EU SHOULD INFENSIFY EFFORTS TO RELEASE THE OCCUPIED LANDS OF AZERBAIJAN FROM ARMENIAN OCCOPATION

This is Nottingham
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April 8 2009
UK

Hucknall pupils link up with Armenian school

A LINK between a Hucknall school and one in Armenia is being
resurrected after 20 years, thanks to its pupils.

Youngsters at Holgate School and Lord Byron School in Gyumri will
be able to regularly contact each other and possibly go on exchange
visits.

The link was first established 20 years ago after an earthquake
in Armenia.

The UK Government helped to rebuild the school and wanted to link it
with Holgate because of Hucknall’s links with Lord Byron.

But changes in staff and students led to the friendship being largely
forgotten.

Now, the school council at Holgate has called for it to be resurrected.

They began by inviting the Armenian Ambassador to the UK, Dr Vahe
Gabrielyan, and his British counterpart to the school.

Council chair Octavia Wisbey, 16, said: "We have a statue commemorating
the link and we wanted to make it stronger again.

"We can all benefit from this. We can make friends with people in
Armenia and learn a lot about their culture from that."

Frere West, 15, said: "I’m looking forward to getting in touch with
pupils at the school out there.

"They have different lifestyles and it will be interesting to learn
about it."

Aston Boyd, 14, added: "It will be good to get the chance to go out
there and experience what life is like in Armenia."

Emma Crump, 16, said: "It will be interesting to see how it works. We
will get to see what life is like in another country."

Dr Gabrielyan said he was hoping to arrange exchange visits between
the schools.

He said: "It is great to come to Hucknall and see the school here.

"It is a credit to the pupils to be able to get the link started
again. It was a shame that it stopped.

"It will be the pupils who will benefit. Twenty years ago they didn’t
have the technology to easily communicate with each other, but now
they have things like the internet.

"It is early days, but we can hopefully look at arranging exchange
visits in the future as well."

UK Ambassador to Armenia Charles Lonsdale was also happy about the
link up.

"It is a terrific idea," he said. "Armenia has a different culture
to Britain and both sets of pupils will be able to learn about what
their lives are like."

"It was the pupils who came up with the scheme, but we are very happy
to support it."