The first day of spring is one thing, and the first
spring day is another. The difference between them is
sometimes as great as a month.
Henry Van Dyke (1852B1933)Fisherman’s Luck (1899)
which just goes to show that the weather was as unpredictable in the nineteenth century as it is today.
Whatever the weather we managed to hold our Spring Arts and Crafts Fair – an enjoyable and successful occasion, raising some £4695 for the charities the parish supports and thoroughly celebrating Merrie May on the Saturday evening with Barbara Alden’s entertainment. If you have any observations on the weekend we=ll be holding a post mortem on Sunday 2nd June after the 10.30am service.
We are deservedly having a quieter month in May.
By no means empty though. The Hampstead Christian Study Centre is back with us for a short season on The Inklings. And there are all the usual bible study groups as well as a lunchtime concert on 1st (over by the time you read this) and a Literary Hour on 15th when we remember with much affection a long-standing member of the Hampstead Players, Cliff Burgess, who delighted us with many a comic Shakespearean character – David Gardner has written more about him further on in this issue. No need to be a Hampstead Player to come – I’m sure it’ll be an entertaining event for everyone. Then the Friends of the Music are holding an evening with Graham Johnson on 16th
Ascension Day
Thursday 9th May: the Junior choir will be singing the Eucharist at 7.00pm. Setting: Mass in D Moore, Anthem: Panis Angelicus Franck
Admission to First Communion
A big event in the life of the church is the Admission to First Communion of some of our younger members of the congregation at Pentecost – and what better time could there be to start this new chapter? We hope that as many people as possible will come to support the children in this important step in their spiritual lives.
Christian Aid Week
This runs from 12th – 18th May and as usual we=ll be making our presence felt in the High Street on Saturday morning. Last year we all went out at the same time (not all standing together but spread out so no one could possibly miss us) and it was more successful, as well as being more fun, than going out separately. If anyone would like to help between 11am and noon please let me know – I have plenty of street permits. (People sometimes accuse us of only helping Christians which, of course, isn=t the case at all – Christian Aid is called Christian because it’s churches raising the money but we help anyone. Please put anyone right who still holds this view!) You can read more about Christian Aid further on in this issue.
Needles and Kneelers
As some of you know a small group of us meet once a month on a Tuesday afternoon to mend the church kneelers. Whilst this is never, I fear, going to be a popular activity, or indeed ever end, the renewed interest in needlecraft has prompted us to consider extending the group to include knitting, sewing and crochet – a group where people can come together to share their expertise (or lack of it) and we can help each other. If you haven’t any ideas but would like to get started I have some patterns from Operation Christmas Child for toys suitable for their shoebox appeal and will bring them, along with some wool and needles. This month we’re meeting on Tuesday 7th, in June it will be 11th. We generally start at 2pm but that’s open for discussion—if 1-3pm suits you better we can think about that.
May
Judy East