The organist librarian

Swim, more work on the art auction. To quiet day at the cathedral with Margaret Lane. I loved the song Maranatha she played us and the poetry from Guite and beautiful prayers by George Appleton and Cardinal Hume. Lovely book by Jane Williams Art of Advent. Mass at 1 in the cathedral hall with Fr Michael. The Hinsley room was so cold most of us went home. I headed to Caterham early and sat in Costa. Also did some Christmas shopping in Waitrose. The carol service went really well with a choir of 6 and Julie Groves superb on flute in Rutter Sans day carol. Shona conducted. We sang Lo how a rose and Rocking during the candle lighting. Next time we need some more carols but I played Brahms Es ist ein ros - such a lovely piece. Cakes and mince pies in the hall. About a 100 there.

To Mass then took Henry to Kelsey Park. He loved it! Pub lunch with Beckenham Catenians. Quiet time at St John's. Liz went to servers council. To Peter Sanders at Petts Wood for an evening of recordings made by Chris Town. An interesting mix including carols by Norman and Christian Strover, Bromley orchestras and 2 of my pet hates harpsichord and Messiaen! Good audience. I took popcorn. 

I got a thank you and Happy birthday at the service and the Polish cakes went down very well in the hall! I played Sidney Campbell on Grafton, Tambling on Slane and Brewer Marche heroique. It is good at 72 to be playing new music like the Brewer (well a first for me) and it is a great piece. By chance the hymns included favourites Father hear the prayer and Brother sister let me serve you plus that great tune Grafton and Jerusalem at the end! The choir of 4 sang Rutter A Clare benediction well. A delightful family lunch at the Rosendale. Claire came. Had beef. Nice cake at the end. It was noisy. Had a chat to Louise and Tom in the playground. Watched Antiques roadshow, Vanity Fair and programmes on the history of York and Belfast.

Swam and Stuart at Mass. This must be one of my favourite gospels. Zechariah's incredulity mirrors Thomas. At the funeral of Jim Fitzpatrick MC at East Grinstead his silver medal of the Guild of St Stephen was placed on the coffin, the second reading was the martyrdom of Stephen and the prayer of the Guild was read at the end. He came to Catenian Six provinces Mass at Westminster cathedral and attended the annual servers Mass at Arundel cathedral. The parish priest described him as big,lovely, gruff! May he rest in peace. Father Brown on TV again - great! Seen it before but it is really great. I went to quiet time but head full of carols! Carol service at St John Caterham Valley went really well. We sang In the bleak midwinter Darke and Rutter Nativity carol and Shepherds Pipe carol. 17 in the choir and it was lovely to have Louise Maher and the boys there. Mulled wine and mince pies. I cam back on the train with Alan Rainer. Good to start a relationship with Sacred Hear...

Lovely day. Rutter Gaelic blessing. Willan and Stanford on St Columba and Elgar Song of liberty. St John Caterham - we had an amusing drama about Paul trying to fly to Asia and going to Macedonia instead!  Brilliant talk at St Paul's cathedral by Dr Jane Williams on the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. I commented that explaining the Trinity to Muslims and Buddhists is impossible and God can more foten be found with the Buddhist community than in church.  London live showed again the wedding of William and Katherine 5 years on but horror of horrors - they did not come in the Wagner Bridal March nor was Jerusalem sung!!! Most of the chat is about the dress!  Evensong at Caterham. Elgar Symphony 1 theme, Vesper voluntary, Bach Christ lag and Ridout This joyful Eastertide. Some lovely chants.Antiques roadshow, Indian summers, The Durrells and Paul O'Grady and the Sally Army. Liz in Aylesford overnight.

Up at 6.30.10 a.m. breakfast at Joanna's then walk round Crystal Palace park ending at Westow House which was the White Swan hotel where the circle first met 9 July 1925. Lovely day and enjoyed the walk. Nice to see Tom and Barbara Tannion there and Mike and Denise Belfourd from Beckenham.I went in my study and found the first book of minutes from 1925!  t was all happening at Mass this evening - confirmation wirh retired bishop Mark Jabale and the visiting choir was excellent. They were from St Agnes cathedral Rockville NY and sang Mozart, Rutter and Handel. The men had a fine round sound! It would have neen nice to be warned about the confirmation! 

Lz stayed home to cook the turkey. I played Bach, Ferguson and Easter preludes. It was Fr Paul's last Sunday and 51 came. It would have been sensible to do the presentation at the notices spot but instead they did it after the service. Nobody told me so I had to stop the Toccata. As this was the first time I was performing the Gigout Toccata I was not happy. I did take some photos. Carolyn and Paul were delighted by the Tabgha plate and there was wine and cake. Home for lunch and Dennis and Louise and the boys arrived. Did some sketching while they played in the sunshine. Got the garden mosaics out. We had turkey and Christmas pudding. At evensong the 3 of us sang Rutter and Stanford and enjoyed the Te Deum. Indian summers was good. 

Up early and got blog up to date and made videos of the photos we can upload. A lot of Chennai ones were deleted alas. Started taking tree decorations off and watching carols from King's and the 1954 service! 

