The organist librarian

Woke at 6.30 and slept in to 7.45 a.m. Organ now OK although more work needs to be done. Lights on console not working but fixed after service by Peter. We are into the summer mode with clapping Gloria. Found my diary next to the piano and dropped first age of Christ be our light on steps so rescued it in time to play it! I played Parry on "Martyrdom" As pants the hart which is lovely and has an interesting F natural on last page in A major - very English. Also Parry's Bridal March from the Birds ahich was played at the Queen's wedding - another fine piece. Norman and Sarah had watched last night's Prom on TV live. Had a snooze on return home and then painted porch and wall. Coming on really well - looks great! To Rachmaninov Prom. Noseda BBC Phil and Maryinsky theatre chorus with Russian soloists. Followed The Bells with the score I used for the Prom 5 years ago when Dad died. Lovely performance. Vocalese beautifully sung by soprano. A memorable concert. Home in ...

Woke at 9.45 after a restless night in Bruce's room. Seemed to be obsessed about changing trains - perhaps because I looked up travel to Acton on Tuesday late! To Homebase to get more Cornish cream weathercoat paint -consternation on return that it was green pot rather than blue but turned out to be new stock and the same waterproof paint. Did front and Liz did ladder and scaffolding stuff. Too hot to do back wall. Listened to Horrible histories prom full of screaming kids and puerile 8 year old humour but some nice music including Rite of Spring! To Mass - too late for vespers. Cooked fajitas. Fr Michael Durand plus 5 Spanish priests! I was thurifer again and all went well. Nick was present. Chatted to 2 ladies one who is blind and we never get chance to chat to them. Got copy of annual meeting financial statement. To prom and in time to hear a lot of Strauss Don Juan despite idiot on door 6 who directed us to door 2 should ahve gone straight to door 11! Walton violin concerto wi...

The house is now a delightful cream colour - first coat done today. It was warm but not too sunny. Liz did all the stuff on the ladders but I managed on the small ladder and it is now easy to get out onto the back roof through the new window. Vincent Coggin was due to sort out the organ today but he never eang with the time of his arrival so still have not met him. To Prom and we were early - met cathedral interfaith group member can't recall her name! An interesting programme of Honegger, Castiglione, Berg and La Mer very well played and conducted by Oliver Knussen. Thin audience. Home in an hour and picked up a blowup bed from Josie's for Liz to use. David Barrett died of pneumonia - so sad. Watched James Cox on British master painters - excellent programmes.

The windows are completed and look great! Liz started painting porch. Very nice interfaith lunch with lemon tart and Ivor gave us plum jam. 15 there. To Balham library and Sabina filled me in on the news. Daniel is there now and Chris went to Putney. I found the Bridge score in the basement and picked up other reserved scores. Good to see them all again and they all said I looked so relaxed! To prom - I was watching British painters so missed train and only arrived at 6.45 so went in general entrance for gallery out of lift and to a seat. Lady next to me sings with Tony Potter at Southwark cathedral. Beethoven symphonies 1 and 7 conducted by Thierry Fischer. New flute concertos by Marc-Andre Dalbavie and Elliott Carter who is 101! First like Debussy but second one too many percussion crashes! Home by 10.20. Found a February Tablet in Bruce's room where I slept as no curtains up.

Tuesday's prom was splendid. Took the car to Acton and babysat Ciarán while Liz and Lou shopped. Had a great time running in his bedroom On your marks get set Go! But sometimes he just went No! London Phil cond Jurowski with scores. Kodaly Dances of Galanta, Bartok Piano concerto No. 1 which makes much use of percussion, Liszt Dante symphony with chorus and an excellent tenor. Loved it! Wednesday to Polka theatre Wimbledon - Ciarán loved all the playground and a rocking dolphin. The show was about archaeology and worms and they ended up playing with sand and having a great time. Had lunch there. Drove around the common and tennis club but no sign of a playground so back to Acton as he had dropped off. He had great fun in their pool and Liz cut back the hedges and ivy. Took car to Albert Hall and paid for parking. No scores! Berlioz Corsaire, Faure Pavane, Pascal Dupasin piece for quartet and orchestra interesting and Firebird with exciting ending. Offstage trumpet had a monitor so...

