The organist librarian

Today the Church teases us! Being at work I read morning prayer at 7 a.m. I love the ancient homily about "Awake O sleeper" as Christ goes to raise Adam and Eve to life. The Westminster diocesan Lent booklet "A holy nation" is completed and it has been excellent. "The Road to Emmaus" continues until Monday in the company of Julian of Norwich who has been mentioned in homilies a lot recently! It is a glorious spring day with just a touch of coolness in Battersea Park. The blossom is coming out on the trees around the library showering the ground with white petals. Tonight we celebrate the greatest Feast of the Year, the Easter Vigil with baptisms and confirmations. It is a little sad they I am not playing the organ for this celebration any more but of course tomorrow I will be letting rip with full organ especially in "Saraband for the morning of Easter" by Herbert Howells. When we were choosing the digital organ for Our Lady of the Annunciation, ...

On Saturday Martin Ball and I organised an outing for the Bromley and Croydon organists assoication. We started with the magnificent Lewis organ in Southwark cathedral where I played Franck and Brahms. Peter Wright gave us a short talk and superb demonstration. Some of us listened to the rehearsal of a large choir from Tennessee. They were all young but seemed to convey nothing of what they were singing about with their faces. The men sang in the back of the throat and never smiled! The conductor messed about with photographs and sorting out the pianist! Then had my picnic with Martin on a bench outside the cathedral and walked to St Borolph Aldgate with arguably the oldest parish church organ in England. Perfect for Stanley and Walond. The last organ was the 1957 Walker at All Hallows by the Tower which was rebuilt after the War. Here I played Buxtehude's Passacgalia. It was good to meet Jonathan Melling the organist originally from Wigan and Laurence Elvin of Bishops who told me ...