Principal's Blog
BackSeptember 30th
After spending so much time recently thinking about the future of technology and space travel, it was delightful on Friday evening to step back into the past at the silent movies night in the College Chapel.
An audience of around seventy thoroughly enjoyed watching two classic films—Buster Keaton's "The Boat" and Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business"—which were accompanied by the improvisations of organist Robert Sudall. The evening's entertainment was part of our Organ Festival, which included workshops and masterclasses for pupils run by Robert, an award-winning musician, and by Andrew Condliffe-Jones from the Royal Northern College of Music. I am impressed by how many budding organists we have at College and pleased that they found the whole festival so inspiring.
Silent movies were also the focus on Sunday, when Fifth and Sixth formers took part in a one day Film School. They learned a number of movie-making techniques and then in groups produced ten-shot films. The day ended with a screening of the films and an "oscar" being awarded for the best movie. I thought the pupils' films showed great creativity and were highly entertaining as well as technically assured. We hope to get them onto the website soon, along with the ones from last year's workshop. I think even Buster Keaton would have been impressed!
The next couple of weeks are busy ones for me: I will be attending the HMC annual conference in Liverpool next week and the IB conference in Seville the week leading up to half term. I wonder where I'll see more sunshine! I will let you know when I get back.
