Foundation
Miles Amherst founded The Abbey School Tewkesbury in 1973 to provide a choir school to serve Tewkesbury Abbey. The school was housed in the former Girls' High School, Avonbrook House, and began with only 5 boys. Numbers steadily grew and at its height the school provided education for over 120 boys and girls from the age of three to thirteen. An extensive range of broadcasts and recordings attest to the choir's high standard, whilst a large number of pupils were provided with substantial bursaries as Miles Amherst endeavoured to help the less fortunate of the local community.
Sadly the school was forced to close in 2006 owing to a downturn in pupil numbers. However, to the great relief of the Amherst family Dean Close School saved the choir and thus Miles Amherst's dream of choral evensong in Tewkesbury Abbey survives. The choir has been renamed Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum and sings in the Abbey on weekdays.
The Church Times reported on the choir's most recent recording, 'The Three Kings': 'I doubt whether there are many more admirable choirs outside Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge than the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum.'
Michael Amherst used the proceeds from the sale of the school site to found Avonbrook Projects Abroad. The charity's name was chosen as a nod to its inception and also to Miles Amherst's work in helping the underprivileged.
