Boat race founder recalled

ELY mayor John Ison travelled to Scotland last week to celebrate an important anniversary for the University Boat Race. Cllr Ison visited St Ninian s Cathedral in Perth to mark the 200th birthday of Charles Wordsworth, an Oxford student who instigated t

ELY mayor John Ison travelled to Scotland last week to celebrate an important anniversary for the

University Boat Race.

Cllr Ison visited St Ninian's Cathedral in Perth to mark the 200th birthday of Charles Wordsworth, an Oxford student who instigated the historic race with school-friend Charles Merivale, a Cambridge graduate and former Dean of Ely. A similar service will be held at Ely Cathedral in 2008 to mark Dean Merivale's bicentenary.

"Both men were born at the beginning of the 19th century and their bicentenaries are being celebrated with cathedral services," said Cllr Ison.

"I was delighted to go to St Ninian's Cathedral, where there is a plaque commemorating Charles Wordsworth, a nephew of poet William Wordsworth."

Cllr Ison was joined by Ely district councillor Jack Waterfall, Cllr John Flynn, Depute Provost of Perth and Kinross, the Rt Rev Michael Hare Duke, a former Bishop of St Andrew's, and the Very Rev Hunter Buchanan Farquharson, Provost of St Ninian's Cathedral.

A specially-baked birthday cake was cut after the service, and Cllr Flynn gave Cllr Ison a shield with the Perth and Kinross coat of arms. In return, Cllr Ison gave Cllr Flynn a picture of Ely Cathedral from the river as it was in 1883, during Dean Merivale's lifetime.