The organist librarian

Served as requiem at the cathedral for John Stewart aged 92 with the Durufle requiem. The black vestments and pall rather made it very sad and not much of a celebration of her life and no organ at the end. Only one hymn! Think I preferred Eric's! Tube and train to Greenwich for the film of Giulio Cesare from the Met - joined up and sat with Terence, Adrian and Mary. Fabulous singing and staging. Alice Coote  was Sesto. Liz had got the car and picked me up at Elmers End. Bruce here to do back garden.

Swam 22 and put down black stuff in front garden then stones came and Bruce spread them out. To mosaic and tai chi - Tony was late and I left at 1 to get to Heythrop. Got vouchers for restaurant for filling in student surveys. Spoke to Eddie Howells and Bob Thomas about Eckhart. The seminar was on love and knowledge in Christian spirituality in relation to Augustine, Bonaventure and the Cloud of Unknowing. Stefan had some great cartoons! Paul was good on Bonaventure. Had dinner and then to Covent Garden for a most enjoyable Zauberflote on student ticket £8! Christopher Maltman was excellent as was Brindley Sherratt. Home to watch final of University challenge.

Mutual admiration society!

Took Liz to the station and on return played through "Worthy is the Lamb" and sang tenor arias from Messiah. Played Vernon Griffiths on "Dominus regit me" and got a clap for "Worthy". Happily signed the contract and practised. Started work on the Knitter/Thompson essay. Liz worked on her essay. I went to evensong where we sang Dyson in F and Tommy's "My beloved spake". Weeded front garden ready for the new stones coming tomorrow morning. Watched Antiques roadshow and The Village which continues to be bleak.

Liz went off to Vaughan House. Louise had stayed overnight and went off shopping.  I submitted my Dialogue account and did the reading Michael had given me. An interesting article by Denys Turner about "Do we worship the same God" - answer we don't know. To Bloomsbury Baptist for Gary Sieling's excellent recital. Saw Jane and Gary before and afterwards - for once I was able to stay for the tea! A nice programme Bach Passacaglia, Brahms, MacDowell (there is no truth that he wrote this to a girlfriend called Rose who was a bit wild) Clerambault, Stanley, Britten and his own Toccata and Fugue on the Pink Panther theme. Great to have some humour! Then to the first part of Mass which was for new Christians - Alistair sang really badly. Archbishop Vincent. 507 bus to St John's Smith Square for the long awaited memorial concert for Lisa. Saw Richard Wiegold and met Jenny Bacon who is the widow of the first general manager of the Sydney Opera house - Lisa used to go to t...

Swam 22 - woman in yellow cap insisted on going fast in our lane when she could have gone in fast lane! Some people! To Heythrop to see Michael Barnes and discussed essays and dissertation which is now Meister Eckhart and Buddhists: what appeals to Buddhists? Think I can cope with that. Chatted about opera and Giulini. Had a delightful lunch with Michael Redman - always an interesting chat. Worked in library on Eckhart reviews. No. 9 bus on a lovely sunny afternoon to Somerset House - a good exhibition on Becoming Picasso 1901 at the Courtauld and then a fine photography exhibition in the East Wing. Some amazing photos. To SS Anselm and Caecilia in Kingsway for Mass celebrated by the Archbishop for Michael O'Leary 50 years as server and diocesan award and 50 years of Guild at the church. Ian Coleman directed Mozart Spatzenmesse and Palestrina. Not sure his unaccompanied psalm setting worked for the congregation! Home to watch programme on Turner.

Swam 22. Did some research for talk looking back through the blog - in the end I had too much material! To Corpus Christi Brixton - church open so able to sit in there and wrote in book for Fr Tom. Hall was OK and showed films on laptop. Maud and Xavier spoke well and all went well. Xavier particularly liked the mosaic from Jaipur so gave him the copy and Music and Liturgy as well. Nice lunch and a good turnout. To Heythrop and guess what Joey Draycott did not turn up to talk about his weird dissertation so chatted to 2 philosophy students and also saw Lokahi foundation director. Larry is off to Crete. Read some Eckhart reviews. To Angel and meditation centre. Laurence Freeman was late so started with meditation and he gave an excellent talk on Jesus and mentioning Dalai Lama and Panikkar. I asked a question about rainbow body and Eckhart. Nice eats and met Bridget, Maggie, Chris, Natasha and Liam. 30 there. Finished at 9.20 and train delayed coming home. Sent menu choices to John Thi...

