The organist librarian

Mass for Ascension chool sang 2 ditties unaccompanied and we could not join in the second was I will worship song, art drew NZ birds, collected robes from cathedral then to St George's Cathedral for 10th anniversary of Jimmy Mizen. Moving tributes and great singing by all. Tea at Notre Dame school. Catenians well represented.I shook Simon Hughes' hand and saw Sadiq Khan and Police commissioner Dickie, Christopher Jamieson was there too. Lovely Ascension celebration at St John Upper Norwood - some very fine texts. Ireland in C and God is ascended up on high. Guiilmant march on a theme of Handel at the end from Bridget West

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...

To training on security - 4 of us went and reactions differed. We will need to review our procedures and shred lots of paper! To the cathedral for the first of the Cardinal's lectures. Sat next to a lady from Our Lady of Victories, Kensington where we were married and also saw Elizabeth Simon from Southfields and Andrew who was on the Orthodox spirituality course with me. Lots of noisy protesters outside and their noise rather worked against their anti-war cause. Problems with the P.A. system. Tony Blair spoke really well on "Faith and globalisation" and the work of his new Foundation for interfaith. The Abbot of Worth, Jonathan Aitken, etc were there.

Saturday we returned to the Roehampton club with Mark, the best man, who did a fantastic job. He took a week off work for the wedding and his speech was great. Tom did very well too speaking without notes and of course Louise spoke too! The club had everything ready for us so Ann and I loaded up the car with top 2 tiers of the cake (carrot cake and fruit cake) - the bottom tier was sponge, flowers from the church and music, decorations, etc. Dennis drove AnnMarie's car and brought Liz home. In the evening we went to Vespers and Mass at the cathedral and Ann bought Christopher Jamieson's "Finding sanctuary". Because of the shortage of Eucharistic ministers, Liz, Alistair and I all gave out communion which I found a humbling experience never having done it before. After Mass we went in search of fish and chips. Andreous in Addsicombe was closed so we ended up at the excellent McDermotts in New Addington for takeaway which stayed hot.