Entering the church one day last week I was immediately struck by the light – sunlight was streaming across the ceiling, highlighting the gilding and lighting up the arches. What strange manifestation was this? Not the sunlight itself, though that’s rare enough this summer, but the absence of two of the stained glass windows had caused this vision. So the church must have looked in the 18th century when it was built – a building full of light, its delicate architectural features showing to full advantage. It also answers a question that often lurks in the back of my mind on dull days – how did they see to read before the advent of electric light? I know now. Of course our windows are beautiful but I enjoyed this glimpse of a different era and a surprising link with our worshipping forebears.
Back in the present July begins (well June ends really) with the welcome of our new deacon, Diana Young. We hope her time with us with be fruitful and enjoyable and look forward to getting to know her better.
Choir News
The choir term ends mid July when we’ll be saying goodbye to two of our sopranos – Eleanor Ross and Julia Featherstone. We’ll be having an ‘end-of-term’ party on 14th after Evensong when the choir will entertain us with madrigals and we’ll entertain them with wine and strawberries. We’ll miss the splendid music but will have several weeks to hone our own singing skills on congregational mass settings. They’ll be back on 8th September and there’ll be the usual Friends of the Music Garden Party the following week (16th)
Summer events at HPC
Not everything stops for the summer – we have lunchtime concerts on 3rd July and 7th August (David on the organ, always a treat) and Literary Hours on 17th July and 21st August. And certainly not quiet on the children front – following last year’s success another Holiday Club will be held, running from 29th July – 2nd August (book places through Liz in the vestry). And The Hampstead Players are bringing the Forest of Arden to HPC for their performances of As You Like It (in church from 11th-13th July.
A welcoming church
The summer months do bring extra visitors to our church and stewarding becomes doubly important. Our rather small team is just about covering Wednesdays and Saturdays but struggling with much more than that. We have a sewing group that fills up one afternoon a month – now that the hassocks are complete we’ve extended our activities so do bring your knitting or sewing and join us – 2nd July and 6th August, 2-5pm. You can knit anything you like but if you’re short of ideas I have patterns for gloves, hats and puppets suitable for putting in shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Does anyone have any ideas for other things we could do in church to keep it manned (‘peopled’? I see from Google that missions to space are now called ‘personed’) whilst providing a welcome for our visitors?
War on Weeds
Whatever we might think about the weather it’s clear that plants love it and whilst the flowerbeds tended by Jenny’s helpers and Anthony Hutton are flourishing gloriously so, alas, in other parts of the churchyard are weeds! Luxuriant growth is springing up along the edges of the building, self-seeds are rapidly turning themselves in trees and all-in-all it needs, not so much tender care as all-out attack. The nurturing team meets on the first Saturday of the month so I suggest the more destructive among us join in on 3rd August for a seriously aggressive attempt to get the place into some sort of order.
July and August
Judy East