Archive Miscellaneous 2006

Archive Miscellaneous 2005

Archive Miscellaneous Jan-June 2005

JOZEF MYCIELSKI (O90) [Director of Fundraising at Ampleforth], PETER BRYAN [Procurator], NICK HIGHAM [Headmaster St Martins Ampleforth] and MARK HARRISON [Head of Pre-Prep, St Martin's Ampleforth] have completed a six days of cycling from John O'Groats to Ampleforth, a distance of 550 miles between 24 and 30 May 2008. They arrived at Ampleforth, outside the Abbey Church, on 30 May 2008 at 5.10pm. After a stop of about 30 minutes, they set off for a final leg across the Valley to Gilling - accompagnied by many supporters, a total of 32 riders.

As part of the journey South, they climbed Ben Nevis on 26 May 2008, and on top, FR HENRY WANSBROUGH (W53) celebrated Mass, a Votive Mass of the Sacred Heart. Following the climb of Ben Nevis, ABBOT CUTHBERT MADDEN left a message [27 May 2008] on the Message Board of the website: " Glad to see that all have made it safely up and down Ben Nevis. Hope that the winds are kind to you and that you make good progress today. I remembered you all at Mass this morning - the feast of St Augustine of Canterbury, Principal Patron of our Congregation".

The four had made a symbolic start from the tea party at Gilling Castle for the Exhibition on 24 May 2008, and then flew to John O'Groats, as arranged by PETER SAVILL (J65) - and on Saturday night 24 May 2008, they began to cycle South. Thursday 29 May 2008 was "was the hardest" day with "the dreaded headwind, rain, Scottish mist and the centre of Edinburgh to negotiate". Twice, on 27 May 2008 [25 miles North of Stirling] and 30 May 2008 [approaching Ampleforth], JOZEF MYCIELSKI (O90) spoke on Radio York. listen

The four cyclists are been supported throughout by CLAIRE EVANS [Development Office]. Progress is being updated on the cycle website The aim is raise funds by sponsorship to help St Martins Ampleforth at Gilling Castle - by the creation of a permanent stage and the building of a new changing wing in the Sports Hall.

Others supporting the cycling at some stage included FR CHAD BOULTON [final day] and, South of Edinburgh, Simon and Vicky Walker with their children, George and Charlie. photo on the border [posted 23 May 2008, updated 27 May, 29 May 2008, 30 May 2008]

cycle website

About 400 [370 resident] attended THE HOLY WEEK AND EASTER RETREAT at Ampleforth from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday [20-23 March 2008[. At the heart of the retreat were the Holy Week ceremonies. On Holy Thursday evening, there was Mass of the Last Supper, in which Fr Abbot washed the feet of twelve men as Christ had washed the feet of the 12 Apostles. On Good Friday there was the singing of the Passion by monks and choir [the ARCADIAN SINGERS of Oxford University] which included music for viola played on an instrument made by BARRY GILLESPIE [Director of the Design and Technology Centre in the Sunley Centre]. On Holy Saturday night, starting at 10pm, the New Fire of Easter was lit as the crowds assembled in the Main Hall and then processed into the Abbey Church for the Vigil and first Mass of Easter proclaiming the resurrection of Christ.

FR PRIOR [Fr Colin Battell] gave Retreat Conferences in the Big Study. FR CHRISTOPHER GORST (O65) was Retreat Guestmaster. DAMIEN BYRNE-HILL (T85) and MAAIKE CARTER [wife of Dominic Carter (D85)] organised the children liturgy. With Damien and Maeke, the young people made a DVD of Holy Week, being based on the idea of TV Jerusalem's presentation of the events of Holy Week, investigatory reporting and interviewing, with stars including HESTER CARTER (M), THOMAS IRVEN (T), EMMA IRVEN (M) and WILLIAM IRVEN (C). The DVD was shown on Easter Sunday morning to a very full and appreciative Alcuin Room.

In August 2008 the Ampleforth monastic community of St Laurence will have existed for 400 years. An empty monastery at Dieuoulard, already dedicated to St Laurence, which was (and is) near Nancy in Lorraine (180m east of Paris), was made over to the English monks by the eccelsiastical and civil authority of the Bishop of Verdun, and the first group arrived and started living there in time for the feast of St Laurence on 10 August 1608. Fr Abbot and a group on monks (small enought to fit in a French minibus) are to be the guests of the modern parish of St Sebastian, Dieulouard from 8-11 July this year, where they will sing Mass and Vespers, and visit local sites connected to the history of the Community.

