The whole school, alongside his family, joined together on Friday 16^th June for a Service of Thanksgiving to remember and give thanks for the life of Louis Simpson, a pupil at the school from 2013 to 2017.

The service was held in St Faith’s Church, Crosby and was planned and prepared with great love by Louis’s friends in Year 9  – they had reflected on their friend who had such an impact on them and with whom they shared laughter, joy, fun and also difficult times.   Through it all, and through facing the death of so lovely a friend, they honoured Louis in their prayers, readings, music and thanksgiving.   The service was very beautiful and all of us who were privileged to be there, while very sad, were also uplifted by the actions of Year 9 pupils and deeply proud of them.  The Middle Girls’ School Chamber Choir’s rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, one of Louis’s favourite Liverpool anthems, was particularly poignant.

After the service, a tree was planted in Louis’s memory on the Boys’ School site in the presence of his family and friends.

This service will undoubtedly remind the pupils of the friend they have lost and their personal sadness so the following advice from bereavement experts may be helpful as you talk with your son or daughter:  

• Tell the truth. Talk about death vs. “going to sleep.”
• Allow for your son to talk about feelings. If this is the first loss your son has experienced, he may not know how to respond and will be looking for your guidance.
• Affirm all expressions.  It is okay to express feelings honestly. Tolerate the expressions rather than dismissing them or discouraging the expression of feelings.
• Encourage for written expressions such notes, letters
• Reaffirm that your child is safe and that your child is loved.
• Affirm that your son’s reaction is normal and you understand the way he feels.
• Help your son to return to as normal routine as possible.

Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School was delighted to welcome 80 Year 5 and 6 primary school pupils to take part in its annual Kwik Cricket Festival in Crosby.

Kwik cricket is a high-speed version of cricket aimed at encouraging children to take part in the main sport.   Many of the rules are adapted from cricket and can be altered so that virtually any number of children can play in the time available.  For this festival each school brought 10 players – with 8 per team on the pitch at one time and each team played 4 games and had a great day of cricket.

The festival winners were St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Little Crosby.  Rachael Webb, who brought the victorious team, commented that “the pupils were absolutely thrilled to win.   For some of them, it was the first thing they have ever won with school”.     Thomas from Year 5 said “it was amazing!    We’ve never done a cricket tournament before, or even really played cricket, so it was really great to win!   It’s one of my favourite memories ever from school.”  It was the first time the pupils from Little Crosby had visited Merchant Taylors’ which made the victory even more special for them.

David Cook, Headmaster at Merchant Taylors’, was delighted to welcome so many enthusiastic cricketers to school.  “Currently we have 8 boys from various year groups who have been selected for Lancashire cricket teams.  One of our pupils, George Lavelle, captained the England Under 16 team in 2016 and has been selected to play for the full Lancashire 2nd XI in several games already this season.   Another of our 1^st team players, Tom Hartley represented MCC Schools at Lords last year and we are celebrating our Under 15 team recently becoming North of England champions in the ESCA Cup.   It is excellent to see so many boys and girls taking part in today’s festival and that the future of the sport looks to be in safe hands”.