Rector’s eNews 24: 5 August 2026

Life at Michaelhouse continues to be varied, stimulating and wonderfully busy. Busy can mean different things, but I’d like to think that our busy-ness is measured and purposeful rather than chaotic or frenetic. This coming weekend is one of those that has taken an immense amount of planning and coordination from our sports coaches and managers and we have Golf, Rugby 7’s, Soccer and Hockey teams out on the road representing Michaelhouse at various fixtures and festivals. We wish them all safe travels and a successful sporting weekend. Back at home soccer fixtures against Hilton will continue.

 

Over this past weekend we enjoyed our annual Matric Dance. It was a magnificent occasion, and I am immensely grateful to Ms Cornelius and Mrs Visagie along with the army of A Block parents who helped make this such a memorable night for the boys. So much planning and thought goes into the whole event and I am sure that it will be something that A Block families will have fond memories of for decades to come.

While the Schlesinger Theatre is being renovated and refurbished, assemblies are still taking place in the chapel – formally called the Chapel of St Michael’s and All Angels. In September 2025 we celebrated the extension of the chapel so that we can now comfortably seat the whole school in there, and on Monday I reminded the boys of the sacredness of the building. Before they sat down, I asked them to observe the magnificent Rose Window along with the seven smaller windows situated in the apse.

 

These windows were designed by the world-renowned stained-glass window artist, the Hungarian, Ervin Bossanyi. I can say ‘world renowned’ with confidence because Bossanyis’ work features in some very prominent institutions around the world: York Minster has some of his work and the Washington Cathedral holds a window as a memorial to US President Woodrow Wilson. In London he has work on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as the Tate Gallery. The Rose Window in the Michaelhouse chapel may well be one of his most significant works.

 

I reminded the boys that each of the seven windows in the apse was gifted to the school in memory of Old Boys who died in World War II and, indeed, the chapel was completed as the school’s formal memorial to the 127 Men of Michaelhouse who died in that war.

 

This chapel is of huge significance as it brings together the texture of the past, present and future. It is a sacred space. It is sacred not just as a memorial to the past – but it is sacred as it is the place where we worship God in the present. The boys love singing – and they sing well – so it is a joyful place as well as being solemn and sacred. I concluded with the following:

 

“So, when you cross the threshold of this chapel, adjust your posture. Lower your voice, still yourself and enter with a sense of awe and wonder. Remember those whose lives are commemorated here, the care with which this chapel has been preserved, and, above all, the God whom we worship here. Conduct yourself with the dignity this sacred place deserves. This is our chapel, our memorial and the house of God. It is hallowed ground.”

 

We are enjoying the sunshine and warm days, although we are braced for a slight change in temperature after the weekend. I wish you well for the end of the week and the weekend ahead.

 

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