Strange to think that Easter is already over and it’s only just April! Much gratitude is due to all those who contributed to the splendid music over the Easter period – from Maundy Thursday’s Ubi Caritas to Ed Price singing the Exultat on Easter Eve and then the grand finale, the choir and orchestra on Easter Day fairly raising the roof making their joyful noise to the Lord. Then there were the flower arrangers and cleaners – lilies reflected in shining brass, forsythia and fuchsia glowing everywhere you looked, and of course the flower cross which seemed even brighter and better this year! A huge vote of thanks to everyone concerned.
I suppose the most notable event this month has to be that Father Matthew is LEAVING. We’re all very sad but it’s in the nature of curates that they come and go and leave a gap in all our lives. Much will be said at his farewell party on 9th about his unique contribution to parish life so I need only wish him well in his new parish – St Saviour’s, Pimlico. The Licensing is on Monday 11th April at 7.30pm and many of us will be going down there to support him.
Regarding the administrator’s job here I can only say that an offer has been made and I really hope it will be accepted! All being well we should have someone in post from th beginning of May.
We have several musical events this month. On 16th April the New Professionals will be performing Dvorak and Brahms – you can find full details of their concert further on in the magazine, along with information about the Lunchtime Prom on 24th April. Jan-Filip is a member of the 10.30am congregation whom many of you will recognise and we look forward to hearing him. There’s also another episode in our very popular Desert Island Discs series on Tuesday 19th when the castaway will be Derek Spottiswoode – an ideal role for one newly returned from a cruise! Tickets are limited so see the advertisement and apply without delay. Finally, on 23rd April we welcome the Oratory School for another of their school concerts – no details yet but look out for more information in the weekly pew sheet.
Sneaking a look at May, of course we have the Hampstead and Highgate Festival, programmes for which are available in the church. It promises to be an exciting week; the BBC will be recording Ralph Kirschbaum on the 12th and local schools will be singing on 17th.
The Study Centre is 30 years old this year and to celebrate they are having a special Evensong here on Sunday 24th at which the preacher will be Eric James, no stranger to the Study Centre or our pulpit. The committee have invited speakers who, though they may have been back over the years, were all involved in the early days of the Study Centre [when it met at The Hall School, it wasn’t always here]: we have Canon Richard Truss and the Rt Revd Richard Harries , both former curates, Prebendary Donald Barnes, Vicar of St Peter’s Belsize Park at the time the Study Centre opened and Dr Pamela Tudor-Craig, Art Historian who has given many an entertaining talk over the years. It promises to be a most enjoyable summer. Their programme can be found further on in this issue.
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held on Monday 25th April in the Moreland Hall. [This is part of the Parochial School and the entrance is under the arch by the Everyman Cinema.] At this meeting Churchwardens, PCC and Deanery Synod members are elected and the parish accounts presented. Anyone on the parish electoral roll has the right to vote at the meeting and all parishioners are welcome to attend and have their say in the running of the parish.
Judy East
On the internet
The British Library site bl.uk [which must surely be the shortest address] is well worth a browse for its lead into recorded voices, page turning for some of the world’s most beautifully illustrated books [The Lindisfarne Gospels for instance] as well as Leonardo’s notebooks. Did you know you could view Shakespeare’s plays printed in quarto before the theatres were closed in 1642 and compare editions? Or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, comparing Caxton’s two editions of 1476 and 1483. Or the Gutenberg Bible?
And on a new project they write:
“Be a part of ‘Collect Britain’
“Travel through time and place with Collect Britain’s panorama of images from the British Library. Maps, prints and drawings, photographs and documents, rare early sound recordings from around the globe – you’ll find them all here over the coming months as the site builds a rich picture of the country’s regional history.
“By Summer 2004 you’ll be able to view and hear a staggering 100,000 images and sounds.
“Explore the specially selected collections, take a themed tour or visit a virtual exhibition. Collect Britain uses high-resolution images that may take a few minutes to load on slow internet connections.
New features on Collect Britain include:
Illuminated manuscripts
Medieval treasures reveal art and culture across Britain and Ireland. The way we speak
England’s regional dialects and accents preserved.
Lost gardens
Gardening history over six centuries.
The Grimm north
Samuel Grimm’s 18th-century Northumberland Sketchbooks – plus Durham: Echoes of Power.
Quiz time!
Take our East End Challenge.
This project was funded by a grant from the New Opportunities Fund”
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70% of all emails are spam!
A rather long-winded cautionary tale has been circulating our emails lately – you may have received it from someone – relating a disastrous series of events set up by someone getting someone else’s email address and posing as a friend of a friend of a …….. etc. I won’t repeat it all here but it is worth considering the recommendations it made: use bcc to hide the recipients’ addresses and delete all the addresses in the body of the email if you are forwarding a circulated message.
April
Judy East