PHEW! Pupils' pews are back after six years

Chapel's seating was replaced with folding chairs

- By DAVID HUMPHREYS

HISTORIC pews have been returned to one of Liverpool's most prestigious schools after they were controversially ripped out.

Back in 2019, former staff and pupils were outraged when iconic pews were removed from the Grade II* listed Fenwick-Harrison Memorial Chapel at The Blue Coat school in Wavertree.

Then-headteacher Michael Pennington, who left the school a year later, was accused of making the chapel look like a “conference hall for used car salesmen” after removing dozens of rows of seating.

The 33 pews were a centenary gift from the school’s brotherly society ‘The Old Blues’ in 1938 - and feature in a famous painting of the chapel by acclaimed artist Norah Heyson.