Bury St Edmunds school begins its golden jubilee year

A Bury St Edmunds school began its golden jubilee year with a celebration of Mass at St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

Students, staff and governors from St Benedict’s Catholic School attended the service on Friday which was led by the Vicar General David Bagstaff.

They remembered important moments from the school’s history and David Dawson, chairman of governors, spoke about the importance of Catholic education in West Suffolk.

The support of local parish priest, Fr Houghton, Councillor Pemberton and John Lacey-Scott was crucial to the founding of the school.

St Benedict’s opened on January 16 1967 with only 89 pupils on roll. Numbers grew steadily over the years and it is now a successful 11 to 18 school with 860 students .

For the the Mass, a special frontal was placed before the altar.

The piece was designed by art teacher Dominic Billings and was made by his Year 9 students.

Amongst the music for the Mass, the choir performed a setting of ‘Jubilate Deo’ which had been specially written for the occasion by the young British composer James Devor.

Further celebrations are planned throughout the year. See the school website.

Do you have any old pictures of your time at St Benedict’s Catholic School that you can share? If so email paul.derrick@buryfreepress.co.uk