Home | About Us | Learning | Living | News | Events | Contact Us 25 January 2007 Queen Anne’s girls perform in Westminster Abbey On 24 January 40 girls from Queen Anne’s School in Caversham, gave a public performance at Westminster Abbey of a dramatic piece to celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.  The Year 7 girls, aged 11 and 12 years, were invited by the Abbey’s Educational Officer to work with a group of professional actors for two days of rehearsals, culminating in a costume performance of Free for All on Wednesday evening. Queen Anne’s links with Westminster go back to 1698, when eight merchants first set up the Grey Coat Hospital Foundation and a few years later established the Royal Foundation of Queen Anne in Westminster.  Queen Anne’s School in Caversham was officially opened on Ascension Day in 1894 and has since retained its connection with the district, holding a celebratory service at the Abbey every three years.  Mr Rhodri Punter, Head of Drama at Queen Anne’s, said: “It is a great privilege to work with Westminster Abbey and the girls were very excited about performing in such an atmospheric and evocative space”. William Wilberforce, who led the long and arduous campaign against the slave trade, which resulted in the abolition bill, died on 29 July 1833 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, near his friend William Pitt. ENDS Notes for editors Queen Anne’s girls were joined at the rehearsals by pupils from Greycoat Hospital School, Westminster Under School and Westminster Abbey Choir School. > More News