Weekend in Brighton

Friday evening I got the train to Coulsdon South where Liz picked me up and we drove to Brighton. She had had a busy time when she found some bugs had eaten away the carpet under one of our sofas! The Grace and Compassion sisters have 4 different addresses in Brighton and eventually we found the right one in pouring rain - St Benedict's in Kemp Town. A delightful house with every comfort including en suite and TV in the room. As we missed supper we went into town and ate fish and chips at Harry Ramsden's. This proved an ideal quiet retreat with morning and evening prayer in the lovely chapel and daily Mass,excellent food and a warm welcome and good company. We sat at table with a delightful elderly Sister from Ireland visiting her dying sister-in-law in hospital and today we met Fr Carl from Hove. Saturday we set off to try and find an organ recital in Herne Rd but abandoned it and went on to English Martyrs, Goring-on-Sea with its remarkable copy of the Sistine chapel ceiling. Unfortunately the artist used acrylics so while the colours are excellent and it is a remarkable achievement something is not quite right! Intrigued by his painting of the Last Supper! Visited Brighton Marina twice and enjoyed the wonderful sea views. Listened to the Brass evening prom on radio 3 featuring Janacek's Sinfonietta. Today I played for Mass on the one manual Wyvern organ - Bodley's Mass of Peace which I did not know and this was much appreciated. After an excellent roast lunch we drove to Rottingdean where we enjoyed the beach walk and an ice cream before returning home in sunshine. Tonight's Prom on BBC4 was Faure's Shylock suite, Berlioz's Nuits d'ete with Anne Sophie von Otter and Bizet L'Arlessienne- a nice programme but sparsely attended!