Water, water everywhere…

23rd April 2012

Welcome back to all the boys – and parents – after the Easter break.

Lots of topics could have headlined our assembly this morning: St George and Shakespeare’s birthday to name but two. But I chose the simple subject of water.

It’s no surprise of course that as soon as a hosepipe ban is introduced in England, it starts to pour with rain! But the long periods without rain, leaving us in a very British drought, remind us of the importance of water to us all, and to the world.

I took the boys on a whistlestop tour of Ancient Greek thinking about water this morning. The primacy of the ‘elements’ (Earth, Air, Fire and Water), and the correct theory of ‘atoms’, thousands of years before the existence of atoms and molecules could be proved. And, in an early Geography lesson by the historian Herodotus, an accurate theory of why the Nile floods in summer – bringing about the grain supplies that fed empires from the Persians through to the Romans and beyond.

However annoying it is not to be able to water our rhododendrons, we all realise how important water is to people everywhere. Water is also a symbol of faith – our faith is the water of life, and whichever faith we have, God flows through us as a river of truth. Let’s hope there’s no drought in this river.

Wishing you all a great summer term.