Men arived at 8 a.m. to put in new windows in bathroom and back bedroom. Our bedroom tomorrow. Scaffolding arrived. I went to the library to pick up my reserved scores for the Proms and met Bola, Wisdom, Spanish lady, another reader and Zia all in 10 minutes visit - nice to see them all and some did not knwo I had retired! To tai chi - just 3 of us but the substitute teacher was good and we did various exercises and my balance was much better. Too late to go to Prom talk but we really enjoyed Mahler 9 with Norrignton conducting his last concert with the Stuttgart Philharmonic. Encore Elgar Elegy for strings which was just right. Convoluted way home via Green Park and East Croydon. Watched Question of sport and part of University challenge. Tuesday swam 40. Liz painting back of house. To see lawyer about mirror wills. Bought bird feeder.

To West Malling for 11.15 a.m. to rehearse with 3 cantors for Provincial President's Sunday. Horrid organ and swell not working properly - it packed up at start of Credo. All went well and the Catenians sang really well. Had wine on the lawn of the Bishop's house and a lovely Marks and Spencer picnic. Tea and cake in sunshine. Sat with Beckenham and John and Linda. Chatted to several brothers and Ann about music. A lovely day. Caught up on recorded programmes - Life of Muhammad, British painters and watched Sugartown part 1 which made me laugh.

Hoovered and cleared up. Liz painting pipes out back. I cooked tea - bacon/liver, mash and broccoli. Vespers and I was thurifer at Mass. To Prom which was most unusual with groups from Mongolia, Siberia and New Guinea. Enjoyed Charles Hazelwood conducting 1812 overture on scrapyard instruments. Watched Fake or Fortune and British Masters.

Lou and Bruce arrived last night and I got Ciarán off to bed after watching lots of Thomas. The prom was excellent - Elder conducting Halle. Lou took Ciarán to friends and I set up the new HDD recorder and the DVD player and we now have TV sound through your radio stereo speakers! At 2 p.m. we all went to Croydon crematorium for the burial of Grandma's ashes and lovely to see Fr Denis Paul again. Claire and Josie came and we all went to Dennis's for tea and cake iced by Liz. Ciarán on great form. Bruce took Lou and Ciarán home. We ahve enjoyed having him! Liz went to pub near school and I went to the Prom. BBC Philharmonic with new Spanish conductor - Ravel, Debussy, Falla. I found Ronde de Printemps score hard to follow and checked on recording when got home. Sat next to a nice Japanese lady and a man who works in Oxford. Met organist from St Andrew Catford.

Ciarán woke around 6.45. To Hormiman musuem and had not been there for years and it is transformed. Loved the aquarium and a quick tour of the music gallery. Had coffee and then to the Spa Beckenham for swim. Ciarán loves the water and did not have his armbands so held on to me but he did do some swimming and jumping in! He hardly slept today. Water plat in the garden and slide and trampoline. Watched a lot of Thomas the tank engine DVD and he took the cover to bed. Liz went to buy new HDD recorder and I put him to bed - he was quite lively despite the lack of sleep. Watched Prom on BBC4 - Halle conducted by Elder - Sibelius, Bartok and Janacek.

Ciarán woke at 6.30 a.m. and we were both awake. Went to Josie's to say goodbye to Malcolm and Ursula - C seemed very unsure at first. To Godstone farm where we saw lots of animals, went on a tractor ride and stroked a rabbit. He loved the soft play area. Evensong from Eton Choral course. Watched Apprentic final and Secrets of the Arabian Nights. Missed prom Fvorak and Smetana and Martin Baker's recital at the cathedral but lovely to put Ciarán to bed so happily. Exhausted! Interesting radio programme on the cello in literature.

Swam 38. Dennis and AnnMarie spent their first night in their new home and not changing curtains! Spoke to Rosemary and Lyn on Skype. To Bromley Parish church train to Penge West and 227 bus to turn pages for Daniel Beach - excellent playing and Daniel Burrowes cellist very good. Saint-Saens, Schumann, Vivaldi, Faure. Good audience. Got an apron at Early learning centre for Ciarán. To Royal Academy to see Hungarian photography. To Royal College of Music for session with Matthew Hope on the programme for the evening with violinist, oboe and trumpet very Gallic. He had us doing polyrhythms and instrumentalists improvising spring. 2nd in queue and Myung Wun Chung conducting Webern, Brahms double concerto and Rite of Spring. Saw Roy Parker from Bromley Catenians. Bizet Carmen encore and soloists played an elaborate duet encore too. Great concert. Did not stay for Schubert quintet - too tired!