Any of our friends who would like to be present at the Mass or Vespers (9-10 July 2008) should write to Fr Anselm at the Abbey

archive@ampleforth.org.uk or at

Ampleforth Abbey, York YO62 4EN)

who can supply further information.

Celebration at Ampleforth will be arranged later in the Centenary Year.

ST JOHN'S HOUSE celebrated 50 years of the House on 13 March 2008 with a Dinner St John's House 50th Anniversary Dinner

In celebrating Mass and the Imposition of Ashes on Ash Wednesday, 6 February 2008, in the Abbey Church at Ampleforth, FR ABBOT asked prayers for the suffering people of Zimbabwe, praying that they can have enough the eat. He said that as many of those at Mass would already know, he had been visiting the Ampleforth monastic foundation of Christ the Word over the previous week, and he asked prayers also for the Monastery of Christ the Word. Zimbabwe: Christ the Word

BR CEDD MANNION made his Simple Profession in the Abbey Church at Mass on Saturday 19 January 2008. After the Gospel of the Mass, and after Fr Abbot had spoken in a homily, at 12.09pm Fr Cedd spoke his Simple Vows, promising Stability, Obedience and Conversio Morum to Abbot Cuthbert and his successors, for 3 years in the Community of St Lawrence at Ampleforth. At about 12.13pm he signed his vows and placed them on the altar.

ABBOT PATRICK BARRY (W35), Titular Abbot of Lindisfarne, celebrated his 90th birthday on 6 December 2007 in St Louis. He was born on 6 December 1917. Abbot Patrick has lived in St Louis Abbey since 1997. He was Abbot of Ampleforth from 1984 to 1997. He was Headmaster from 1964 to 1980. He was Housemaster of St Wilfrid's House from 1954 to 1964. Abbot Patrick is active in St Louis, attending the monastic office and using the internet and email. 

BEN LEONARD (J02) is at Sandhurst in his third term. This month he is shortly going to Lourdes with the International Military Pilgrimage in the Sandhurst Pilgrimage. Ben heard Alex Strick van Linschoten on Radio 4 comparing Kabul (where he lives) with Mogadishu. Others on the same course at Sandhurst are FELIX CLARK (E02) and CHARLIE GAIR (B03) (posted 5 May 2008]

Honour the 600

You are invited to support a House in a 600 minute event in praise of Honour.  Click here and then click a House 600 minutes in praise of Honour

Ampleforth Abbey have supported the establishment of the Bede Chair of Catholic Theology and the Centre for Catholic Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.

Bede Chair

On 25 January 2008, Mgr Terence Patrick Drainey was ordained as the seventh Bishop of Middlesbrough. He succeeds Bishop John Crowley who resigned on health grounds in May 2007. Mgr Drainey was ordained by Archbishop Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, in St Mary’s Cathedral, Middlesbrough at noon on Friday 25 January 2008. Those attending include The Papal Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, and 27 archbishops and bishops from dioceses across England and Wales. The Diocese of Middlesbrough will also welcome representatives of the Church from Scotland and Ireland. Abbot Cuthbert and a number of the Ampleforth community were present.

Fr Paul Nevill  [OA 1899,Headmaster 1924-1954, died 1954] died on 25 January 1954 - so 25 January 2008 was the 54th anniversary of his death. 25 January 1954 - a day in the life of a Fourth Former - the Dormitory Bell rang

It was announced on 17 November 2007, that His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has appointed Monsignor Terence Patrick Drainey the Seventh Bishop of Middlesbrough. He will replace Bishop John Crowley, who resigned due to ill health on 3 May 2007. Mgr Drainey will be ordained on 25 January 2008 at St Mary’s Cathedral, Coulby Newham. Mgr Drainey is currently President of the seminary of St Cuthbert’s College, Ushaw. Middlesbrough is the Diocese within which Ampleforth is stituated. [posted 17 November 2007]

The 1600th anniversary of the death in AD407 of St John Chrysostom was celebrated at Ampleforth by a Conference on 9 and 10 November 2007, which included the celebration of the Orthodox Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in the Abbey Church on 10 November 2007. The Liturgy was celebrated by the Rt Rev Bishop Basil of Amphipolis, and was accomagnied by singing by the combined choirs of The Simeon Singers, of St Mary's, Lastingham, of All Saints, Kirkbymoorside, and of Our Lady and St Chad's, Kirkbymoorside - under the direction of Fr Alexander McCabe. It was an elaborate, deeply moving, spectalular and beautiful litugy lasting 2 hours and 10 minutes. The Epistle was sung in Cassinese tones by Br Cedd Mannion, a monk of the Ampleforth community.        

