Church

Saturday mornings at Elstree… Weekend calm, the beautiful setting of St Peter’s Woolhampton, boys and girls on best behaviour, blazers and ties. Three great ingredients our visiting speakers love. We’ve been treated to a selection of headmasters, registrars and housemasters from some of England’s finest: Sherborne, Radley, Cranleigh, St Edward’s, St Mary’s Ascot, Charterhouse, Canford, Friends International, Uppingham, Winchester, Eton and, the Home Team.

Prep school children invite the most engaging of talks. Our Years 5 to 8 pupils attend the services, and our speakers strike a great balance between giving those nuggets to chew on, and entertaining with some good comic turns. We thank the Rev. David Campbell (Sherborne School) for his talk on heroes and the importance of service of others. We think also of James Mckinnel’s (Winchester College, Elstree Governor Elect) rocket which fizzled out, showing how impressive looks tell us nothing about the heart, as he described how God chose David rather than any of his brothers (1 Samuel 16). Profound thanks go to Brigadier J. Anderson, current Elstree grandfather, who spoke so soberly on Remembrance Saturday about sacrifice, service and leadership. Our talks point at something ‘other’, just as we look at the mystery of God and how he has revealed himself in his word and in the person of his Son. Church is the absolute highlight of the week when we stop to reflect on what (or who!) we don’t think of enough. So many people make our Church services work so well. Thanks go to Headmaster, Mr Inglis for leading the services, and to Mrs Inglis for organising and preparing our readers and prayers. Thanks too to our church wardens Hugh Walker, Alex Brown and Tommy Welchman for their hard work over the last year. Our enormous thanks to Mary Westley for leading the choir and to Rory Darling for his invaluable support, to the swelling choir, to the bell ringers Ben Baxter and Stanley Pearey, and to the many boys and girls whose trumpeting, plucking, beating and drumming have provided our hymns with that hearty extra something.

AJP