As I write the bank holiday weather seems to promise that summer is on its way at last but I’m aware that by the time this issue is on the shelf the prediction is that we’ll be back to a chilly 12̊ or 13̊ and who knows what will be happening by the weekend. Never mind, we enjoyed it while it lasted! Hopefully coffee outside church, a rare enough phenomenon last summer, won’t be as rare this year. Being outside does make it easier for people to mingle, spread out, wander about and chat – the Crypt Room, as ever, proving less than adequate in that respect. Space, or rather lack of it, is an ever-present issue. How to make more out of our limited resources. It might seem strange to describe out beautiful building as ‘limited’ – visitors marvel at what a charming interior is hidden behind its rather ordinary exterior and that’s certainly true but what suited Victorian needs doesn’t necessarily answer so well in the 21st century. Now we need Sunday School rooms, meeting rooms, club rooms, a big space for big parties. We’ll all be going over to the Moreland Hall for Emma’s farewell on 23rd, and very lucky we are to be able to do so, but a nice big space attached to the church would be even better. Explaining the various stages in the growth of our building to some tourists recently I was struck anew by how often it has had to be altered, extended and converted, to keep up with the changing needs of the congregation and staff. We’ll probably never turn it round to face East again but who knows where the future will lead?
The Windows Appeal
The big push at the moment is the windows. They look lovely, don’t they? Especially the south side when the sun shines through them and casts rainbow beams across the floor. Money is coming in all too slowly to preserve the deteriorating lead holding the glass in place and if it doesn’t it’ll presumably be goodbye to Alfred Bell’s bequest and they’ll be just a heap of glass on the path. Please take a Windows Appeal leaflet, read the details of the work needed and consider what you could give.
Christian Aid
My thanks to the helpers who turned out into the High Street on 18th May to rattle buckets – between us we raised £126.95, not a huge sum but everything helps when you think how much can be bought for so little in Third World countries. The envelopes raised £550 on top of that. And this is following the very generous £1900 raised for Christian Aid’s Syria Appeal at Easter. Thank you all.
Events this month
All the usuals: Needles and Kneelers will be on the second Tuesday instead of the first, that is 11th June (this month only) and will extend itself to include knitters as well as menders. The end really is in sight for the kneelers – it ISN’T like the Forth Bridge, we will finish eventually. (I’m told with today’s new coatings they don’t need to be constantly painting the Forth Bridge any more but I suspect the idiom is here to stay and a hundred years hence people will still be saying it and then wondering why.) The Lunchtime concert on 5th features Renee Reznek on the piano and the Lunchtime Literary Hour on 19th will be ‘Feisty Females and Wanton Women’ – unmissable, surely? Barbara has written about it further on in this issue. Bach to Baby is on 18th this month: it’s £10 for an adult, children are free (as many as you can manage) as is the coffee and cake. These musical events to which parents can go with their children seem to be becoming increasingly popular and are held at a number of local churches – the children are free to roam, to get close up to the instruments, to dance if that’s how the music takes them, and each session ends with a sing-song round the piano.
And then the parties: we have TWO this month, one on the 23rd to say goodbye to Mother Emma and one on 30th to say hello to Mother Diana (who will have been ordained deacon the previous day at St Paul’s Cathedral – see diary for time). Emma’s party takes place on the same day as the Junior Choir Prom and it’ll be an All Age Eucharist (as her first service with us was); it’s also the weekend of the Pilgrimage to St Alban’s Cathedral to celebrate his feast day (22nd, – you can read more about St Alban further on in this issue). There was a move some years ago to make Alban the patron saint of England, rather than St George. I wonder what happened to that? Can a country decide to change its patron saint? Probably not without an enormous fuss!
Most people would give one or two hours a week….. (Parish survey)
Our volunteering opportunity this week concerns the Sunday school and can be found on page…… Is this something you would be interested in? You don’t have to be a parent, we will, of course, ask you to undergo a CRB check, and help and materials are provided.
Foodbank collections
The food we collect for the Camden Foodbank and the baby items for CARIS Haringey are all much appreciated but please read the pink leaflets outlining the sort of goods they need. These are people who literally can’t feed their families (or themselves, many are older singles) after they’ve paid their household bills, and a voucher for a foodbank provides them with 3 days’ worth of food while some longer term solution is sought by Social Services. They really do need the basics. I won’t go into the unsuitable items we’ve been given because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but do, please, imagine yourself in the position of someone who has no food in the house and no money in their purse when you shop for the Foodbank.