The most beautiful cathedral?

Does Exeter have the most beautiful cathedral in the land? Many would say so, and my annual visit last Sunday renewed my enthusiam for this wonderful, light-filled building, which is full of interest and architectural beauty.

Members of the South-West Section of the Old Mancunians' Association always meet towards the end of June, close to the birthday of Hugh Oldham, former Bishop of Exeter and Founder of Manchester Grammar School, to honour his memory. The cathedral authorities are very helpful in shaping Mattins around this occasion, and this year Canon Carl Turner gave a really lively sermon inspired by the Adventure theme obvious at the school's website.

We have a special short service after Mattins outside the side-chapel where Bishop Oldham is buried, and we lay a wreath.

Then we retire to the Southgate Hotel for a delicious lunch and brief speeches, this year from me, standing in for the High Master, and from the newly appointed School Captain and Simon Jones, who is taking over as full-time Director of Development. Then a brief AGM and back into the car for the long drive home, this year made miserable by the commentary on England's departure from the World Cup. A pity that, but bearable in the context of another visit to my favourite cathedral.

From Iran to Exeter

Jeff Hume brought a dozen Old Mancs back to Manchester last Friday for a reunion, 40 years on, of the group that was the Iran Expedition of 1970. With some wives and partners, and members of the present Geography Department at MGS, they talked about the serious scientific and logistical challenges they met all those years ago. Travelling to study the land system of the northern Damghan Valley in the Elburz Mountains, they produced a full scientific report, but most importantly, as young adults, they had an amazing set of experiences. The formative nature of these experiences can be seen in the lives they have led since: Jeff himself has worked in petrochemical exploration.

Two of the teachers who made the trip possible were present, too. Philip Boden left MGS to join a university department of education. John Abbott became a headteacher and has written extensively on what we get wrong in educating teenagers - see 'Overschooled but Undereducated'.

It was a great gathering, and one which continued, after a lunch at school and a trip to see how much has changed in central Manchester, with a hotel dinner.

So many good lunches and dinners! This coming weekend I shall again be in Exeter to attend on Sunday morning the cathedral service which recognises the role of our Founder in 1515, Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter. Then to the Southgate Hotel for lunch and the AGM of the South-west section of the Old Mancs Association. We shall have the School Captain and Vice-Captain with us in an attempt slightly to reduce the average age of those attending.

Organising a ****** in a brewery

Thanks to the generosity of the Managing Director of the JW Lees brewery in Manchester, a group of MGS staff enjoyed an evening tour of the brewery this week, with every opportunity to sample the products. This group tour was a donation to the auction organised last year in aid of the Bursary Fund by the senior Sixth Form boys, and it was originally beyond the means of the staff group. However, the first purchaser was unable to organise his group (!) and kindly re-donated the event, at which point the teachers snapped it up. So, in the end, over £1,000 was raised. And a very good time was had by all.

The brewery buildings are listed as historic properties, and we were able to see the difficulty with which modern brewing technology has been introduced - in many cases by holes having to be temporarily knocked in walls. Everything is a tight fit, but the fascinating part is the continued use of traditional materials: Ipswich-malted barley, regionally-sourced hops to create the particular beer flavours, and Lake District water.

Perhaps the most atmospheric part of the buildings is the barrel-filling vault, a damp cellar which, even in the evening, echoes with the sounds of hammering bungs and rolling barrels.

After the tour it was back to the cottage for a delicious buffet supper and further sampling of everything from Moonraker to Strawbeery (yes, really, a summer ale made with strawberries).

And the whole event was most efficiently organised.

A very generous benefactor

News this week, as we returned from half-term, to warm the soul. For the second time, a lady has left a legacy gift of more than a million pounds to our Bursary Fund. The first had no family connection to MGS, so it was extraordinary that, from her home on the Fylde Coast, she chose our charity to support. She had been an early graduate of Manchester University, and saw that our Bursary Appeal, started in 1998, would help bright boys from poor homes to make the best of themselves for their own and society's sake.

This second lady was the widow of an Old Mancunian. I imagine that, before he died and left his estate to her, he asked her in due course to include MGS in her will. This is by no means the first time that this kind of arrangement has been acted out, but the amount is exceptional. I find it very touching that such gifts from women come to this all-boys school in loving memory of their husbands.

This gift will provide at least four additional means-tested bursary places here in perpetuity. Over time, that will be a lot of young men to be grateful to this couple of benefactors of the school. It will also reduce, but sadly not yet to zero, the number of deserving, bright boys we have to turn away each year for lack of bursary funding. For the moment, let's enjoy the positive rather than rue the negative. Thank you, in memory, Mr & Mrs Entwisle.