Tuesday Harry Mellor gave me a lift to Catenian provincial council - I was presented with a bar for my miniature so I can now return the second miniature. Harry is about 85 and his driving is a bit erratic! Liz went over to Acton. Music was good and Seán enjoyed it. We had a lovely Indian meal with delicious naan bread. I looked after Seán while Liz and Louise went to help with the garden at nursery and he was good as gold. It was lovely and warm so we ended up in the garden. Liz went to RCIA and I really enjoyed Andrew Read's recital - Ireland, Parry, Vierne, Franck and thrilling end of Firebird.  I was reflecting how lucky I am to have heard Peter Wright and Andrew play this week, the 16 last week and the Royal Academy and Laurence Freeman speaking tomorrow. Met Dominic and Rosa, told Andrew about Saturday and Andy Scott.

Liz went to confirmation class and I went over to Beckenham for the Catenian meeting. Eddie became President yet again. It was announced that Barry Mellish expects to be ordained deacon on June 8th and this is also the date for Fr Jack Madden's golden jubilee. Alas I am already booked for the Westminster interfaith peace walk in Hertfordshire so will miss it. I had hoped to play the organ for it. Mike Cox asked me for someone to play at Bromley on May 5th so I sent him some names. I realised I had forgotten to cancel the hearing aid appointment at St George's. Swam 22 and saw my Malaysian friend - he has been over there for a month. We now have a good number of servers for the conference Mass.

Swam 20. To cathedral to serve at Eric's funeral. Emmanuel was an absolute pain and Patrick did his best. Nice to see Fr Robin and Fr Kingsley there and a good crowd including Knights of St Columba John Campolini among them. Reuben was cantor and we had Bach Prelude in C at the end after Thine be the glory. Eric was a true gentleman and often attended ecumenical events - he will be much missed. After eats in the hall jumped on a No. 11 which then decided to terminate at the Abbey so walked across Parliament square looking at the statues in the sunshine to get tube to London Bridge. Arrived in time for Peter Wright's recital of Guillou, Bach, Delius and Jongen evoking spring! Excellent.

Had a nice lunch. At evensong we sang Batten and Purcell O Lord my God. Watched Father Brown, Antiques road show. The Village continues to be pretty bleak!  Interesting story from Canon Moger yesterday about a faithful churchwarden who had been a builder and was moved to tears by a simple service where he could light candles, burn incense and move stones. He said he had found God. Some of is are doers and need to do something like sprinkle holy water on a coffin (even at a crematorium!), soil on the coffin, lay a flower or light a candle. Liturgy can be too static. Another story from yesterday wedding party wanted Harry Potter theme as the rings were delivered by an owl!

Saw Paul before service and told him about yesterday. Another amazing story was the bride who wanted the Harry Potter theme because the rings were flown in by an owl! The "baby" had 7 names and as many photographers at work. 38 in total - seems a pity the baptistery wasn't used as it is a lovely space but in fact the eats were laid out in there. I skipped them, had a coffee and practised.

To Kent House to get 7.43 train to Bromley and then on to Canterbury East. £15.10 senior return. The course itself was free on my student card which nobody checked! Walked from Canterbury East to Christ Church University campus which is impressive. Turned out we were in the Maxwell Davies building, The conference was based on the B.A. church music course and it was interesting to meet some of the students. Huw Morgan spoke about his unaccompanied Lenten setting, Stephen Barker told us about St Stephen's Canterbury, Andrew Larner on an educational model (Cairán is very advanced) Michael Chandler and David Dewar on beauty. Christian Griffiths from Monash Melbourne on Trinitarian model. Colin Davey talked about the RSCM survey -  we heard about some of the ridiculous requests for wedding music - Star Wars, Sister Act, Benny Hill theme, Doctor Who! And equally bad for funerals! Chris Price who sings tenor in Canterbury cathedral choir told us about the enthronement of the Archbishop....

Did more work on Liz's Power Point and some reading. Liz took Bruce shopping and he came for dinner - still uncertain about going to New Zealand. To Croydon Minster for concert by The Sixteen - lovely Palestrina and MacMillan. Not so keen on the "new" version of Allegri Miserere! Saw Janet Marshall and Veronica Kearsley, also Diana Quinn and Ann McGee and a couple I examined for their Bronze! Buses back to Selhurst.

Both went swimming - I did 22. To Heythrop library and then to Royal Academy to see George Bellows exhibition. Had tea at M & S and then to Queen Elizabeth II centre for the faith debate. A Catenian called O'Brien from Swanley was very chatty. The debate was on whether Christians oppose same-sex marriage was excellent. Tina Beattie outstanding, Steve Chalke on inclusion, Stephen Holmes and John Milbank. I am moving my position away from the official Catholic one which has got us nowhere. I still think the word cannot be redefined but it would have been better to separate Holy Matrimony from civil marriage. The stats show most people are in favour - the strongest groups against are Muslims and Baptists. Interesting chat to Matthew Huish (the Moonie) and Siriol over wine. Watched Andrew Graham-Dixon on Dutch art and the Rijksmuseum. Proms programmes out - lots of Wagner and some great programmes. Liz went to session on theology of the body for women at Bayswater.

