NOTTINGHAM CATHEDRAL Forthcoming Centenary Celebration

On Sunday, May 10 next, the centenary of the laying of the foundation-stone of St. Barnabas• Cathedral, Nottingham, by Bishop (later Cardinal) Wiseman will be commemorated. Three days of celebrations will take place, at which the clergy and the Chapter will take part. In preparation for the event certain improvements have been carried out, among them the re-flooring of the greater part of the body of the Cathedral with travertine marble, and furnishings for the priests' sacristy have also been acquired. Further improvements e,nvisaged when the war is over are extensions to the priests' sacristy, a new pulpit, etc.
It is of interest to note that in the construction of the building many prominent non-Catholic citizens contributed, partialLady Me. Thomas Close, a local magistrate, who defrayed the cost of the decoration of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. It is also on record that the Rev. R. W. Sibthorpe, a Protestant clergyman, gave £2,000.
An interesting recollection is that Father (subsequently Bishop) Willson. who col lected the money for the Cathedral in the early part of the last century. was pre sented by the Corporation with the free dom of Nottingham for his work in the
cholera plague In 1832.
When Fr. Willson was asked by the Holy Sec in 1842 to go as Bishop to Hobart Town, at that time a penal settlement, the mayor, magistrates, and town clerk begged that he should be allowed to continue his work in Nottingham. The actual centenary of the opening of the Cathedral will be held in 1944.