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CHAIRMAN’S e BULLETIN MARCH 2016

RELIVE THE CONSECRETION OF THE CATHEDRAL

Original BBC live broadcast to be screened in the Cathedral on the 55th Anniversary

After months of negotiation, the Friends are proud and delighted to announce that the full two-hour programme of the Consecration of the Cathedral on Friday 25 May 1962, will be screened in the Cathedral on Thursday evening 25 May 2017.

The discussions with the BBC to allow this ‘one-off’ showing of the broadcast, which was hosted by Richard Dimbleby, have been conducted by Mike Smith a Member of the Friends’ Council, and himself a former Chorister who sang at the Consecration.

In his book Ruined and Rebuilt, former Provost Howard says of the Consecration, “It needed little imagination to realise this this would be a moment of epoch-making importance in the history not only of Coventry and the diocese but also of the nation, and the whole world”.

The Consecration attended by the Queen, was the first occasion in which a Bishop had been present at both the laying of the Foundation Stone (1956) and of the Consecration of his Cathedral. It had been preceded by a period of preparation throughout the Diocese culminating in the pilgrimage of the Cross of Nails to every parish. It was followed by a three-week Festival, which included the first performance of Benjamin Britten’s ‘War Requiem’.

Put the date in your diary, and tell your Friends. It will be an unforgettable evening for all those who love the Cathedral.

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THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Last month, the Djanolgly Gallery at the University of Nottingham, staged a fascinating exhibition of the commissioned and private works of Dame Elizabeth Frink, one of Britain’s leading 20thcentury sculptors.

She created an impressive body of over 400 sculptures, including the bronze lectern eagle, the pulpit crucifix, the Bishop’s Mitre and the Flame, for the Cathedral.

The lectern eagle, (1962) was modelled on an eagle owl at London Zoo, and is one of an edition of seven. Besides the Coventry eagle, one was cast for Basil Spence, one in aluminium was made for the artist’s mother, and three went to the United States. One was subsequently incorporated in the JF Kennedy Memorial, Dallas in 1964.

An artist’s impression of the proposed £73 million scheme for student accommodation, to be built on the site of the former Royal Mail Sorting Office, in Bishop Gate.

MULTI-STOREY STUDENTS

Coventry City Council is discussing ambitious plans to build high-quality multi-storey student housing on Cox Street Car Park. The £50 million scheme would create 1,000 en-suite rooms for University of Coventry students.

The car park, the closest to the Cathedral, currently has 319 spaces, which if the project goes ahead, will be reduced by over half, to 144 spaces.

Both the City’s universities, the University of Warwick, and the University of Coventry, are award winning, and expanding their student numbers.

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EVENTS PROGRAMME 2016

Thursday 10 March, 7.30 pm ‘What lies beneath?’ The archaeological discoveries in the Ruins 2015 A Cathedral Lecture sponsored by the Friends Monday 4 April, 11.00 am A ‘Friendly Monday’ The Reverend Canon Dr David Stone, Precentor Saturday 16 April, 2.30 pm ‘The best of Amici’ Concert in the Cathedral, for Cathedral Parish Partners, Parish Priests, Churchwardens, and Members of the Friends followed by cream tea Tuesday 10 May, 10.30 am ‘Meeting our neighbours’: A walking tour of multi-faith places of worship in central Coventry Saturday 18 June, 9.00 am Coach Trip to Hereford Cathedral Saturday 2 July , 12 noon New Members Welcome Event (by invitation only) Saturday 16 July, 12.30 pm The Friends of Cathedral Music Regional Gathering

Saturday 24 September, 12.30 pm Lunch, AGM and Tea followed by a public Lecture

‘John Piper and the relationship Between the Artist and the Church in the 20th Century’, Professor Frances Spalding CBE FRSL

Thursday 10 November, 7.30 pm ‘The architectural legacy and cultural significance of Coventry

Cathedral at the start of a new Century’, Kelley Christ BA MA RIBA Cathedral Architect

Date to be finalised Last week in November Visit to the House of Lords, and time in London, travelling by train from Coventry

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WHAT LIES BENEATH?

