St Benedict's celebrates Patronal Day

Published by St Benedict's School on Thursday 2nd of April 2015

St Benedict's School celebrated the Feast Day of its Patron Saint on Monday 23rd March. A host of fun activities together raised an impressive £8,419.32 for the following four charities: Mary's Meals, Aid to the Church in Need, Kitchen Table Charities Trust and The Passage. There was time for prayer, reflection and thanksgiving when the School's Guest of Honour, Rt Rev Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, celebrated Mass in Ealing Abbey. Pupils were also delighted that there was no prep set that day.

Dr Julie Greenhough, Coordinator of the EPQ Programme at St Benedict's, reflected upon the morning's homily in the Abbey given by the Rt Rev Nicholas Hudson: 'As the daughters and sons of St Benedict he extolled us to be the best person that we could and to follow our vocation in life. Encouraging us to turn our hearts to knowledge and understanding, the Reading from Proverbs cited three traits to aspire to: uprightness, equity, fair-dealing. How well those words fitted with our school mission, 'Teaching a Way of Living'. Throughout the Mass the Senior School Consort Choir and Junior School Schola delighted us with Mozart's 'Ave verum' and gave us a new joyful twist on the familiar act of worship with a little jazz mass, 'Kyrie and Gloria' by Chilcott.'

Either side of Mass pupils and staff enjoyed having fun and raising money for the charities. In the Junior School there was a variety of party games and an Easter Egg Raffle for younger pupils while Forms 1 and 2 showed off their athletic prowess with a Netball Shoot-Out Competition. The afternoon saw the long awaited 'Bennies got Talent' show, won by Corakai; Coralie, Kaila and Emma from Form 1P, who were clearly a favourite with the audience as well as the judges.

The biggest queue in the Senior School was for Mr Cave's barbeque stall, rivalled only by the one for the 'Haunted House'. More traditional games ranged from 'Beat the Goalie' to the 'Washing Line Challenge'. Just how many items of clothing from the washing line could one person put on in sixty seconds? The hottest room was 'Just Dance on the Wii', while the sports hall offered more soothing stalls to try including a nail and tattoo beauty parlour or exquisitely beautiful butterfly face painting. The highlight of the afternoon was the 'Hat Parade.' Head of Drama, Ms Katie Ravenscroft stole the show. Her handmade hat was a smorgasbord of fruit and vegetables, with bananas, carrots and a pineapple perched precariously on the top.

Pupils and staff had a wonderful day knowing that their generosity and donations were going to such worthwhile causes.