On Friday, we celebrated our school’s 70th Anniversary with a special mass said by Bishop Patrick McKinney, together with Fr Simon, Fr Neil and Fr John. Our whole community came together to thank God for the gift of our school, teachers and pupils past and present, and for an environment that is special and welcoming to everyone.
English Martyrs’ choir, which is made up of many past pupils, also came to celebrate mass with us by singing and playing instruments – Mrs Pickwell even played the flute during Communion! We are truly blessed to belong to a community as warm as ours.
During our celebration, our new chaplaincy team were commissioned by the Bishop and received a special blessing to guide them in their new roles this year. We pray that God will fill them with the courage to help others on their faith journeys. We also had five pupils who have been undergoing training with Mr Noakes from English Martyrs’ to become altar servers; they did a fantastic job of representing our community and to commission them in their new roles, they also received special badges and a prayer card to say before and after serving.
As well as our school turning 70, so is Mrs Ambler! She is a very important part of the CTK family and so to mark her birthday, the whole congregation sang Happy Birthday to her and presented her with a bouquet of flowers. Many happy returns!
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70th Anniversary Mass
As a school community we were incredible lucky to be able to come together last week on Friday the 17th of September to celebrate Mass and mark the 70th Anniversary of our school. The entire school came together on the Infant Site and it was a very special moment to be able to be together for the first time in two years. We welcomed Bishop Patrick McKinney, Fr John, and Fr Simon Gillespie into a school family. Alongside a lovely thank you to all our parents and visitors who joined us in our celebrations.
Five of our Year 5 and 6 children have been training to become Alter Servers for our school masses. They demonstrated their wonderful new responsibilities and will continue to do so in our upcoming Masses. Alongside our new Alter Servers, our new class chaplains were also commissioned by Bishop Patrick and are very excited to begin their duties.
It was a beautiful day with the glorious sun shining down on us. It was wonderful to see all our students, parents and staff come together in Mass on our 70th Anniversary. Thank you to you all!
“It was so nice to all be together again. I enjoyed singing with everyone. It made me feel happy to belong here.” – Leo
“It made me appreciate that we can celebrate together again! I liked seeing the Bishop and it felt very special to have him here.” – Dhana
“I am so glad I was here to celebrate 70 years of this school. I am glad I haven’t gone to secondary school yet because then I would have missed this. Although I would like to join the English Martyrs’ choir and they came back to sing at our mass so that would be nice. I want to stay part of CTK forever!” – Isobel
“I liked the choir! I love singing songs to God!” – Anika
It was lovely for the whole school to be gathered together to celebrate CTK turning 70! Being able to sing altogether was also very special!
Wow, what an occasion! The 70th Anniversary of Christ the King School, celebrated in magnificent style with a thanksgiving Mass led by Bishop Patrick. It was as if it was meant to be. A cloudy start to the day transformed into a blazing hot sun, shining down on the children, parents and staff of our remarkable school. The singing was amazing and the contribution of the English Martyrs choir was wonderful. I would personally like to thank Bishop Patrick, all those involved in the preparation of such an ambitious event, the parents who took time out to celebrate this momentous occasion, and most of all, the incredible children of our school who continue to remind us that, ‘for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’. Mark 10:4
It was fabulous to be involved in the 70th Anniversary celebrations of Christ the King!
The children sung beautifully, the altar servers did a great job and it was lovely to see, and hear, the students and staff from English Martyrs lending their support and beautiful voices to the occasion.
It was wonderful to be able to meet together for this after so long apart, and the weather made the outdoor Mass even more special.
It was lovely to have the Bishop and his brother priests with us, and the answers which the students gave to the Bishop during his homily were thought provoking and insightful; a fantastic example for the wonderful school they represent.
Well done everyone!
Lewis: I liked that we all got to listen to the Bishop and the things that he does. He also asked us about our gifts and talents.
Jack: I liked when we sang the songs because we all sang together.
Chituru: I liked that all of the families joined us to celebrate the Mass.
Arnica: I liked when we went to the Infant Site because we all became one.
Chloe: I liked the watch the whole CTK family together for our special Mass.
From 3TP, happy 70th anniversary CTK. We love being part of the family.
The 70th anniversary of Christ the King (CTK) was a fantastic event. It was inspiring to see first-hand the camaraderie of the staff of CTK in action. The singing from the children was lovely, and the whole organization was top-notch. It was a blessing to participate in the mass celebration by Bishop Patrick and the fellow priests. I must thank all the staff of CTK for making the celebration a memorable event. God bless you all.