Woke with back ache again. Watched Mrs Thatcher's funeral which was all done in perfect British style - very stiff upper lip. Lovely music especially Stanford in G Nunc Dimittis. Pity we heard none of the organ music from St Paul's but we did get some Albinoni at St Clement Danes. David Dimbleby said De Klerk had said Mrs Thatcher opposed apartheid but she did oppose sanctions. In effect she supported the South African government. The Bishop of London gave a good sermon in which he said the line about "no such thing as society" was a misquote and Barry Mellish in fact supplied the full quote so it was a misunderstanding. To Hinsley room and 6 came for good discussion on Sharing Eden - now have the points for next month clearly laid out. Jon Dal Din was there so I paid for the June walk. The meeting next week at Hendon on Tuesday has been changed to Wednesday to suit Sr Margaret so I won't go.

Tuesday did the write-up of the interview with Sayed and did a summary of Sharing Eden points for tomorrow. Decided not to go to Kensington roof garden for lunch as Ciaran had glue on forehead!

To mosaic and tai chi. Then to dentist at 3 p.m. but Rebecca tried hard to put a filling on the tooth so is now taking a second opinion from King's so come back in July! Colin Walsh recital broadcast from Lincoln cathedral - a rare treat. Vierne, Franck, Langlais, Tournemire, Messiaen. Liz went to aquarium and confirmation. Ciaran ran into a bollard and ended up at Ealing hospital but is O.K. Watched Come dine with me and University challenge. Horrible bombing of Boston marathon.

Louise, Liz and Ciaran set off for Gatwick. Dennis took me to St Michael's where there was a congregation of 85 it being the anniversary of death and a lunch and annual meeting after service. Bruce and EmmaJane EJ from Jersey arrived safely and we had a lovely lunch of pork and cheesecake. They went off sightseeing in London and Dennis set off for Rochdale. He agreed to them staying at Glyn Close for a short time. The skis are heavy and are being stored here for the moment! Watched Come dine with me, Antiques roadshow and The village.

To St John's for organists association AGM - I did not stay for the actual meeting! Richard Pilliner and Norman Harper were there and nice that Fr John welcomed us. I gave out the posters for the recitals. Adrian gave an excellent recital showing off the organ's many colours - it included Tommy's Intrada, Howells, Whitlock, Cocker Tuba tune, Bach and Dupre. Nice tea with cupcakes. Vespers and Mass with Fr Paolo. Met Robert Munns and his wife before he practised for his recital. He walks with a stick but talked about Fr Matthias now 85 and Fr Farmer's sister.  Finished the Pierce book. Louise had arrived with Ciaran. Much discussion about where Bruce is to stay!

  "One way tor recognize that a person has been caught in this unending whirlwind of pain is the complete inability to dwell in the present moment. Everything becomes an obsession with the past or a panic-driven fear of the future. One way to help such a person, then, would be simple acts aimed at grounding him or her in the present: a walk in the park, the laughter of a child, a visit from a friend, a therapeutic massage - anything that will help the person let go of the obsessive mind and feel the groundedness of the body again. Eckhart ....'When we are lifted above all things nothing can oppress us' ... Freedom is available now in the present moment." From We walk the path together; learning from Thich Nhat Hanh and Meister Eckhart by Brian J.Pierce. OP. p. 123

Helped Liz with Power point about interfaith group. Practised Bach on piano for Sunday and started to play Britten "Death in Venice" score. Nice dinner of sweet potato and carrot. Enjoyed Eugene Onegin from ROH on BBC4 with Simon Keenleyside - an interesting production which is one I really wanted to see. Dennis rang in the middle of it about Bruce staying here rather than at Glyn Close. Booked for Zauberflote on student scheme and La Boheme on two for one scheme. Still have not decided about cinema membership. Come dine with me and Pagans and Pilgrims.

To St George's Beckenham expecting to hear Avis McIntyre play the organ but it turned out to be Keziah Thomas playing the harp quite delightfully. There was no written programme but it included Malcolm Arnold's Fantasy and Awuya by Sally Beamish. This was based on African themes and rhythms and was written for the retirement of a professor in Glasgow who had worked on sleeping sickness. Quite fascinating! Popped into Beckenham bookshop and took posters to the church for the St Michael's recitals.

Only swam 18 as had to go back to Sainsburys to pick up Liz and did tyres at the same time.

To Greenwich Picturehouse to see a lovely film which was moving and touching. The dignity of the cellist as he came to terms with Parkinson's was lovely to watch and very sad. The audience stayed put throughout the credits to hear the end of the Beethoven quartet. Free tea and biscuits beforehand and an easy journey from Elmers End although Lewisham station is still badly signposted! Watched Come dine with me, A very British wedding and Dutch art.

