The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

On Sunday 25th November the new clergy vestry, funded by private donation, will be dedicated.   The glass doors feature two inscriptions which are explained here:

Catherine Mary Berryman 1915 – 2003
Anthony Arthur Berryman 1947 – 2005

My brother Anthony joined the choir as a probationer in 1957. At that time the choir of amateur men and boys under Martindale Sidwell was one of the finest Parish Church Choirs in the country and surpassed many of the Cathedral Choirs. In those days the choir sang both in the morning (matins) and at evensong and the boys rehearsed on Tuesday and Friday evenings and before each service.  They sang at weddings and funerals for which there was extra pay.  Anthony stayed in the choir until his voice broke and as soon as he was able went back as a tenor.  When in the late 1970’s it became increasingly difficult to find enough amateur men the choir became professional and also by that time the number of boys had declined and were supported by sopranos.  Anthony was  treasurer of the Friends of the Music and a member of the PCC.  He and his family moved to Marlborough in Wiltshire in 1983.  He became Independent Examiner for our church accounts in 1981 and remained so until 2004 thus keeping his link with Hampstead Parish Church.

In 1958 St Clement Danes Church was rededicated as the RAF church in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Martindale Sidwell had been appointed organist in addition to his post in Hampstead and, as well as singing at the rededication service, for a time our choir sang an early evensong there before coming back to Hampstead for our evensong.  They were given tea between the services.  This was arranged in the Moreland Hall (the Crypt Room wasn’t constructed until 1965). My Mother was asked to help with the tea and thus began her involvement with the church and the Friends of the Music.  She was, at different times, both Chairman and Secretary of FOM and organised such things as the choir boys’ Christmas party, the Carol Service party and the Summer Garden Party.  She always said she was better at fund raising through catering rather than concerts.  With Dick and Gay Rubinstein, my Father (Chester Berryman, commemorated in the church porch) and Mother ran the Jumble and White Elephant stall at the Spring Fair.  My parents also moved to Marlborough but continued to come back to Hampstead regularly until their deaths.