Today, 30 September 2026, marks 100 years since Durham School’s Memorial Chapel was dedicated by the Bishop of Durham on Speech Day in 1926.
Built to remember those who lost their lives in the First World War, the Chapel has been at the heart of Durham School for a century – a place of remembrance, reflection, worship and community for generations of pupils, staff, families and Old Dunelmians.
To mark this special centenary, our community is coming together for 100km. 100 days. 100 years of Chapel.
Throughout the Autumn Term, pupils, staff, parents and Old Dunelmians are invited to walk, run, row or take part in other physical activities to collectively complete 100km in 100 days, with the aim of raising £100 each.
Funds raised will be shared between our Chapel Restoration Fund and the Always a Rifleman Project, part of the Rifles Regimental Trust, which provides practical and emotional support to serving and former Riflemen in crisis.
Every donation, whatever its size, will help make our centenary a lasting force for good.Please support our participants with a donation.
Chapel Centenary Service
Our centenary celebrations will continue on Saturday 24 October 2026 at 5.15pm, when parents, pupils, Old Dunelmians and their guests are warmly invited to a special Chapel Centenary Service.
The service will bring together our whole school community to celebrate a hundred years of Chapel life and remember those whom it commemorates.
It will include the world premiere of a setting of Noel Hodgson OD’s poem Before Action, composed and conducted by Will Todd OD, with fellow OD Ralph Woodward at the organ. The Rt Revd Nigel Stock OD will preach.
For more details and tickets, please visit tickets.dcsf.org.uk.
As we look back through the Chapel’s history, archive photographs from its dedication on 30 September 1926 offer a glimpse into the occasion that began this remarkable chapter.
A century of remembrance. A century of community. A century of Durham School’s Memorial Chapel.