Listened to evensong from St Mary Redcliffe with RSCM Millenium choir - premieres by Panufnik and Farringdon and Philip Moore and vespers from the oratory which included Durufle. Reading Pierce's book.

To St Michael's West Croydon for a rare visit to the organ recital by Michael Bonaventure. He did play Bach and Widor but predictably modern stuff by Huw Morgan (who was present), David Bedford and himself. Got the new printer connected to my laptop and scanned photos for Peter and Joanne in Canada from old album. Served at diocesan Mass for Pope Francis - I was mitre and crozier! Then to Silence in the City talk by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on word and silence - very good and he led meditation using the Jesus prayer. Home to watch tributes in Parliament to Mrs Thatcher, University challenge and Question of sport.

To the Thornton Heath Parchmore Road Methodist church for clinic. 3 in front of me so a long wait. The problem with the right hand one was wax in the tube so both are now working again, This means I will not need the appointment at St George's. Need to go to ENT to get the wax out. Liz shopped at Tescos. I got passport photos redone not smiling this time and found the letter so they can be sent off. Bruce due home on Sunday! Some of the reaction to Thatcher has been disgusting. The Queen is attending the funeral - did she go to Churchill's?

At lunch time we had a long break so walked to Southwell workhouse - it proved much further than we thought but worth a visit. Sunday morning cereals and cooked breakfast. We sang a jolly operatic Mass by Durand (better known as a publisher) and a tricky Alleluia motet by Anerio. A good beef lunch at the Piano. Evensong was Jackson in G, Shephard introit and Bairstow Know ye not -  a York tribute Afterwards there was an excellent tea with lots of cakes. We drove to St Barnabas cathedral Nottingham where Simon was concelebrating and we went for a drink. Got lost getting petrol but eventually found the road back to Southwell. Monday pointed out water in kettle in our room tasted awful and suggested some improvements. To Woolsthorpe Manor where Sir Isaac Newton grew up - an excellent science display and hands on experiments and the famous apple tree. After coffee to Audley End which is a magnificent house - guided tour and cream tea. Lots of fine paintings and grand rooms! Drove home...

Thursday to Acton and fixed the track which Jack had changed! Friday to the gym where we watched the tennis class which the boys enjoyed. We then set off for Southwell. Decided to go a bit further on the busy M1 to Hardwick Hall which was well worth a visit. Elizabethan house and a nice cream tea. Arrived in Southwell from Mansfield without problem. The Reindeer pub proved not to be great but we did eventually get the ensuite room which was not really big enough to move around in bathroom or beside the bed! We had eaten at Hardwick so did not go out with Simon for a meal. At breakfast there were no cereals! The wife of the owner is a cardiac nurse with a small baby and very new to b and b! Rehearsed in the Great hall and evensong went well. Hadley and Willan My beloved spake and Sumsion in G. Fr Simon came to evensong and to the Wheatsheaf pub. We then went in the party to the Bamboo Garden Chinese restaurant and enjoyed chatting to Michael and Jonathan basses - the latter from Wales....

Cold and snow flurries like last night when driving to Kent. Swam 22. Took cash to the Wests house for the Sixteen concert and went to Thornton Heath post office to get passport photos taken but they no longer do it there. The ones I sent in were rejected as I was smiling!

Liz got a new printer as scanning was not working any more. To Hinsley room for spirituality day with Fr Paul Fox from Brentwood diocese. He was excellent and very challenging about what the church should be doing re. women, welcoming,  the poor, the hierarchy. Had a small argument with Hannah about the problem of a white Jesus in places like India. Saw Thomas at St Paul's bookshop. Home and changed Brendan picked me up with Brendan Foley and Mike Nestor for Meopham meeting and presentation of 50 year scroll to Roy. A nice meal and good company. Another cold night.

Swam 24. Watched a Come dine with me last night with a woman with appalling table manners but strangely 3 tied for the prize! Did some research on Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi for the essay but did  not find out much more than I already knew. How old is he? Where did he go to university? Should have asked him! Read some of Suzuki's book. A lovely day but cold - Liz went for a walk. Watched 3 programmes on the 100 years war with Dr Janina Ramirez. Did the poster for the organ recital series at St Michael's.

Long chat to Ann - have not spoken for some time! To Bromley Parish church. Gary still not well - he has been in hospital but is home. Thomas Corns played a delightful programme - Mendelssohn, Bach, Byrd, Bridge, Whitlock and Durufle. Ken, Michael, Brian and Christopher were there. Dropped into Aldi to buy tulips, chocolate muffins and eggs. Bach marathon on radio 3 from Royal Albert Hall and TV programme about JSB. Reading Buddhist Christianity and Eckhart. Good April Fool's jokes about Pope, SSPX and King's to wear green! A very British wedding featuring Sikh and Ukranian ceremonies.