Swam 32. To tip and John Lewis to look at HDD/DVD recorders - what to buy? To tai chi and only Lesley came - had a good chat. John and Darren helped move furniture at Glyn Close as Dennis and AnnMArie coming down tonight late. Too late to get to preProm talk on French literature. Proved to be an enjoyable evening with Myung Wun Chung conducting Orchestre Philharmonique du Radio France. Messiaen which I usually hate was pleasant, Dupasin new work effective last movement, Beethoven tiple concerto a pure joy. Chatted to several people.

Samll choir sang Panis Angelicus very nicely. They were thanked by Vickie as this is last Choir Sunday until September. To choral workshop 1 to 3 at RCM with Paul Spicer and professional singers - good line up of tenors. The Gothic symphony is very difficult and demanding but it gave us a feel for the work. To Stephen Farr's concert and Chris had given us seats in the circle. Alain, Bach, Liszt and premiere of Judith Bingham - all most effective and interesting. To gallery and listened to In tune and choral evensong from Ripon on my little radio. The Brian proved to be a mammoth work with great contrasts - effective quiet singing from a vast choir. Big audience too. Pretty tired after an exciting weekend. Turns out organists did not get into 3rd church on Saturday! The pedals ciphered completely this morning so abandoned Andriessen and played Stanley!

Saturday Richard rang and said do nothing about Tablet otherwise it will stoke the fire of tittle tattle. BBC chorus only have 2 rehearsals for Beethoven 9 one of them for people who have not done it before! To O2 which I had not seen - it was pouring but I saw some of the building. The prayer space is a temporary structure near the tube station and completely neutral. A warm welcome and saw several interfaith folk. No RC Mass there as the diocese said people could be expected to find Mass at North Greenwich! They set off on the Greenwich interfaith walk and I came home very easily on tube and overground trains via Canada Water - much better than going to London Bridge. Drove to Southborough and arrived at Speldhurst 2.30 so time to play the organ (Andriessen) then got lost on way to Fordcombe but in time to hear the organist play Vivaldi/Bach and a guide spoke about the church - not that interesting. At last I played and then dashed off coming to Selhurst via Westerham and Warlingham....

Sent Richard an email about Tablet article mentioning the chorus and saying we cannot sing Beethoven 9 from memory which is nonsense! Someone in the BBC chorus has it in for us!

Woke 5 a.m. and went back to sleep. Swam 30. Interesting feature on Janacek on radio 3 - the Proms start today! The feature on the Proms is on at 9 a.m. as I drive back from the pool. Moved rubbish to front garden, cleaned kitchen floor, put away Ocado shopping. To Blackhorse and parked to go to Beckenham for Harra Bramma'a recital. Dorio having more trouble from the priest who is rude. Bach rather muddy, Reger Canzona and very nice Whitlock Fantasie Chorale No 1 in D flat. Home for lunch and Liz off to Heythrop for chat and tour about her 2 year mission course on Saturdays. I took spare lettuce and cabbage to Josie and had tea. They have rented accomodation and go back Thursday. To V and A to see Jain sculptures and queued for gallery. Met nice Maltese girl and her boyfriend. Got seats and could walk to rail for a view. Splendid Judith Weir, Brahms Academic festival overture with chorus, Liszt Piano con 2 with score Ben Grosvenor only 19 stunning. He played Liszt Hungarian rhapsod...

Swam 30 - Melissa on reception only 2 more days there. Facebook chat to Steve in Canberra and Graeme in Glasgow. DVD/HDD player jammed with both buttons on. Right ear playing up - keep having to open it. Cleared out the shed and rearranged stuff and threw stuff out. Noticed on tfl that there had been a fatality at Clapham so got buses to the cathedral in time to be crozier bearer for Archbishop Vincent for vespers to mark end of cathedral choir school outreach day. Lead me Lord and O ineffabile. Good to hear the children sing the psalms and Salve. Spoke to Jeremy de Satge afterwards and gave David the PMM magazine. Tea at M & S. To National Gallery to see the lovely display of altarpieces. Missa rehearsal and spoke to Ann and Philip.

