“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade”. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Long before I joined the Hampstead Players (1976 – did you know they were celebrating their 40th anniversary this year?) I began my working life in the theatre before later moving on to Social Services. What people find surprising is that I considered the theatre just as useful experience for the role of a verger as social work. But there is a lot of staging involved in services and that’s particularly noticeable in Holy Week. On Palm Sunday we start outside and hold aloft our palms for blessing; on Maundy Thursday we re-enact the footwashing; on Good Friday a cross is carried the length of the church and erected at the top of the chancel steps for the rest of the service, on Easter Eve we light a bonfire, on Easter Day we renew our Baptismal vows and are sprinkled with holy water from the font. So it helps that one of Father Stephen’s gifts has been ‘staging’ the liturgy – to say nothing of his appearances with the Hampstead Players, of which we’ll hear more at the Friends of the Drama evening on 1st April I’m sure.
Of course drama has been part of our clergies’ roles for many years. In the interregnum between Francis Hall and Graham Dowell Keith Ward and Lawrence Hill (curates) performed a very dramatic passion play during the children’s service on Mothering Sunday considerably frightening some of the children; Derek Spottiswoode performed here long before he joined the Hampstead Players and then took part in several productions; Graham Dowell was in The Fall and Redemption of Man, Mark Cobb, Lyn Phillips, Ruth Tuschling, Matthew Woodward and Sarah Eynstone all trod the HP boards. (Interesting to note that at the start of the last interregnum all three curates were in The Tempest – possibly they wouldn’t have done that if they‘d known what was over the horizon!)
Considering our own impending interregnum the churchwardens are still open to suggestions for the Parish Profile – an essential part of the selection process – and write about it further on in this issue.
Meanwhile back the present, to March, to our events and services around Lent and Easter. The Stations of the Cross are prayed on Tuesday evenings at 5.30pm. If you’ve never been to this why not give it a try? We go slowly round the church, stopping at each set of pictures (‘Station’) to consider the events represented and to join in prayers from the booklet (available on the chest in the South Chapel); it takes around 45 minutes and you don’t have to stand all the time, as most of the pictures are near the pews you can sit at each one.
On to Passion Sunday (13th) and the St John Passion, performed by members of the choir under the direction of James Sherlock and accompanied by David Moore on the organ. The afternoon will be given over to rehearsing so the Tea Service, normally scheduled for the second Sunday of the month, has been moved on a week to Palm Sunday – 3pm as usual. This will be followed, at 6pm, by a programme compiled by Margaret Pritchard Houston under the title “Passion and Annunciation: Readings and Music for a Rare Convergence” performed by members of the Hampstead Players and the Church Choir.
Which takes us up to Holy Week – details of the services can be found on the diary page.
Outside services we also have the Lunchtime concert on 2nd, The Living Book Club on Sunday 6th, followed by Handley and Anne Stevens’ Golden Wedding Celebration after Evensong, South Hampstead High School concert on 7th, a Literary Hour for Passiontide on 16th and Hampstead Chamber Choir on 19th – inbetween which there’s going to be work done on the sliding doors on the north and south sides of the church, mainly because ‘sliding’ has become a bit of a euphemism – ‘sticking’ being more appropriate most of the time.
And because life goes on, even during an Interregnum, do look at the list of forthcoming events on the back cover and note them in your diary now – you wouldn’t want to miss the Spring Fair would you?