TWO of Derby’s most historic institutions have worked together to record a very special version of God Save the King to celebrate this weekend’s coronation.
Pupils from Royal School for the Deaf Derby’s choir used British Sign Language to perform the National Anthem, while Derby Cathedral’s choir sang in accompaniment.
The finished version is available to watch on the Ashbourne Road’s social media sites and has been viewed hundreds of times already.
Although launched the day before King Charles III’s coronation, the collaboration also marks National Deaf Awareness Week.
Head teacher of the school, Paul Burrows, said: “Our school is the only royal school in the area and we wanted to do something really special to mark the coronation and Deaf Awareness Week.
“We have established very good links with Derby Cathedral and it was a genuine joy to work with the choir on this performance.
“The result is incredibly moving and I think you can see on the children’s faces just how proud they were to be able to record this tribute to the new King.
“We hope everyone enjoys this performance as much as the choir did performing it, who knows maybe the King himself will visit our school one day in the future.”
As well as the performance, the school also marked Deaf Awareness Week by launching a campaign to get wider recognition of its work with the help of local dignitaries.
Staff and students want to put the city on the map as home to the historic school and the good work it achieves with deaf children from across the UK.
The great and the good from across the county have lent their support to the campaign including the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Liz Fothergill, the new High Sheriff of Derbyshire Theresa Peltier and Mayor of Derby, Councillor Robin Wood.
They have each recorded a short video of themselves using British Sign Language (BSL) to say ‘Welcome to Derby, home of the Royal School for the Deaf’.
The concept was the brainchild of headteacher Paul Burrows who is keen to raise awareness of the great work achieved at the school, which is based on Ashbourne Road.
He said: “Derby is well known as the city of planes, trains and automobiles, as it should be, of course. But it is also the home of our wonderful school which has helped create the largest deaf community outside of London – a fact which should be celebrated too.
“There is no reason why the school shouldn’t be just as an important name to the city as Toyota or Rolls-Royce. In fact, for the deaf community it is probably more important.
“It is the only school for deaf children which has a Royal status, which was granted by Queen Victoria during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I want everyone in Derby to be proud of our school and everything that it achieves.”
Dean of Derby, the Very Revd Dr Peter Robinson, former High Sheriff of Derbyshire Michael Copestake and Derby North MP Amanda Solloway have also contributed to the series of videos.
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