To St Lawrence Jewry to hear Catherine Ennis play - interetsing programme includign Delius and Durufle. To St Stephen Walbrook for walk round city churches. Chose St Bartholomew the less, St Sepulchre, St Andrew Holborn and Tony Tucker who is outstanding took us also to St Etheldreda's - quite a walk but lots of fascinating detail including an unusual clock and garden near St Paul's Greyfriars where queens are buried. Henry Wood's ashes at St Sepulchre, windows to Nellie Melba and John Ireland and Sargent memorial. St Andrew's has lovely icons and organ Handel played from Coram foundling chapel. Served at volunteers mass and to the Abbey to hear Margaret Phillips play Guilmant, Alcock, Bach and Fredrik Sixten. Had an excellent seat so could see her at the console. Wed last music session until Sept. Very nice soup at vegan cafe in Bethnal Green and Liz took Ciarán to the museum of childhood. To London Buddhist centre and 8 came - excellent guide and beautiful Buddha pain...

Last night listened to The Choir featuring Paul Mealor whose anthem was sung at the Royal Wedding and the Proms. Watched programmes on Ai Weiwei and British painters of the first world war period. Woke at 2 am so read about Buddhist teology and eventually dropped off. Swam 38!

Swam 27 - odd number because of slow swimmer in slow lane and fast swimmers as well leading to overcrowding. Melissa is leaving this week - will miss her sunny smile on reception! To Courtauld Institute to see the Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril exhibition. It is free on Mondays before 2 p.m. so crowded but lovely pictures and enjoyed the Impressionists and Botticelli. Also a fine small exhibition about gravity based around a Rubens. To South Bank centre to find it much transformed with a lovely roof garden on the Queen Elizabeth Hall and water feature, beach and funfair! To tai chi. As usual my route to OSmerest House was much better than tfl! Another lovely day. Clearing up garden and some pots already collected through freeCroydon emails. Coooked courgette souffle for the first time - very nice. Watched Antique master and Lif of Muhammad part 1. Liz picked up part of the house for the garden for Ciarán bought on ebay.

Slept badly again. We sang Simon Lole's "O God of mercy" 6 in choir and the Stephen Dean St Andrew's acclamations going well. Jill Cliff celebrated 80th birthday with Pimms. I played Webber on Lobe den herren (first played that when I was a teenager and had to play for the Mayoral service in Dad's absence) and Finlandia Dad's favourite. He passed away July 1999. It was appreciated! The children sang Panis angelicus really well. Edward George was at cathedral for Mass - he is here from South Africa. Had an hour's sleep after lunch. At evensong we sang Noble in B minor, Bairstow Save us O lord, The duteous day now closeth and Adrian played Bairstow's Toccata Prelude on Pange lingua - very satisfying. Cleared up garden pots. Liz is cutting down on them.

Tidied up garden and tried some planting in the old water feature. To Glyn Close - ssems Maggie has used material for upstairs downstairs and vice versa. It looks lovely! Served at confirmation with Bishop John Arnold - I was mitre and Liz was smoke. Bit thrown when he took it off for the Gospel and then did not want it for the homily but no matter. Took shirts and clothes I do not wear to the Passage and found a nice pair of black leather shoes in the locker so throwing out 2 pairs I don't like wearing! Tea at Marks and bought slippers and umbrella. Served vespers and Mass and met the new organ scholar Matthew who was at Queens Oxford and Tonbridge school before that. He starts in September. Nick sang well. Home accompanied by Massenet's Cendrillon. Nice pepper steaks and Italian ice cream. Liz practising songs. I played numbers from Noel Coward's "Bittersweet". "I'll see you again" is such a beautiful melody and so well constructed as a duet. Also ...

Waking up at 2 a.m. is no fun. Found my little torch and read more of "To kill a mocking bird". I did get back to sleeep eventually. Bruce is off to France today on his bike ride. Really enjoyed the BBC series "Inside the human body" and the man who got new hands transplanted moved me to tears of joy. Found out in time that the organ recital at Catford is cancelled today.

Swam 36! Liz to Glyn Close for furniture and curtains. To St Stephen Walbrook for excellent recital by Timothy Wakerell of St Paul's cathedral. Bach, CPE Bach, Gade, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saens. Then to St Vedast and Goldsmiths Hall for excellent display of modern silver using different techniques and a copy of the ancient silver bowl from Leicestershire. Home by 3 so spent an hour in the back garden getting rid of the compost heap and putting up a new border fence and tidy up. To practice - only 4 there. To Adrian's for end of term party - lovely food and wine and met Laszlo from Budapest.