What the archaeologists discovered in the Ruins during the Summer of 2015 Thursday 10th March 6.30pm for 7pm Join us for this fascinating lecture by George Demidowicz FSA, formerly City Archaeologist, who will share with us the discoveries made last summer when engineering works enabled us to lift the flagstones in the Ruins and discover what lies beneath. There will also be a presentation from Kelley Christ, the Cathedral’s Architect, on the challenges we face as we care for historic buildings. There will also be a small display of the finds and the first opportunity for the public to access the Wyley Chapel. Tickets: £10 per person, or £8 per person for members of the Cathedral Community, and the Friends of Coventry Cathedral. Tickets are available online (https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/45357/chk/e747/or at the Cathedral Gift Shop.

Brenda has now returned safely home, with her arm in a cast, but in good spirits. Her only regret, that as the tide had turned, she was transported to hospital by ambulance, not sailing on the lifeboat!

LIFEBOAT SAILS TO THE RESCUE

Last month the North East Ambulance Service contacted Humber Coastguard to request assistance to reach Brenda Stokes, a former Friends Council Member, who was on Holy Island with a suspected broken wrist, after slipping on the rocks. Because the causeway was closed by the tide, the Seahouses RNLI all-weather lifeboat was launched, and was alongside the pier at Holy Island in 25 minutes.

SPRING NEWSLETTER

The new issue of the Friends’ Newsletter, featuring a specially commissioned feature on the Cathedral’s Reconciliation Ministry, will be published this week. Copies will be available for collection from the Community Table on Mothering Sunday, 6 March and will then be mailed to Members.

The Newsletter also reveals your ‘Favourite Places’ in the Cathedral.

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What is now universally accepted as J S Bach’s masterwork, by those inside and outside the

Christian faith, was written for liturgical use on Good Friday, 11 April 1727 at the Thomaskirche in

Leipzig. Tickets are: £25 (over 60s £23, under 18s plus students £12.50), £20 (£18 / £10) and £15 (£13 / £7.50) Members of the Friends are offered up to four tickets, in any price category, at the discounted price of £3 off (i.e. £22, £17 or £12). Extra tickets will be at full price. There will, as usual, be reserved seats for Members of the Friends. Friends tickets must be bought direct from Jill Pacey – they cannot be bought at the special price on-line, or through the Cathedral. Jill Pacey, 6 Clive Road, Balsall Common, Coventry CV7 7DW Telephone: 01676 532436 jill.pacey@btinternet.com Cheques payable to Saint Michael’s Singers and please enclose a stamped addressed envelope.

OUT AND ABOUT

We were sorry to learn of the death, last month, of Kath Cornish, who lived in Leek, Staffordshire and had been a member of the Friends for over 50 years.

SAINT MICHAEL’S SINGERS

Good Friday 25 March 2016

Saint Michael Singers will perform the St. Matthew Passion in the Cathedral from 6.00 pm, on Good Friday, 25th March 2016 Sir Simon Rattle regards the work as ‘the musical equivalent of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. It’s one of those achievements that we don’t see again in the history of humanity.’

The Bishop of Warwick, the Right Reverend John Stroyan, moved last month from Kenilworth Road, Coventry, to the former Vicarage at Offchurch.

The new address for his home and office is Warwick House, School Hill, Offchurch, Leamington Spa CV33 9AL Phone: 01926 427465

The Reverend David Mayhew has announced that he will retire as Vicar of Holy Trinity, on 17 July 2016, after seven years in Coventry.

We wish him and his wife Elizabeth, a long and active retirement.

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We welcome David and Janet Bownsword as new Life Members of the Friends. David sang at the Consecration of the Cathedral. He says that he met his wife, who was David Lepine’s Secretary, when he had to see Captain Thurston, the Bursar, about a possible insurance claim, for money stolen from his wallet in the choir vestry. They were married in the Cathedral in September 1965 by Canon Joseph Poole. David believes he was the first choir member, and his wife Janet, the first Member of Saint Michael’s Singers, to be married in the new Cathedral.

Coventry’s former city archaeologist Margaret Rylatt OBE, has died. She was behind both the excavation and reconstruction of the Lunt Fort.

In her 27 years at the Council she was also responsible for the excavation of Coventry’s medieval priory and cathedral of St Mary, conducted as part of the Phoenix Initiative, by the the BBC Time Team.

Margaret Rylatt is on the right of the photograph

ANDREW L PAINE Chairman The Friends of Coventry Cathedral chairman@friendsofcoventrycathedral.org.uk

Charity Number 1061176