Friday 26 September 2008 - 12.30pm to 3pm at The Lansdowne Club, Berkeley Square, London.

Dress code: Jacket & Tie

Tickets: £45 (Students £20)

To reserve your ticket:

OGs: csandy@charterland.com

OAs: pete.griffiths@networkhg.org.uk

The 2008 OA Weekend and AGM of the Ampleforth Society will be at Ampleforth from 10 to 12 October 2008.

There is to be an Ampleforth Dinner in Malta on Friday 5 September 2008

Sunday 10 August 2008 is the Feast of St Laurence, the patron of the Abbey Church and community at Ampleforth. On that day, the monastic community will be celebrating 400 years since their establishment in France. Fr Abbot will celebrate Mass in the Abbey Church at 10am.

On 10 August 1608, community life began at Dieulouard near Nancy in Lorraine, 180 miles East of Paris. An empty monastery was given to the English monks by the eccelsiastical and civil authority of the Bishop of Verdun, and these English monks were to become the community of St Laurence since this monastery was already dedicated to the martyr. The first group arrived and started living there in time to sing First Vespers of St Laurence on the evening of 9 August 1608. Nearly two centuries later, on 12 October 1793, after celebrating Vespers and Compline, the community fled through the back door as revolutionary guards burst in through the front door.

From 8 to 11 July 2008, to celebrate these 400 years, Fr Abbot and a group of eight monks were the guests of the modern parish of St Sebastian, Dieulouard. They celebrated Mass and Vespers, and visited local sites connected with the history of the Community.

The 2008 Ampleforth Pilgrimage to Lourdes took place 11 to 18 July 2008. This year is the 150th anniversary of the apparitions by Our Lady to St Benadette in 1858. In all, there were 18 apparitions between 11 February 1858 and 16 July 1858. Thus the 150th anniversary of the final apparition was during the Ampleforth Pilgrimage. Lourdes 2008

Prayers are asked for those recently dead: Patrick McNulty (A45) [died 29 July 2008] and Wing Commander Colin H Bidie (JH40) [died 30 July 2008].

ALASDAIR REDMOND (B89) is competing in the Great North Run on 5 October 2008. He writes [3 August 2008]: "My goal is to raise £25K for Cancer Research UK. I was successfully treated for kidney cancer some five years ago, so this is my way of recognising my debt to the doctors and nurses who treated me and continuing to support the ongoing research. Donations can be made through the web page http://www.runningsponsorme.org/aredmond "

JAMES LEWIS-BOWEN (B86) has written Just Another Mzungu Passing Through [2008]. Fr Matthew Burns (W58) writes: "James Lewis-Bowen has published his first novel with the Parthian Press. Calling himself Jim Bowen, he based his novel Just Another Mzungu Passing Through on two "unforgettable" years in Kenya. Mzungu is the Kenyan for "white man" James worked as a coach for the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association from 1996 to 1998. He catches the full beauty as well as the drama and squalor of that country. James now runs holidays for disabled people on his family farm in West Wales, and he is working on his next story. [posted 4 August 2008]

FR LEO CHAMBERLAIN (A59) has been appointed by the Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation, Abbot Richard Yeo OSB, as Cathedral Prior of Gloucester. In May 2008, Fr Leo became the Parish Priest of St John's, Easingwold, which is about 10 miles from Ampleforth, suceeding Fr Charles Macauley (D50). He was Master of St Benet's Hall, Oxford from 2003 to 2006, and Headmaster of Ampleforth from 1992 to 2003. His appointment as Cathedral Prior is purely honorary and conveys no jurisdiction. Other Cathedral Priors who are monks of Ampleforth are Fr Benet Perceval (W34) as Cathedral Prior of Durham, Fr Dominic Milroy (W50) as Cathedral Prior of Chester and Fr Henry Wansbrough (W53) as Cathedral Prior of Norwich. [posted 1 July 2008]

FR JAMES CALLAGHAN was appointed in July 2008 as Novice Master at Ampleforth. Fr James was Housemaster of St Wilfrid's House, then St Edward's-Wilfrid's House between 1990 and 2007 and was in early 2008 on a monastic formation course in Rome and Assisi run by FR MARK BUTLIN (O49). Fr James succeeds FR BONAVENTURE KNOLLYS (C53) who became Parish Priest of Our Lady and St Benedict in Ampleforth village in 2007. [posted 1 July 2008]

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