Richard Wright and a swing party

The reading group had a great discussion about "Native son" by Richard Wright. I'm surprised I had not come across this amazing book before. It certainly paints a bleak picture of racist America in the 1940s and has a powerful message for today. It was a shame Celine was not there to give a black perspective and later in the day when I told Pat Kahn about Doris I asked her about her American perspective on the book. Vespers and Mass for Christ the King with smoke. Fr Alexander sings really well and has a natural authority - so good to have a young priest. The choir from Limerick did not impress alas! We did sing "How shall we sing that majesty" which Fr Alexander wrote about in the newsletter. He would have preferred "Coe Fen" to "Kingsfold". Started with "Hail redeemer King divine". To swing party in the hall for the friends. Good to see Mark, Connie, Hannah, Andrew there. Anna sang beautifully - she sings at Harrods. The Irish band were loud but good and we enjoyed dancing. Fr Michael gave us 2 hilarious Tom Lehrer songs and Fr Swavek played his guitar for 2 songs. He led us off in a conga at the end. Got the new cathedral calendar featuring the priests signed. Had a lot of wine to drink and enjoyed a laugh with Mark. Home late.
Sunday we sang Cleobury's arrangement of "Let all mortal flesh" and I played Crown Imperial. The last hymn was wrong on the sheet but we did sing "Christ triumphant" and "Rejoice the Lord is king" in the end! Saw Teresa about Advent carols and Molly has made great strides in pitching and tone!