Speech by the Lord Bishop of Durham

SPEECH BY THE LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM, THE RT. REV. MAURICE H. HARLAND, 0.P., AT THE OPENING OF DRONFIELD HOUSE, 31st OCTOBER, 1964

Mr. Dean, Head Master, Fellow Old Peterites, Peterites, Ladies and Gentlemen—I think that includes everybody.

It is a great honour to me to be asked to dedicate and to declare open this House, and may I, as an Old ,Peterite of pre-1914 vintage, congratulate and express our satisfaction to the Chairman and Governors for their perspicacity and wisdom in calling this new house, "Dronfield House".

It is a particular honour and pleasure to me to be back today to cement in what way I can the connection that already exists between the Diocese of Durham and St. Peter's School. One of the most shining luminaries in the galaxy of stars of the saintly firmament of the eighth and ninth centuries of the Bishopric of Durham, was the Venerable Bede, and it is on record that perhaps •the only time he left his cloistered calm was to visit St. Peter's School, in York.

In those days the Archbishop of York combined his light duties with that of Head Master of St. Peter's School, but in process of time he found that was a litle bit much and so the two offices of the Archbishop of York and the Head Master of St. Peter's School were separated. But the Head Master, Sir, ranked second only to the Archbishop of York in this ArchDiocese and province. Forgive that digression into history—if you didn't know it perhaps it may amuse and interest you.

Dronfield House. I think I am right in saying that it is not for centuries that St. Peter's has had a brand new house built specifically for its purpose. It has had a good many other houses built for other purposes which it has snaffled up and made do, but for the first time in many centuries it has got a Boarding House tailor-made and designed for its purpose. Who living in 1936 in this vicinity would have ever believed that this day and this ceremony would have been possible?

St. Peter's School has gone through many perils and vicissitudes, and in its long history they were never greater than •those it went through at the time of the great depression of the 30's. In 1936 the numbers had dwindled in the Senior School to 104 and to 106 in St. Olave's, but worse than that was the spirit of sadness and defeatism. And now at last after its long history, St. Peter's School was about to be dead and buried; and it was just at that moment that I quote now without any sort of profanity but in sober truth, from the scriptures; in 1937 "there was a man sent from God whose name was John". That is sober truth, as all we who love St. Peter's know; a man raised up for the occasion, who came here with vision and faith and immense courage. The first thing that he had to do was to restore confidence, a mammoth task in itself, but he had, as St. Peter's has always had, a nucleus of masters and old boys who believed in it, and they were ready to rally to a leader. And such a leader was given. With almost incredible audacity, the Head Master proceeded to buy all the adjoining property, as it fell vacant, that he could lay his hands on, and that was at a time when the finances were practically nil, and bankers were tearing their hair in despair. Just at that time came along the Head Master and he bought the property, and he paid for it: he has extended it and its buildings and its amenities throughout these 25 years. 2