Some of the many
Pats on the Back, plaudits, thanks and comments about the Just1 Spirit of Romero
Gallery
at St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School in Bracknell UK
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Some of the many
Pats on the Back, plaudits, thanks and comments about the Just1 Spirit of Romero
Gallery |
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From Susan Hussey, Lady-in-Waiting to Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Balmoral Castle 13 September 2013 Dear Mr Gibbons The Queen would like me to write and thank you for the letter sent on behalf of the pupils and staff at St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School, in which you tell Her Majesty of the Spirit of Romero Gallery. The Queen was very interested to hear about your artwork and was very touched to learn that the children of Year Three chose Her Majesty to be one of the figures to be included in this special piece. The Queen sends her best wishes to everyone at St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School and I am to thank you for your thoughtfulness in writing. |
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Gordon Brown, Malala, and Farah Haddad, a Syrian student living in the United States |
From Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global
Education Dear Pupils I was so thrilled to find out from Hugh Gibbons that you selected Malala Yousafzai to be included in your Spirit of Romero Gallery. As you know, Malala campaigned from a very young age for the right of all children, particularly girls, to go to school in her home country of Pakistan. As the schools around her were being attacked, Malala never wavered, and bravely continued her campaign. Even when Taliban gunmen shot her on her school bus last October they failed to silence her and she became a symbol of hope around the world. On 12 July this year, Malala marked her 16th birthday with a speech at the United Nations in New York, telling the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and an audience of over 500 children that "one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world." As the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, I am committed to ensuring education for all. By the end of 2015, we aim to provide education for the 57 million children around the world who are not currently in primary school. I congratulate you all on your enthusiasm and participation in various UN days and campaigns, and I hope that you will continue to be inspired by Malala and take part in the wider campaign for the right of education for all. In this movement, the voices of the young are truly the strongest. With my best wishes Gordon Brown |
  Malala addresses the UN on 12 July. Schools across the UK were encouraged to sing Happy Birthday to her - and blow a kiss. Put it in the diary for next year! |
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From the Ambassador of El Salvador to the UK &
Ireland HE Werner Romero e-mail in July 2013 Dear Hugh Thank you so much for sharing this great news with us. I love the Malala Birthday initiative. We'll propose it to our Ministry of Education. Also with your permission, I'd like to post this news in our "Salvadoreños en el Reino Unido" Facebook page. My very best Werner |
 Lazaro Rodriguez and his family paint Romero Crosses for CAFOD in the town of La Palma, El Salvador |
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From Professor Helen McCutcheon, Head of
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kings College, London 1 August 2013 Dear Year1 Pupils I was so pleased to learn from Hugh Gibbons that you chose Florence Nightingale to be one of the figures in the wonderful painting in the Spirit of Romero Gallery at your school. The whole painting is very colourful and full of energy, and shows many great people. But Florence Nightingale is especially important to me as I am a nurse myself and the head of a school of nursing in London called "The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery. As you know, Florence was determined to do her best for sick people in very difficult circumstances and many people have been inspired to become nurses because of her example. You are lucky to be able to look at the painting every day, and I hope that all the figures in the painting continue to encourage and inspire you. |
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From Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society and Nobel
Prizewinner Like Isaac Newton, I am a scientist; I do research in genetics, which
means that I work with genes, which are sets of instructions contained
in a human, plants and animal cells and determine what we are, what we
look like etc. I am also the President of the Royal Society, which is the UK's academy
of science. The Royal Society has been supporting science and
great scientists from all over the UK and Commonwealth for a very long
time now: 353 years! Sir Isaac Newton, who was also President of
the Royal Society, was a great scientist and his discoveries were
important in helping people to understand how the world works. He was
willing to ask lots of questions and to investigate natural phenomena to
find answers to those questions. Scientists like Isaac Newton are people who are curious about the world
we live in and they can help to solve important problems, such as
climate change, or to create great things, such as vaccines and smart
phones. Science is an important part of our lives, and I hope you will
continue to be inspired by people like Isaac Newton and that you will be
encouraged to ask questions and think about things in a different way.
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E-mail from Brother Guy Consalmagno SJ Keeper of Meteorites, Vatican Observatory August 2013 Wonderful. Keep up the painting - and writing! |
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From Catherine Johnstone, Chief Executive of the Samaritans 17 September 2013 Dear Hugh Thank you for your letter of 22 August, inviting Samaritans to comment on the gallery you have produced for St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School. It might interest you to know how the name of our organisation came about. When our founder Chad Varah began operating a helpline for people who were feeling suicidal, it received lots of press coverage, and on 7 December 1953 the Daily Mirror coined the term "Telephone Good Samaritans". Although Samaritans is not a religious organisation, the name has stuck and become synonymous with the idea of people being there for others struggling to cope. It is very admirable that pupils of St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Primary School have chosen the Good Samaritan for inclusion in the gallery. I hope you will appreciate that Samaritans as an organisation cannot claim to represent this biblical figure. Nevertheless, I am very proud of the good work that our 18,000 volunteers do in order to reach out to people in need. and I would like thank you for referencing Samaritans in such a positive way. |
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From Lynda Mussell, Manager, CAFOD Portsmouth I’m writing to thank you for all your hard
work in assisting Hugh Gibbons (our wonderful CAFOD Education Volunteer)
to put together the school’s Spirit of Romero Gallery. It looks
fantastic! I hope the children really enjoyed choosing
their examples of people whose lives have enriched and supported so many
others across the world. We’ve looked at the different panels and
the variety of people chosen is extraordinary. It’s so good to see the
people that CAFOD has worked with on the panels such Emily Mbithuka from
the Kitui region of Kenya as well as CAFOD’s former partner and
inspiration, Archbishop Oscar Romero. It’s rather an honour for me and Laura to be
featured at all on the Gallery in such illustrious company! I hope the children, staff and parents
continue to enjoy and be inspired by the painting in many years to
come. Thank you so much for all your incredible
support for CAFOD. Best wishes
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"In effect, Monsignor Wells has become the
interpreter and point of contact between the
Vatican and the entire English-speaking world.
He's the first port of call for Anglophone
churchmen, diplomats, activists, and other
movers and shakers who need entrée, who have a
project to promote or a bone to pick, or who'd
simply like to know what's going on." National Catholic
Reporter |
From Monsignor Peter Wells, Assessor, Secretariat of State, The Vatican 14 October 2013 Dear Mr Gibbons His Holiness Pope Francis has received your letter and he has asked me to reply in his name. He appreciates the sentiments which prompted you to share your artwork with him. The Holy Father will remember you in his prayers and he invokes upon you God's blessings of joy and peace. |
The white zuchetto cap worn by the Pope is a symbol of his authority - supposed to be taken off only before God. On 9 May 2013, Pope Francis had a different use for it - and the photo inspired the portrayal of him on the Spirit of Romero Gallery. |
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E-mail from Marie Dennis, Co-President of Pax Christi, being told of the
Gallery. "I am really impressed. It is so important to retell Romero's story to coming generations." |
Pax Christi International is a non-profit, non-governmental Catholic peace
movement working on a global scale on a wide variety of issues in the
fields of human rights, human security, disarmament, de-militarisation, just world order, religion and violent conflict. |
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