The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds –
November!
– Thomas Hood, No!

So dull and dark are the November days.
The lazy mist high up the evening curled,
And now the morn quite hides in smoke and haze;
The place we occupy seems all the world.
– John Clare, November

I wonder why November conjures up dark thoughts? I rather like it. You can draw the curtains early and shut out the cold world; curl up in comfort with a book or knitting, the festive season holds out a promise of delights to come without actually being so close you have to do anything about it, we’ve not had time to tire of damp and fallen leaves and the trees aren’t quite bare. All in all a month to savour. But if it does depress you, if it is a ‘No’ month for you then the church has much to offer, so get your diaries out now and start making notes. On 7th there’s the yearly Scratch event which this year, departing from the tradition of doing a Requiem at this Remembrance season, we have opted for selections from Handel’s Messiah. Details are on page 16. But if you feel deprived of a Requiem then the setting for the Remembrance Eucharist the next day is Duruflé’s requiem, about which Gill Perrin writes on page 10.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the writer, musician and cartoonist, Gerard Hoffnung. See page 17 in this magazine to read details of a fascinating evening at Burgh House with Father Stephen and Annetta Hoffnung, Gerard’s wife on 26th November.

Don’t miss John Willmer’s article about The Sacred Flame, the Hampstead Players’ autumn production, on page 18. He starts with the opening verse of Coleridge’s poem ‘Love’ – I considered printing the whole poem till I looked it up and discovered it has 24 verses [most of them not entirely relevant to the play either!]

And, as the festive season does inevitably creep up on us, we have the Christmas Market! A variety of charities will have their wares on sale, the Friends of the Music will run a coffee and lunch stall, there will be a cake stall in aid of the Church Fabric Fund [Cakes please!] and a tombola in aid of the North Argyll Carers’ Centre [Bottles welcomed]. Traidcraft will have a range of Christmas cards and gifts as well as their usual food items and the Junior Choir will have a stall too. Times and other details on pages 26-27. The next day we celebrate St Cecilia with a special Choral Evensong. All our regular events continue and the month culminates in a Confirmation service on Advent Sunday [29th November]. So something for everyone and more than enough to chase away the gloom.

Now for a particular gripe of mine: my astonishment at the number of women who leave their bags in the pews when they go up to the altar rail for communion was only exceeded by the astonishment of one or two of them when I pointed out that this is really not a good idea. It’s a while since anyone had anything stolen and we’re getting careless, but in the past we’ve had our regulars who roam the pews because churches are known as places where people [mainly women] leave their bags unattended. If you look around you on a Sunday during the communion you’ll realise that 150-200 people are moving about – going up to communion, coming back, collecting children – would you notice a stranger slipping into a pew and emptying someone’s bag? Because I know the distress it causes when it happens I do urge you to be more careful and to remind others that it really isn’t safe. End of lecture.

We shouldn’t forget that whilst we’re busy burning Catholics on our bonfires this month our American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving – so much more civilised – and I came across this which I rather like [they’ll probably all tell me they’ve never heard of it across the Pond]:

T hanks for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A for autumn’s frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N for neighbours, and November, nice things, new things to remember.
K for kitchen, kettles’ croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that abounds.
That spells THANKS for joy in living and a jolly good Thanksgiving.
– Aileen Fisher, All in a Word

“N for November and nice things” – someone else who’s happy this month! So have a good read, make a note of it all, and enjoy.