Every first Friday of the month, students and staff gather in the Chapel before the school day beings for First Friday – Hymns Old and New.   This first Friday of the academic year was no exception as we gathered to sing one old and one new hymn!

The old hymn was What a Friend we have in Jesus which dates back to a poem written in 1855 by Joseph Scriven.   The First Friday band featuring our fantastic music ministry team, Overwhelm (augmented by some very talented members of staff) started the hymn solemnly before breaking out into full rock and roll rhythm driven on by Kim on drums, Kelsey-Ann on bass and April and Amelia on keyboards.  It certainly got the heart rate up.   What was most amazing, though, was that Overwhelm only heard this hymn for the first time two days before the event and managed to learn, arrange, practise and deliver it with great gusto!

This was followed by a very new hymn which features as our Weekly Prayer Video theme tune this year – How Good the Good God is!   Based one the words of St. Julie – the smiling saint, this upbeat hymn was sung enthusiastically by the congregation led by a great bunch of singers.

It was written for our former Chair of Governors, Sr Margaret Walsh, SND, who stood down at the end of last term and you can hear Overwhelm singing it in its entirety in the video above!  We hope you’ll enjoy it and consider it a fitting tribute to Sr Margaret – an inspirational person who served our school community in so many ways and who is much missed already!