more - celebration St John Chrysostom 10 Nov 2007

Very Rev Archimandrite Simeon Piers

SCYLD BERRY (E72), the Cricket Correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph, was mentioned on Test Match Special's commentary from the First Day of the Third Test Match in Galle on 18 December 2007. The commentator Simon Hughes mentioned an article in The Sunday Telegraph by Scyld Berry on 16 December 2007 in which he had interviewed Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka's 22-year-old left-handed opening batsman, on the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004. Scyld wrote: "On Christmas Day three years ago, the day before the greatest natural catastrophe of modern times, Tharanga played a first-class match for Nondescripts against Police. Nondescripts' ground is tacked on to the back of Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, where the second Test against England was staged last week. The club consists of those who consider themselves nondescript: not pukkah Sinhalese, who join SSC, or pukkah Tamil, or part-European. Tharanga is an 'out-station' cricketer, from Ambalangoda on the south-west coast near Galle, who went to the local Buddhist school where he was spotted and inducted into Sri Lanka's under-15 side" . On Boxing Day 2004, Upul Tharanga described the morning of the tsunami, and how his family lost everything but survived. "I did'nt .. play cricket for three, four months". [posted 18 December 2007]

JOHN SHIELDS (J99) writes on the scottish Countryside Alliance.

The OA Cross Country Club did well in a very muddy and wet alumni Cross Country Run in Wimbledon on Saturday 8 December 2007. They came 3rd overall - up from last year when we came 5th and only 2 points astray from Sedbergh  The competition was stiff including some international runners and one notable Chris Chataway who came 62nd.  Oliver Brodrick Ward (A97) Hon Sec [10 December 2007] more

Diary Notes

September 2007 Diary Notes

August 2007 Diary Notes

A year of celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to St Bernadette at Lourdes in 1858 began with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Several Ampleforth members of the Hospitalite de Notre-Dame de Lourdes attended this opening of the year of celebrations. On the eve of the Feast, 7 December 2007, there was a procession from the site of the Baptism of St Bernadette in the Parish Church in the town [the original Parish Church was burnt down but the font remains in the new church] to the Cachot to the Basilica of St Pius X. Next day, on 8 December 2007, Mass of the Immaculate Conception was celebrated in the Basilica of St Pius X by the Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias - estimates of those present varied between 33,000 and 20,000 faithful. One member of the Ampleforth pilgrimage present noted the complete silence and reverence of this occasion. The 150th anniversary of the first apparition is on 11 February 2008 [Thursday 11 February 1858]; the 18th  and final apparition is commerorated on 16 July 2008 [16 July 1858]. [posted 16 December 2007]

The Ampleforth Lourdes Pilgrimage Carrel Concert took place on 6 December 2007.

2007 Pilgrimage

2006 Pilgrimage

2005 Pilgrimage Images 2005

Stage June 2005  and  Stage July 2005

1953 to 2006 Pilgrimage and Stage

Cenacolo and Medjugorje more

15th Ampleforth Group - 23 to 30 October 2007

JONATHAN FOX (D63) 2007 Carnival Ball

24 February 2009 will see another Carnival Ball organised by In Service of Society, whose Chairman is Jonathan Fox (D63) at the Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly held in conjunction with the Cardinal Hume Centre and the Depaul Trust, two charities that focus on the needs of homeless young people in the 16-25 age range.

Cardinal Basil Hume was the inspiration for the founding of both these charities.So come and support this premier charity event and help raise funds for the young people for whom Basil Hume was so concerned.

For more information please contact Jonathan or Sandra Fox on 07789 240864 or email enquiries@carnivalball.co.uk.

And if any of you would like to help us (we are all volunteers) in any way at all, this would be very welcome.

www.carnivalball.co.uk

16 June 2007 Immaculate Heart of Mary - Fr Alexander

BR PHILIP ROSARIO was ordained as a deacon in Ampleforth Abbey at Mass on the Feast of St Lawrence, 10 August 2007. Bishop Ambrose Griffiths (A46) (monk of Ampleforth since 1950, Procurator 1970-76, 5th Abbot of Ampleforth 1976-84, Parish Priest of Leyland 1984-92, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle 1992-2004, now helping in the Ampleforth parish at Leyland) ordained Br Philip at the conventual Mass. A large group from the Ampleforth parish of Bamber Bridge in Lancashire attended; Br Philip had helped at Bamber Bridge in recent months. [posted 10 August 2007]

GERARD SIMPSON (Mathematics Department 1971 – 2004, now helping to supervise examinations and also teaching again over the next three months) climbed his 284th and final Munro ascent of the 284 Munros on Saturday 22 September 2007, one of the Drumochter Hills near Dalwhinnie in Scotland.

