THE PETERITE Vol. LX
OCTOBER, 1969
No. 381
EDITORIAL Another Festival of York has passed, and leaves us to reflect on the rich opportunities there are for a school in a city that is something of a cultural centre. Great artists have joined with local amateurs to produce a wealth of beauty in music and drama, and the ancient Mystery Plays have again worked their unique spell over thousands. There were opportunities for members of the School to take part in some of the productions, and a few did so; certainly those who joined in the singing of Monteverdi's Magnificat, and Thomas Tallis's Forty Part Motet, "Spem in alium", in York Minster will feel that they seized a rare chance; the latter work, seeming to embody the faith and controlled triumph of late sixteenth century England, has a deep message for us in our present uncertainty. For the School, it was splendid that part of the Festival came inside its walls when the Memorial Hall was the scene of a lecture on Aquatints, by Sir Sacheverell Sitwell. For the York citizen there is a certain sadness after a Festival, and a pride in the City which the School should more and more come to share. This is "no mean City" to which we belong, and one day we hope to see it preserved, not as a museum piece, but as a vital community in much the way that Lord Esher recommended in the remarkable "Study in Conservation" that he produced earlier this year. His report became the cause of bickering and near hysterical accusations of apathy against the City Council, who at one point were collectively called "long-haired, way-out, rebellious and aggressive cranks" by a local Professor.* The tone of the argument thus sank embarrassingly low, but when it was more controlled and erudite it sharpened the citizens' pride in their city, and made us all realise that we have a heritage that is to be cherished, and a city that will best be conserved by being fully lived in. Lord Esher prefaced his report with some words of Aldo Van Eyck—"the town has no room for the citizen—no meaning at all— unless he is gathered into its meaning." York citizens of all ages, whether permanent or in passage at school or university, should seek to be gathered into the meaning of the city. In 1971 York will celebrate its nineteen-hundredth anniversary, and all its schools will be asked to share in the events; there will be a rare opportunity for St. Peter's to identify itself with the City which was already in its seventh century of existence when the ancient school was founded. * Yorkshire Architect, No. 7: July/August 1969: "York in question", by Patrick Nuttgens. 1
