Pupils from a Moray school with links to the Royal family missed the Queen’s funeral today – after tackling an overnight fire nearby.
Fire crews were called to a field in Duffus at about 2am following reports a large number of straw bales were ablaze.
Two appliances from Elgin and one water carrier from Buckie were sent out – as well as Gordonstoun School’s fire response unit.
This meant some of the pupils and staff missed watching the Queen’s funeral.
Police have confirmed they are treating the fire as deliberate.
King Charles is a former pupil of Gordonstoun, along with his brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. The Queen was a frequent visitor as a parent.
Gordonstoun’s volunteer fire unit
The Elgin-based school is the only one in the UK to have its own fire service, after it was established in 1942 to assist in the war effort.
In June, they were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
‘We knew exactly what to do’
Fatima Uqaili, 16, is in her second year of fire unit volunteering.
She said: “At 5.30am my pager went off. And as soon as my pager went off the adrenaline just struck through my body and I ran down to the fire station.
“As soon as we got over the hill, we saw this huge roaring, like orange fireball.
“And straight away, we kicked into action, like it was almost like second nature, as we’ve practiced it every single week – so we knew exactly what to do.
“I wasn’t scared at all to be honest, because we’ve done so much training like this.”
Service in challenging situations
Gordonstoun is renowned for its intense and challenging activities as part of its school curriculum.
It was based on these beliefs that Prince Phillip set up what became known as the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Members of the school not dealing with the fire gathered around to watch the Queen’s funeral.
Although Fatima was disappointed to miss the funeral, she consoled herself by saying the fire team’s effort was continuing the royal tradition of service.
She said: “I felt connected with the Queen in a way because I was doing a service for her, which is what she wanted her children and her late husband to do at this school.
“So even though I didn’t watch the entirety of the funeral, I felt very at one with it.”
The fire service issued the stop message, at about 7.10am, but due to fires continuing to flare up, they remained at the scene until 3.34pm.
There have been no reported injuries.
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