In 1891 Sir Hugh Munro, a co-founder of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, published his table of 283 mountains in Scotland over 3,000 ft high.  These have since been known as Munros and there are now known to be 284 of them, over 914.4m high.  On Saturday, 22 September, 2007, accompanied by 43 OAs, former colleagues, family and friends, Gerard Simpson became the 3951st climber known to have climbed all of them.

Gerard climbed his first two Munros, though he did not realize it at the time, in 1972 as a member of Fr Timothy Wright's first West Highland Way expedition.  He was then a new maths teacher at Ampleforth but by the following Easter had been drawn into helping with the Sea Scouts on their Easter expedition to Plockton and found himself learning to sail in snow squalls on Loch Carron in between climbing more mountains; though no Munros were climbed that year as the weather was too dreadful.  Over the years, with the Sea Scouts, the Venture Scouts, the Mountaineering Club, with colleagues in the Tryfan Club and with family and friends, he has made 76 expeditions to Scotland, culminating in this particular one.
Final Munro

St Pancras Station is now the terminus for Eurostar, taking over from Waterloo International. St Pancras Station itself was also a 'Wonder of its age some talk about it as 'The Cathedral of the Railways'. Ampleforth's connection with St Pancras comes via the Butterley Company Limited, and the Wright family. The Ampleforth connection comes via the apointment of Monty Wright (OA1907) as Chairman in 1956. . Monty's brothers were all educated at Ampleforth and Denis also became a director. Younger brother Terence joined the Ampleforth Community in 1926, taking his Christian name name as his monastic name. Fr Terence - known as Tintax- was Housemaster of St Aidans and subsequently Procurator. He died in 1957 at the young age of 54. Monty was succeeded as Chairman, on his retirement in 1966, by RWF (Bob) Wilberforce (OA1922) - a partner in the firm of solicitors in the City of London, Travers Smith Braithwaite- had been a director since 1959. The magnificent Midland Hotel, built next to St Pancras, was designed by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, also the architect of Bolton House and the orignal  part of the Abbey Church at Ampleforth.

MFMW  Full text of article St Pancras Station

MARTIN MORLAND CMG (T51) is featured in a new biography of Aug San Suu Kyi.  Martin Morland was a member of the British Embassy staff in Rangoon from 1957 to 1961, and was British Ambassador to Burma from 1986 to 1990 [Burma changed its name in 1989 to Myanmar]. He became well known to Aug San Suu Kyi. The most recent book is "Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aug San Suu Kyi" [Hutchinson 2007] by Justin Wintle. The book is much more than a biography of Aug San Suu Kyi, but the history of Burma back to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. It describes the role of Aug San Suu Kyi's father, Aung San [assasinated in Cabinet 19 July 1947]. Martin Morland's role as Ambassador in Burma is described - there is a photograph of him in the book. It is a country where Aug San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese democratic movement and an ardent advocate of human rights, has been held under house arrest for most of the time since 1989. Power is held by SLORC [State Law and Order Restoration Council]. The book uses the name Burma: "I have .. followed convention by sticking to 'Burma' in preference to 'Myanmar' " - he notes that the country is still generally known as 'Burma' outside Burma, and many inside Burma refuse to use the new name given by SLORC. [posted 10 August 2007] more

Chris Andrews (O64), in his role as Chairman of the Taunton Vale Polo Club, is hosting a sponsored day of polo in aid of The Langford Trust Animal Health and Welfare Charity on the 10th August 2008 at Taunton, Somerset. If there are OA's interested in Sponsorship opportunities or wishing to support the day, do contact Chris at tms.uk@btinternet.com

A trilogy of disasters in China, Burma and Ethiopia were prayed for at the Conventual Mass in the Abbey Church on 20 May 2008. The main celebrant, Fr Alberic Stacpoole (C49), asked prayers for those suffering after the earthquake in China on 12 May 2008, those suffering from the cyclone in Burma on 10 May 2008, and those perhaps quarter of a million suffering in Ethiopia from famine, as reported this morning. [posted 20 May 2008]

Homlily in the Abbey Church for the 28th Sunday of the Year. 14 October 2007, on the eve of the School retreat  28th Sunday Year C - 14 Oct 2007

Homily in the Abbey Church - 16 June 2007 Immaculate Heart of Mary by Fr Alexander McCabe

Homily of Fr Alexander McCabe on the approach of Holy Week and Easter 2007 - Conventual Mass at Ampleforth 31 March 2007

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