BELL DEDICATED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1937, Page 9

BELL DEDICATED.

DIOCESAN SCHOOL. MEMORIAL TO HUSBAND. LADY MITCHELSON'S GIFT. There were dignified words of prayer from the scarlet-robed Archbishop, standing in the doors of the school chapel. There was a little silence, and then through the quiet of a sunny morninjr, over the heads of the scholars and others present, stole the first deep notes of the memorial bell.

This was the ceremony at the Diocesan High School this morning when his Grace Archbishop Averill dedicated the Mitclielson bell, presented by Lady Mitchelson in memory of her husband. It was she who, after the service was finished, came forward and sounded the first notes. The tower, made of a heavy, handsome framework of dark wood, some 2.'jft high, stands in front of the chapel, and it was there that present scholars, old girls and others were gathered. The immediate occasion was the special ceremony, but to-day is Founders' Day at the school, a day which falls within the period of the annual reunion \\eek-end of old girls. It was thought appropriate that the dedication of the bell should be part of the reunion.

The service was simple. The Archbishop stood at the head of the chapel steps and grouped below him were the Venerable Archdeacon Mac Murray, the Rev. P. Houghton, vicar of St. Marks', and the Rev. A. H. Johnston, curate. His Brace prayed, not only that the school and present pupils should be amply blessed, but also that pupils yet to come mifrht share in that blessing. He mentioned the man in whose memory the bell was given, Sir Edwin Mitchelson, and he spoke of the years of service which the bell would give.

It was the thought of those years, when the bell had become a very part of the school and chapel life, that was in the minds of those present. Lady Mitclielson came forward to sound the first notes. No finer gift could have been given than this bell.