Slept in and no swim. It was wet so nothing done in garden after all. Reading about Hinduism. Listened to evensong from Lichfield cathedral. Liz to hospital and op on hand could have been tomorrow! To chorus - 24 not running as Harry Potter fans had closed Trafalgar Square so got 73 and was late. Mahler 8 with Stefan. Watched programme on Apprentice 5.

II. Chorus For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls... -I PETER I Be patient, therefore, beloved until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. -JAMES 5 This is the passage I was recalling at the spirituality day yesterday from the Brahms Requiem. Whatever our problems the rain will fall and the sun will rise.

Tuesday woke early but fell asleep again so no swim. Beavers put in the carpets at Glyn Close and rang for help to unload the van so John and Darren went up there. It looks great. To 3.30 mass for retiring deputy director of education in Westminster. Should have been Archbishop Stack but he couldn't come so Archbishop Vincent instead and he was as nice as ever. We were mitre and crozier. Chatted to Richard Nesbit about Alexander's homily on Sunday and Abbot Christopher Jamieson - he said Worth Abbey had been refurbished. The music was dire including horrid Eucharistic acclamations and the head teachers did not sing much. To tea and cake in Acton and Ciarán on great form - he loves Thomas the tank engine and loved the little books Dennis sent. Liz bought him a new bath duck. Tom cooked a delicious meal and we enjoyed 2 bottles of good red wine. Watched Perfume. Wednesday to music and Ciarán was much livelier and involved and he sat on the bus quite happily. I went to spirituali...

Swam 16 as I was late. Woke at 4 a.m. Liz to singing lesson. I cancelled osteopathy session and my £6 had not been found last week. Met Malcolm and co at Tate Britain and they went to watercolour - nothing much provided for the kids. I thought the Vorticists very unimpressive but I liked the new modern section and the sculptures in the Duveen hall, also a film of arrivals at an airport accompanied by Allegri's Miserere. Met Shono my Buddhist friend. Walked to Vauxhall and train to Clapham Junction for tai chi. Bought flowers and biscuits at M and S and collected more scores from library. Jim and Lindsay were on duty from Battersea. Watched Sex researchers part 3 and evensong from York Minster. To Catenians 33 there and Luke Tope was enrolled. No meeting in August which is great.

Took Dennis to Mayday for course at 8 a.m. Only 5 in choir at Coulsdon but they did well. Played Parry on "Rockingham" and Moore Toccata. Short practice with Sean and Molly then to 12 noon Mass at cathedral. Fr Graham Stokes first supported by the cathedral clergy with an excellent homily from Fr Alexander -priest as doormat! First blessing and nice reception in the hall. No tennis on screen at CArdinal Place roof garden and chat to Ann Bond. Ate chicken at Wagamama then to British museum for free communities evening invite through Stephanie. Excellent talk on Treasures of heaven by assistant curator and we spotted ourselves on film of Therese of Lisieux at the cathedral. St Ethelburga's choir sang well. The exhibition is superb with a very fine audio guide. Loved the cross from the Pope's private chapel. The Mandylion oddly unimpressive but the Holy Thorn reliquaries were stunning. Beautiful ivories too. Really worth going! Interesting how we preserve items which rem...

Friday Liz went to school for Terry's farewell. I went to Tredici concert at St George's Hanover Square directed by Richard Thomas - lots of Philharmonia there in choir and in audience including Fiona Weir. They are good - Schutz, Brahms and Britten Rejoice in the Lamb minus the cat as she had lost her voice. Adrian Salter not that impressive as a soloist! I was early so sat in Hanover Square gardens in the sunshine. Practice went well and finished early with some Bruckner. Saturday train at 9 a.m. Dennis arrived Sat a.m. and had to be taken to Mayday for course. Ordination of 4 priests - splendid Mozart and Mawby and MacMillan. Gigout at the end very good to walk to. Went really well and moving too. Tea and sandwiches downstairs. Confirmation at 2 p.m. with Bishop Alan Hopes and Oratory junior choir sang well. Tea and no sign of Revd Emmanuel from Madras. Vespers and Mass with choir of St Peter's cathedral Belfast directed by Nigel McClintock - Haydn and Vierne. Very good...