I first became involved with Hampstead Parish Church at the time Eli Hall was the incumbent and Richard Harries his curate. Cleaning of the church was paid for by the parish (£330 in 1961) but every spring Eli and his wife organised a big clean of the church by the parishioners and anyone else who was prepared to turn up with cleaning materials and plenty of elbow grease. One of those parishioners took me in hand and together we cleaned lots of pews. That experience was soon forgotten when I left the country and on my return to London a parishioner spoke to me after morning service saying that he knew me. It was Dick Rubinstein who’d previously cleaned those pews with me.
Due to falling income, the church initiated a volunteer scheme. Parishioners were recruited to take on a programme of regular cleaning. At that time, Alan Welsford (father of Robert) was in charge of organising this and I wrote to him volunteering to help. On 19th March 1974 I received a letter from Gay Rubinstein inviting me to join her team and thus found myself becoming friends with both Dick and Gay, a friendship which lasted until their recent deaths. John Petti and John Rogers (the latter now long deceased) made up our team. We had such fun together. Looking back I find it hard to believe that we achieved so much. We cleaned the common parts of the body of the church plus the vestry, the crypt room, kitchen and toilet, between 7.30 and 9.30 p.m. (There was no Gregory, Allatson or Thorns rooms, the undercroft was developed later).
Cleaning the church brings with it an intimacy, a feeling of ownership and a familiarity for which there’s no other opportunity. It is quite odd at first, to find oneself on hands and knees, especially behind the altar, dusting the ledges underneath, mindful of its focus as the holiest spot in the building or standing on a chair brandishing a feather duster to the wooden panelling and carving. I recall the first time I polished the prie dieu which stands in the Lady Chapel and discovering it bears the following inscription:
To the glory of God and in memory of Mildred Aline Bell who died by a fall on the Matterhorn, July 25 1901 Aged 20 years.
A few fellow workers and pupils in the Sunday School and Band of Hope dedicate this Faldstool
It is an open secret that the church actually breeds dust ask anyone who sweeps or vacuums it. One of the favourite collecting points for it (apart from the galleries) seems to be the choir stalls. I subsequently took on cleaning and polishing them (previously the domain of *Mary Knox). The shelves beneath are a treasure trove of plastic cups , bottles of water, cough sweet wrappers, pens, pencils. It appears that when Mary was unable to continue she produced a two page memo with solemn instructions as to the best techniques to apply to this task, including a dire warning not to use brown polish in case it stained occupants’ clothing! One was to start by doing 2 hours’ work in the morning (allowing for morning service) and return in the afternoon for a further 2 hours to complete the job. She certainly was thorough. For my part, I often find it a challenge at a Sunday morning eucharist, not to dream of the day when the choir and clergy wear white gloves, especially when I am removing all the fingerprints which get left behind.
My favourite trove when pew cleaning was a balloon and one grey army sock, though I have also found umbrellas, gloves and more mundane items of clothing. A greater problem is caused by discarded food (I am terrified of mice)!
The church is saying goodbye to Richard and Debra Bryan, whose involvement with the church will be missed. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Debra for her cleaning work and to encourage more volunteers, not only to take up the vacancy created by her departure (7 pews) but to ensure that we have sufficient people power to maintain the high standards of cleaning achieved under the leadership of Gaynor Bassey (now retiring as team leader after 10 years hard work creating new initiatives as well as a high standard of care).
I am aware that time is as precious as money these days in the high speed world we live in, but giving a little time to this service reaps unexpected dividends far and above the pleasure of seeing the church shine. It brings friendship and fellowship. This is very evident at Easter and Christmas when two of the major all hands on deck’ cleaning blitzes occur at 10 a.m. this year on 7th April, 7th July, 22nd September, 3rd November and 22nd December next. Please do feel free to come along with a duster, broom or even just a pair of willing hands and explore those parts of the church you’ve perhaps not quite seen from an unusual angle before, even if you feel unable to commit any time on a regular month by month basis
When I am cleaning and visitors arrive, they quite often remark how clean and well kept our church is and how lucky we are to have such a beautiful building. Why yes, our house is very clean and with your help we can keep it that way.
(*a long serving member of the congregation daughter of E. H. Shepherd and illustrator of Mary Poppins.)