Another successful Teddy Bears Hospital
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In the Cathedral today we had the pleasure to listen to The Revd Kirsty Borthwick who is the College Chaplain at Christ Church, with pastoral responsibility for the undergraduates, other students and staff. Almost every college in Oxford has a chaplain and Christ Church is no exception, despite all the many other priests in the Cathedral. The Revd Borthwick spoke to us about St Martin of Tours who famously showed compassion to a beggar by cutting his military cloak in half in order that the beggar might shelter from the bad weather. The cloak represented St Martin’s status as a high-ranking soldier and so its destruction was an important symbol of his putting compassion before status. In order to illustrate this story she asked me to pass over my gown – which I did willingly, not knowing the story she was about to use it to illustrate. I have to confess I grew nervous about the implications of the story as she began to tell it, my gown firmly in her hands. Fortunately for me she handed it back in tact, before I had to make a decision about whether I could manage without it or indeed have to wear only half of it in the future. It is always easier to approve of these parables or illustrations from the lives of saints if one is not called to make the same sacrifice oneself!
During the course of her talk she mentioned that our new school chaplain is to be installed tomorrow at Evensong. The Revd Catherine Cleghorn who will join the Cathedral Staff as the Succentor, the person responsible for singing the services, will also have the school chaplaincy as her direct responsibility. She has been working in the North West where much of her work has been in schools. It will be wonderful to get to know her and she will be coming to our cathedral services on Fridays. On Tuesday the whole school took part in our annual ceremony of remembrance. We had two trumpeters who played exquisitely both the Last Post and Reveille and the names of the boys from the School who had died in the two world wars was read out perfectly by the Heads of Houses. I was again struck by how attentive our pupils, including those in Nursery, were on this occasion. As an adult, one cannot expect young children to understand the full significance of this event or indeed about everything about which they are taught, but it seems to me to be vital that this does not prevent us from observing such important occasions or indeed placing expectations upon pupils about ways of behaving. Young people are much more capable of concentration and of understanding than they are often given credit for and they learn so much from understanding that certain things, even if not fully understood, are important. Some things are still sacred and we must not allow young people to appreciate that.
It was lovely to see a number of senior schools visiting us on Thursday night. Many parents and pupils found time to talk to the representatives of those schools, the boys particularly enjoying some of the merchandise on offer. I was delighted that every single person there complimented me on the boys they had met, upon their openness, inquisitiveness and charm. It’s worth remembering that these people see countless children from prep schools all the time. I was very proud to hear this, and it will have given them a very good impression of the School to those senior schools whom we feed.
On Thursday I found my tick off sheet to be completely inadequate. There were many more names arriving at school than had been put down on the list. This rather unusual quantity was the result of the fact that the Pre-Prep were visited by medical students from the JR who had set up a Teddy Bears hospital to which the pupils of Pre-Prep had been invited to bring any of their cuddly friends who were unwell. From bags were produced rabbits with droopy ears, bears whose legs were full of aches and pains and others whose fur was thinning, a condition with which I had some sympathy. By the end of the day the general health of the Oxford population of furry creatures was considerably improved!
