Harper Music School and Sports Hall - Opening Ceremony
It was a great honour to be asked to open the new Harper Music and Sports Centre at Lincoln Minster School. I had had enormous fun in helping to work out how best to use an important piece of land so that we obtain maximum benefit to the school. We wanted to create a full sporting and quality sports hall with additional run up area to satisfy test and county cricket hall training and requirements. At the same time the tremendous growth in music in the school, due in part to our special relationship with Lincoln Cathedral, meant that there was a lot of complicated design work.
Harper Music School and Sports Hall - Opening Ceremony
We dug out a great deal of rock which we gave to the Cathedral as a reserve pool for future restoration work and buried the sports hall by nearly 5 metres. This was a major piece of construction work but has enabled us to have a new music schools or art school or possibly a 6th form centre above while keeping the profile of the building to two and half storeys high. Alongside, separated by a spacious atrium, is a 200 seater hall which is as near perfect acoustically as we could achieve for solo and orchestral performances. The opening day on Saturday 14th June was led by our Chairman, Lord Carey and we were sumptuously entertained by a galaxy of young musicians.
The occasion was supported by many people from across the country and included the Lady Mayoress of Lincoln. There was a great sense of it being a community hall with facilities which will be enjoyed by many people beyond the school community.
As my time at the Group draws to a close my wife, Jenny and I have found that the quiet lunches and dinners which we had planned with groups of Heads and Senior Leadership Teams have been both moving and enlightening. In a small group we can speak very frankly about the way the Group works and how we can improve. Above all we have found a growing sense of belonging, people who might only have been in a school or academy for a year or two speak with conviction about why being part of our Group matters to them. They are drawn by all that sits behind our strap line, The Best in Everyone, it is the uncompromising commitment to going only to the best and making sure that anything we have and do is available for everyone. I am constantly reminded that our approach to education with its expectation of a deep love of children irrespective of which bed they are born in is at the heart of their vision and commitment. We come away from these occasions feeling very proud of the people leading our schools and academies.
Stained glass window in Salford City Academy's Faith Room
The Diocese of Manchester made a very generous donation to our Salford Academy’s new stained glass window in its faith room. The design centred on the Parable of the Sower with a metaphor of the old Salford as seen by its great local painter, Lowry and then the new academy building suggesting the growth of new learning and education. Students read the lessons and participated in the Service which was led by the Bishop of Manchester, Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch.
Dedication of stained glass window
We were also delighted that the artist designer of the window-Michael Birch, from Cheshire Stained Glass joined us and spoke about the creation of the composition. It was one of those special days and well worth a special trip from London. We are most grateful to the Diocese and the Bishop for their generosity as joint sponsors of the Academy.
It was a special treat being invited by our son and daughter in law to attend the watercolour exhibition at the Tate Britain Museum. We have always loved the subtlety and translucency of watercolour and here we were able at one exhibition to look at the early genius Turner leading a group of outstanding cotemporaries Cotman, Girtin, Couzens, Palmer and Cox and then to look at modern interpretations was a real joy. I could have stayed there much longer! It is an exhibition well worth going out of your way to attend.
Reception and dinner at Chelsea Physic Gardens
There was a well kept secret to arrange a farewell celebration dinner for Jenny and me at the Chelsea Physic Garden on 2ndJune. The location had been specially chosen so that we would be in a garden and we could not have been more fortunate with the beautiful evening we had for walking round it. Our guests included many of those who had joined in making the last twenty years so creative. Many of these had supported us financially in sponsoring academies and had therefore been at the heart of enabling us to engage with that programme. Linking academies with independent public schools was a first in the UK when we started it and we now have more academies attached to our Group than the whole of the independent schools sector put together. As part of that we do have direct support from Marlborough College, Winchester College and Epsom College. All of these are linking with specific academies and helping to raise standards, widen experience and support University entrance. It is an example of the partnerships that a group of real friends have helped us make. It was a pleasure to be able to pay tribute.
Dinner at Chelsea Physic Gardens
Andrew Adonis was the principle speaker and he reminded me of our first meeting in a lift at Downing St. Having been cornered there we agreed to sponsor our first academy at Lambeth. Ducie High School in Moss Side would then become Manchester Academy, and the building of a Group was underway. It has been a momentous time and one which has created partnerships and friendships which have become some of the most treasured across our lives. We were grateful that our family was invited too. . The greatest surprise was that all our guests had been invited to make a gift to the Bombay Teen street children’s charity in Mumbai, India. 
All of you who saw Slumdog Millionaire will have sampled the problems that exist behind the scenes in Mumbai. The wonderful creator of this project, Deveraj was sadly unwell and unable to be with us in Chelsea, but our photo shows George Carey telling me that nearly £10,000 had been raised for that work. We were very touched indeed by this generosity and I was able to speak to Deveraj in his hospital bed, learning that he was getting better and giving him the good news.
Last Monday saw us at St Michael’s Chester Square for the twentieth anniversary service of The Lambeth Partnership. This is a body of people committed to support the work of Archbishops of Canterbury through prayer, offering their professional skills and committing a regular sum of money. Since the foundation of the parent body, The Lambeth Fund, we as trustees have led the fundraising of £10 million supporting initiatives under Archbishops George Carey and Rowan Williams. It has been a huge privilege to be involved in this and it is fascinating how the interaction between Lambeth and the work in our schools has constantly been fruitful, stimulating new ideas and reminding us of the spiritual values we try to maintain. Rowan Williams conducted the Eucharist service and George Carey gave the address. There were some 400 people present and we all found it moving and a privilege to be there. I was given the honour of leading the first lesson, Philippians 1, v3-11, St Paul in prison remembering with gratitude all those who supported him.
It’s always exciting when the work of members of our team is acknowledged and celebrated externally. It was very appropriate that the newly wedded Claire Maith was appointed, North East Region Finance Director of the Year this week. She has been a great supporter of Sir Peter Vardy’s Emmanuel Foundation and is seen in our picture with their CEO, David Wootton.
