360 Miscellany

News and views

Queen’s Graduate School wins major UK award

Congratulations to The Graduate School at Queen’s on winning the award for Best Postgraduate Student Experience Initiative in this year’s UK-wide Find a University’s Postgrad Awards.

The award recognised the School’s agile response to the Covid19 crisis which saw it quickly introduce a new virtual programme of well-being, training and development events for postgraduate students.

“We were very pleased to receive this award. It not only reflects the enormous efforts of the 26-strong staff team but also the exceptional spirit of our postgraduate students. They willingly adapted to and embraced the changes. Our priority is always the wellbeing of the postgraduates and then offering them the chance to add an extra dimension to their university experience.” (Kara Bailie, The Graduate School Manager)

Amazing work, team! Find out more: [ http://ow.ly/Mnao50B8hsj ]

Songs of Praise from Blenheim Palace

This Sunday SOP visits Blenheim Palace to explore the private chapel and the magnificent grounds of this World Heritage site. Laura Wright joins an inclusive choir for a hymn singalong. Songs Of Praise Sunday 12.25pm on BBCOne TV.

Bishop sends welcome back to schools message

Bishop Denis Nulty recorded video messages this week for the 3,000 staff and 40,000 pupils in the 163 Primary Schools in the diocese who are returning to school these days.

TCD Chaplains preparing a welcome

“We are making plans to welcome you back to college or welcome you for the first time!

“With all the craziness of the last five months we are highly aware that questions of soul steadiness are more important than ever. As always, your chaplains are there for you!”

Covid closes Belfast Church

St Agnes’ Church in west Belfast has been temporarily shut after a parishioner who tested positive for Covid-19 informed the parish they had attended Mass on Sunday

Bach from Charles Wood Festival

Enjoy Bach at Twilight now – Professor Desmond Hunter performs a specially recorded recital of organ works by JS Bach, filmed at St Malachy’s Church in Armagh  youtu.be/0TKZ0OqSfLQ

Their anchor holds

Beautiful Sail Training Ship Pelican of London at anchor on Wednesday evening in Church Bay on Rathlin

Hans Sloane defended by chief of centre that celebrates his legacy

A centre in Killyleagh celebrating the life of Sir Hans Sloane is to write to the British Museum expressing disappointment with its decision to remove his bust due to his links to the slave trade, Raplh Hewitt writes in the Belfast Telegraph

The Sir Hans Sloane Centre uses the legacy of the village’s most famous son to not only remember the scientist, but to also boost the local economy and to promote education in history, science and the environment.

Hartwig Fischer, director of the British Museum, said that the bust of Sir Hans — the institution’s founding father — has been placed in a secure cabinet alongside artefacts explaining his work in the context of the British Empire.

The museum’s curators said the decision was influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in the US.

Sir Hans will now be described as a “collector and slave owner” on signage.

However, CEO and founder of the Sir Hans Sloane Centre Elizabeth Crilly argued that the physician never owned a slave, as it was his wife’s father who was a slave trader. Sir Hans was born in 1660 and married a wealthy heiress of Jamaican sugar plantations.

“Yes, he did get money, but how did he get his money,” she asked. “He fell in love with a woman. It was her father who was a slave trader. Are the sins of the father to be passed on to the children?”

She said he used the money to further his collection and when he died he made his collections accessible to the public.

“The people of Killyleagh and Northern Ireland should still be proud of him and not let this negative story destroy what we’re trying to do for Killyleagh and get a bit of prosperity going on here.”

Ms Crilly said Sir Hans was a man of equality, as he treated rich and poor.
“Hans Sloane never owned a slave. A man of the church sent him a slave but Hans Sloane educated him and put him on a boat to France to get him on his feet,” she said. “It’s those things you need to look at, and sadly slavery is in our history. It was wrong and it was a global trade, but it was the British who brought it to an end.”

Well said

Pointers to prayer

Jesus calls all of us to serve, but some people also have a special gift of serving. We really value those who make a difference for good in quiet and mostly unseen ways. What a great example of how to follow Jesus! – Mothers Union

Today we pray for low-income countries. The World Bank has stated that Covid-19 has pushed many of them ‘from recession to depression’. We pray for an ambitious debt relief plan and cooperation between countries to prevent a deeper debt crisis.

God in creation

The farmer is getting the Meadow ready for the Autumn, while inside Christ Church, Oxford, (visible in the far distance), they are getting the College ready for the return of students and staff. Christ Church has links with the C of I – Archbishop Robinson of Armagh, and more recently Most Rev Dr Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin. Thanks to Lucy A Taylor for the photo.