Bible Sunday takes place at Friends' School
Friends' School Year 14 pupils recently attended Bible Sunday to be presented with a Bible to mark their time as pupils of Friends' School.
BIBLE Sunday, held annually at Friends' School, took place on May 29. Each year all those leaving Year 14 are invited to be presented with a Bible to mark their time as pupils of Friends' School. The Bibles, inscribed with a Friends' School crest, are given to the School by the Outreach and Ministry Committee of Ulster Quarterly Meeting.
The Speaker at Bible Sunday was Maurice McDonagh, of Portadown
Meeting. The McDonagh family has a long association with Friends' School
and Maurice himself was a pupil at Friends' in the 1960s.
Maurice McDonagh addressed his remarks to the leavers. He spoke of the
Bible as a guide through life and highlighted the centrality of prayer
in establishing a relationship with God. Drawing on personal experience
from his schooldays, Maurice McDonagh spoke of the importance of
forgiveness and how prayer had enabled him both to forgive others and to
seek forgiveness for his own wrongdoings.
In closing, Maurice McDonagh read from Proverbs Chapter 3, 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight'.
Maurice McDonagh's wife, Joyce McDonagh, presented Bibles to the
pupils leaving School and also to members of staff drawing close to
retirement. Tribute was paid to the contribution made to school life by
Janice Brymer, of the Chemistry Department, and Denise Mahood, of the
Mathematics Department, who are both retiring at the end of the year.
Gratitude was also expressed to Peter Hunter, Head of the Music
Department, who is due to retire at the end of December. Principal
Elizabeth Dickson noted that her three colleagues between them had given
over eighty years of valued service to the School.
George Dixon of the non-teaching staff was presented with a Bible to mark his retirement and received a warm reception from the audience. George attended Bible Sunday with his wife, Aileen, who had herself been presented with a Bible inscribed with a Friends' School crest at the end of her schooldays at Friends' fifty two years ago.
Bible Sunday concluded with supper in the Dining Hall. There was a strong sense of the friendships made over the years and, as pupils look forward to the end of their A level exams and to moving on to university, of the lasting links that they will have with the community of Friends' School.
Friends' School Year 14 pupils recently attended Bible Sunday to be presented with a Bible to mark their time as pupils of Friends' School.
Ulster Star
10/05/2011
