Choir school makes century

BY HOWARD HARDING
"A TRULY wonderful occasion" was how Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor described the day that brought together choristers, pupils, staff and friends of Westminster Cathedral Choir School to celebrate the centenary of the foundation of the country's principal Catholic choir school in 1901.
The Archbishop of Westminster presided at a solemn Mass at Westminster Cathe
dral on Saturday to mark the anniversary. One of the highpoints of the Mass was the first performance of a motet Laudate Pueri Dominum (the school motto, taken from Psalm 112) which was written especially for the centenary celebrations by the distinguished composer Colin Mawby. Mr Mawby, who was a chorister between 1946 and 1951, went on to become the Cathedral's Master of Music from 1961 to 1978. After the Mass, more than 500 people packed into a marquee stretched the length of the school playground to share past memories of the school at a reception and lunch.
Among the notable guests was another former Master of Music, James O'Donnell, a former headmaster, Canon Herbert Veal, and several former choristers who joined the school in the 1920s and 1930s. Anthony Bath, 84, held the distinction of being the oldest ex-pupil present!
It was on October 5, 1901 that Cardinal Vaughan blessed 11 boys as they became the first members of the Westminster Cathedral Choir School, saying to them: "You are the foundation stones". By the following January, the numbers had doubled, and on Ascension Day 1902 the choristers sang their first Mass in what is now the Cathedral Hall.