J Milnes; Maxwell Barlow CCF prize, M A Wood; Hodgkiss Library prize, R R Stirzaker; Warburton Cup for sport,: A T Hudson; Atherton Plate for rifle shooting, P Fitzsimon-Porter; Marcus Cup for drama, P Fitzsimon-Porter; Walton prize for classical studies, A M Routledge; Richard Byrom prize for mathematics, G Ip; Farraday prize for mathematics, L Rane; Henry Webb memorial prize for physics, L Rane; Farraday prizes for physics seventh form, J M Forsyth; fifth form;M B Trafford, fourth form; R J Chew.

Cecil Turrell Cronshaw prizes for chemistry seventh form, L Rane; fifth form, M B Trafford; ffourth form: R J Barker; H T Farrar prize for biology, L Rane; Seymour Prize for English, M J Taylor; Ryan Prize for English, S I MacDonald; Sir John Wrigley prize for history, W J Webster; Shazan Qureshi prize for GCSE history, M Lillis; Dr Young prizes for geography seventh form, S P Haughton; fifth form, J P Spellacy.

J L Norton prize for French, R R Stirzaker; Mitchell prize for German, N A Mellor; Samuel and Elizabeth Lord Prize for economics,: N A Miller; R P Calrow prize for politics, W J Webster; Milliken prize for business studies, O J Hazlehurst; Rector's prize for religious knowledge,D J Milnes; Peacock memorial prize for general studies, W J Webster; McDonald prize for computing, S P Haughton; Taylor poetry prize, J M Brookes; Old Clavians' reading prize, T S Wilks.

Farraday music prize, T W Keene; Rose-Stanley music prize, W J Webster; Farraday prizes for outdoor pursuits 3LF, A M Iqbal; 3UA, C Ellis; 3UC, A Y T Lau; 3UQ W C Leach; Jack Aspden prize for outdoor pursuits, J J S Rigby; H H Openshaw verse speaking prizes fifth form, N E Crossley; fourth form, J R I Okhiria; third form, J P J Findon; second form, H S Sahni; first form: M J Lancashire.

Carrigan Trophy for creative writing, A Dey; Christopher Ali fifth form prizes J.P P Kalupa, B M Reading; Terry McBride golf grophy, O W Harrison; Percy Howarth music prizes, Vocal (Junior) J Findon; vocal (broken voice), R J Butler; instrumental (senior - string instrument), R J Barker; senior - wind instrument),D J Livesey; junior - string insturument, N Swirad; junior - wind instrument,A O J Benn; senior - brass instrument, M T Harrison; junior - brass instrument,: J I Scholes; piano (senior), J M Greenwood; piano (junior) C C Parsons; percussion (junior), A M T Kirsh.

Strickland prizes for CDT: senior, P R Patel; second form, P R Phillips; first form, A J E Adler; Harold Riley art prize, B C M Ho; headmaster's prizes for art senior, T J Harrison; junior, D J Taylor; Julie France prize for GCSE aArm, N E Crossley; R B Wilson prize for medical training, A Kumar; Openshaw Scholarships, T W Keene, L Rane; Mellor Scholarships,P R Barker, G Ip, A Kumar; Kay Leaving exhibitions, R R Stirzaker, W J Webster.