For me most of this week has been taken up with the Choir Schools’ Association Conference which was held, this year, at Christ Church. Proceedings kicked off with Choral Evensong broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. It was an extraordinary experience to see a building I know so well transformed into a recording studio. The choir was on breath-taking form and I would encourage you very strongly to listen to the recording either on Sunday afternoon, when it will be broadcast again, or on iplayer. Mr Holder had chosen a hugely ambitious programme which began with a piece by our first organist, the great John Taverner, Dum Transisset Sabbatum, a haunting piece of great profundity and beauty, which had been written by Taverner to be sung in the Cathedral itself. Almost all of the music was unaccompanied, making it far harder than were it supported by an organ, and yet it was utterly perfect. I felt very proud of our choristers and very many of the Heads of the other choir schools were extremely impressed by what they had heard.

It was a great pleasure to have, as a Cathedral Assembly speaker today, The Revd Fergus Butler - Gallie, Vicar of Charlbury. Though this is his main and most important job, he is better known for his books about ecclesiastical matters including a colourful book about Anglican clergy, “The Field Guide to English Clergy” and a newly published book about twelve buildings which tell us a lot about the history of Christianity. I was slightly surprised to see that he had not numbered Christ Church Cathedral amongst them! He writes for a number of national newspapers and is frequently on the radio. He spoke to us about the way in which a week could make so much difference. He had chosen, of course, as his reading, Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We all know how that story ended - with the terrible events of Good Friday and Jesus‘s crucifixion. As he said, a week can make such a difference. But it doesn’t end there, of course. The week ended with the resurrection and it is this that we celebrate at Easter. The events of that week remind us, he said, that God understands those things about life which we find difficult but that even still, there is always hope. That is a wonderful message for all of us in these uncertain times.

I am sitting on the train between Pisa and Florence having flown here from Gatwick this morning. As I write this, the sun is falling on the Tuscan hills which surround the flat plain upon which the train line is laid. The Mediterranean pines give the whole scene a sense of the landscape having been here, fairly unchanged, since the time of the Etruscans. The 13 boys I am with are sitting comfortably on the train. Though they seem mainly calm they are clearly very excited about arriving to the beautiful city awaiting them the other side of the Appenines - Florence. Their excitement is particularly intense given that they know that their first task is to make and then eat pasta!

The speaker at Cathedral Assembly today was Susan Wessels, the Second Master of Marlborough College. Before becoming a teacher, Miss Wessels was Captain of the South African Olympic Hockey team, someone then of considerable experience!

I cannot wait for the poetry recitation competition this time next week. Today I heard the Pre-Prep reciting from memory poems that they had learnt. It was extraordinary to see the way in which people who have only just learnt to read were able to memorise and recite verse. One boy had dressed himself in a head to toe cat suit complete with whiskers. As he recited the poem, he swayed to and fro like the cat he was describing. I was very touched by the way that such powerful and moving words were emerging from such a tiny person.

In the last few days I have done 18 mock interviews for boys going for interviews to senior schools. It has been a most engaging process which I have much enjoyed. I have asked each of them if there is anything in the news recently that has interested them. Every single one of them has elected to talk about President Trump, Greenland and Venezuela. Clearly these are matters which are exercising the minds of CCCS boys, and indeed, all of the boys were able to say something interesting. The most striking comment about these issues occurred at lunchtime, however, when one of the boys announced that he had “solved the issue of Greenland!” I was, of course, all ears. “Donald Trump has promised that if he takes over Greenland, he will make all residents of the island US citizens. What I would do, if I were the Danish Government, is to offer citizenship to a very large number of refugees and then see what Donald Trump would do. ” We are always encouraging our pupils to think outside the box.