The organist librarian

Spoke to Ann. I was up early clearing up the kitchen and ironing shirts. Lent group 3 joined by 2 more who had come for spirituality day with Claire Blood. 15 there. It was on "Blessed are the poor in spirit". 2 sisters from Maria Assumpta Helena and Bernadette. Henrietta distinguished herself describing her hoarding - Sister said she was like Queen Victoria. To tea at St Martin's in the Fields to meet Fr Rob Laws from Washington DC - Liz came too. Nice to meet him at last! To MacMillan rehearsal - it seems we are travelling by train to Cambridge on Good Friday. Listened to Wakefield Cathedral evensong and bought Retreats association book so found a good one at Belmont Abbey. Also contacted the London centre for spirituality again.

At last I have watched the BBC series "The Retreat" and found it moving. This is the Muslim equivalent of the Worth Abbey programme set in Andalusia. Ramadan is daunting and makes our Lenten efforts seem paltry. My Lent so far has been very mixed with some excellent reading material and the Lent group. There's the preparations for Holy Week especially the St Luke Passion. The feeling of sadness every day especially today on Mothering Sunday when we enjoyed a lovely lunch of beef and Louise and Grandma were with us. The pilgrimage to Greece last year was a moving experience and like so many activities where one is working and worshipping with others uplifting. Singing in the chorus and working in a community are aspects of this communal activity. Society of St Gregory summer schools are like this too - hard work but very rewarding! It was heartening today to think about women in Zimbabwe and try to do something to support them - the USPG and Christian Aid daily prayers hel...

The singing this morning at St Andrew's was pleasing. We chanted Psalm 27, sang Martin Shaw's setting for 3 voices and Attwood's lovely "Turn Thy face from my sins". After a delightful lunch at Louise and Tom's, we went to the organ recital at Our Lady of Grace and St Edmund, Chiswick, which is a lovely church on the main road. David Scott introduced an excellent programme of Bach, Buxtehude, Byrd and Albinoni. The organ has an impressive Continental sound ideal for Buxtehude and he played very well. There was an appreciative and large audience which is unusual these days for an organ recital. We introduced ourselves to David and explained that the wedding will take place there in August and he knows St John's, Upper Norwood and its fine organ! We were sitting with SSG member Andrew Lubienski, organist at Shepherds Bush RC and he kindly invited us home for tea where we met his wife Louise. We listened to some of a Chiswick choir recording of Gerontius whic...