The Day of Celebration was a remarkable Day for the whole school community.

We started the Day with a Service of Thanksgiving for 500 years of King’s Bruton in St Mary’s Church. I know I’m biased as Chaplain, but for me and many others, it is really important that as a school community we pause, reflect, listen to God and seek to follow his ways as we turn 500.

The service focused around a passage from Deuteronomy chapter eight, where God’s people are called to look back and remember God’s generosity. This has certainly been the case for King’s Bruton during our 500 years. As we look back we can see God’s generosity graciously poured out towards our school community: he has given us an incredible campus and facilities, educated thousands of young men and women, given us outstanding sport, music and drama, sustained us through challenging times, created much-loved boarding house communities, gifted staff and pupils for the tasks given to them, seen the good news of the Gospel proclaimed – the list could go on and on! God really has been generous to us for 500 years, so it’s right we remember that and give great thanks to him.

Secondly, our reading from Deuteronomy encourages us to look forward and trust in God’s ways. As we embark upon the next chapter of the School’s life, it’s vital that as a Royal Foundation who takes its Christian ethos seriously, that we continue to seek to trust in God’s truths and so follow his ways. If God has been so generous to us for 500 years, it makes sense to continue to trust in him for the next 500 years! Alongside this message from Deuteronomy, it was lovely to see Old Brutonians of all ages enjoying singing some excellent hymns and hearing the Chapel Choir perform our 500^th Anniversary commissioned anthem, 'King of Glory, King of Peace'.

After the church service it was wonderful to meet so many Old Brutonians who shared how formative King’s Bruton has been in their lives. It was especially wonderful to hear how for many Old Brutonians, their time at King’s had seen either a lifelong faith begin or their faith grow and deepen. Furthermore, it was great to talk with Old Brutonians about Her Majesty The Queen’s historic visit to the School at the end of March and to hear Old Brutonians pride about this landmark event taking place.

During the afternoon, alongside Naomi Warren, I helped to cover the media aspects of the day. With around 1000 Old Brutonians back at King’s it made sense to try and interview many of them on film and to record all the celebrations of the day in photos and videos. We had thought we would have to cancel all of this due to a poor weather forecast, but in the end the sun shone and shone! At numerous places around the school campus and at various different elements of the day from the Car Rally, through to the Tea on Hyde and the 500^th Ball, it was it was great to capture on camera countless anecdotes from Old Brutonians about the various adventures and high jinxes they were involved in during their time at King’s.

Fundamentally, all of them spoke of a deep love for this school of ours, and a great delight to see it in such good heart at the ripe old age of 500. For me, this was the first Old Brutonian event where I encountered pupils I taught in my first year or two here – this made me feel old, but at the same time it was just cracking to hear how they are doing and to reminisce together about their happy times at the School.

Personally, one of the many high points of the day had to be the fireworks at the Ball. As 500 Old Brutonians, staff, parents, ex-staff, governors and ex-parents gathered outside on Abbey to watch the fireworks, I felt so fortunate to be part of King’s Bruton. It is my hope and prayer that God will continue to sustain and work through this amazing school of ours. Deo Juvante.

George Beverly - Chaplain