Boys from Years 7 & 8 had a real treat this week, when they were invited by one of our School Council members, Nicolas Maclean of Pennycross CMG, to participate in a Commemoration of 400 Years of Relations between the United Kingdom and Japan. Accompanied by Mr McAfee, Mr Kendall and Susannah Frieze, we first attended the whole abbey’s Evensong, sung ethereally by the Westminster choristers. Then we were ushered behind the altar into the jewel in the crown that is the Lady Chapel, burial place to kings and queens since Henry VIIth, along with dignitaries such as His Excellency the Japanese Ambassador to Great Britain, HRH the Duke of Gloucester and the Marquess of Salisbury. In such august company, and in such a glorious setting, Noah Moore, from Year 8, showed no nervousness at all as he read his Haiku to the congregation: “A British ship / With many sails / The billowing clouds” which Rikiya Yamamoto, of Dulwich College, then translated at great speed! Huge thanks to Nicolas Maclean for giving us the opportunity to glimpse such a world of rich ceremony and quiet celebration of the trading relationships that once made Britain great.
