Christopher had a great passion for the Russian Language thanks to the encouragement and wonderful teaching of his teacher Mrs Hughes at Calday Grange Grammar School.
Before we posthumously discovered Christopher’s poems we already knew he was interested in poetry because of a poem he contributedto a project in his Russian class entitled "The Siege of Leningrad through the eyes of a child”. This was a joint endeavour between his school and several schools in
St Petersburg. The poem he wrote was called "The Siege of Ghosts” and a survivor of the siege, Larissa Vaslievna,was so moved by what he wrote that she sent him a letter expressing gratitude for his insight and compassion.
In February 2011, we accompanied by several of Christopher’s closest friends went on the Calday school trip to
Moscow and
St. Petersburg. Christopher’s Russian teacher, who is from
St. Petersburg, wanted the trip to be a celebration of Christopher’s life. We have many emotional memories of our trip including lighting a candle for Christopher in the Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour in
Moscow.
The "Siege of Leningrad through the eyes of a child” project was published as a book in late 2009 and during our trip to
Russia the book wasformally presented to the director of The Siege of Leningrad Museum in
St. Petersburg. While we were there we also met Larissa Vaslievna who wrote to Christopher and whose letter along with his poem is included in the book. Our meeting with Larissa was joyful but produced many tears.
Below is an artcle from the St Petersburg Times reporting on our trip .