Swam 20 and after breakfast met Julie at Thornton Heath library. As expected drawings can be hung high up but mosaics cannot be fixed down at all! Sent off scans of Herbert Harold Worley material to York Minster for use in education department. To St Stephen Wallbrook for Jonathan Hope assistant at Gloucester cathedral. He played Bairstow and Ireland and his Bach was most impressive. Dupre and Langlais as well. He is a tall strong man and his playing reflects that. To the Globe for Julius Caesar. Brilliant acting especially Brutus and Antony. No wonder Mandela loved this play! It says everything about power and politics. Cameron is having a bad time at the moment. The American next to me spent all the time on his phone! To Catenian council at Brendan's - the little Irish barman Joe at the golf club has died suddenly.  Kevin Ingram suggested a weekend away for our 90th anniversary next year. Louise came from the wedding rehearsal and we went through the Rutter.

Took Liz to Shirley Oaks hospital for initial discussion and I fetched the turkey, beef and sausage meat from the butchers. It seems what I got was smaller than ordered! Not my fault. Liz goes back on Jan 7. Nice ham lunch with Bruce and EJ and opened the lovely present they brought including fudge. To Westminster Abbey carol service which was lovely despite the coughing and talking over the organ voluntaries but Messiaen and Dupre do not appeal at all. Rutter, well-known carols and very nice Poulenc, Victoria and new carol by Toby Young. I'm afraid James O'Donnell's arrangements are not a patch on Willcocks! Home to watch John Bishop.

We sang Lo he comes at the morning service so I played Lloyd Webber voluntary on it and Sumsion on Veni emmanuel. Liz ahd made cakes for the boys, clergy and servers. Fr Augustine is moving to Walsingham aged 98! Louise arrived for lunch and had a sleep. The carols went really well. Choir of 8. The Rutter Angels'carol and Little road were beautifully sung and we sang On Christmas night and Sing lullaby. Applause was a little odd  -45 there. Mulled wine and mince pies. Antiques roadshow, final fo Choir in the workplace won inexplicably by P and O. I thought Citi were much better and I like Cheshire fire service's sound. 

To Brent Lodge park to see the animals - looks a bit neglected. Monkeys, blue starlings, goat, pigs, birds, maras. Nice playground and Ciarán banged his nose. To Osterley House for a nice lunch and round the house  with Ciarán counting flowers. Lovely gardens and ice cream. Bought 2 books on Buddhism in second hand shop and Liz bought vegetables in farm shop. To M & S Kew and listened to CDS as C asleep in car - Ampleforth, Aubertin organ Oxford, Military Wives choir, John Rutter. C can wink! Had a great chat about his favourite things. To cathedral via Willesden Junction and Euston for Joseph Cullen's splendid recital. Vierne, de Grigny and JSB with scores. MacMillan and Puccini. He said it was a nightmare getting the balance right and pedals were sometimes not prominent enough. Met the new assistant and had a chat to Martin Baker about SSG summer school - he enjoyed it very much. Home to catch up on emails and watched University challenge and programme on Royal Academy Bronze...

Watched semifinal of Young musician last night -lovely cellist, recorder excellent and felt sorry for the percussionist. Nice to see Kevin Hathaway on screen. Played Henry G Ley on Down Ampney which I played at Keble college yesterday and Dubois Toccata. Choir sang well - Barry's introit and he was there to hear it, Rutter The Lord bless you and keep you, Locus iste. Tony sang bass. Janet gave me a lovely framed portraits of composers. Molly gave me a musical pen. Met the Bishop of Southwark and said would see him at St John's lunch. To Mass at Purley and asked David Palmer about torch relay bus. They sang a lovely piece by Christopher Walker I had not heard before. Chat to Dennis.

Great expectations was brilliant. Earthflight is amazing! How do they do it? Dorian Gray was very well done very hedonistic. Started Friday by noting ideas for the dialogue essay. Watched Darcey Bussill dances Hollywood and Musical nativity with John Rutter at Dorchester Abbey. Cambridge Singers including that nice young bass from the cathedral. Gerald Finlay sang beautifully. Finally finished reading A Secular Age 850 pages - the longest book I have ever read!

Louise and Bruce came for the Friday practice - our rehearsal finished early but Liz indicated she did not need a lift home otherwise I would have gone to St John's. Now that we are using the Inwood setting every week we do not need such a long practice. Saturday Louise Tom and Ciarán arrived and he loved his new play table in the garden and slide. We rehearsed at 10 a.m. with an augmented choir of Bridget's fellow students from Bristol -one tenor came from York the other from Suffolk. I was transferred to first as Frank lost his voice. The bridesmaids were delayed but all got under way at 12.15 and finished just before 2. Graham Allsop from St Mary Redcliffe played superbly. He has 4 children. I was glad made a super start. Vierne Messe solenelle, Bruckner Virga Jesse and Thomas Hewitt Jones specially written anthem My beloved spake already published by RSCM. At communion Brahms Geistliches lied. O thou who camest, How shall I sing that majesty to Coe Fen and Chris...

Good programme on Frank Baum who wrote "Wizard of Oz" last night. Up early and watched the Royal wedding coverage from 8am. To Josie's. Pity we did not hear much ofthe music beforehand. Everyone looked fabulous especially the bride. I was glad an inspired choice and 3 great hymns with descants. Parry featured Blest pair of sirens was great. Loved Ubi caritas not so sure about the Rutter. Lesson excellently read by Kate's brother. Great sermon from the Bishop of London including their own prayer. Fanfare and Crown Imperial. Brought back memories of our family weddings especially going in the car with Louise! Lovely procession back to the Palace. Champagne and cake made by Emily and pizzas! What a day and the sun came out!

The course has certainly given me lots of confidence. The trickiest thing was skinning the sole fillets. The roast lamb was delicious and chocolate brownies yummy! Snow came down Friday lunch time but got to Coulsdon OK. Thursday I went to rehearsal with Stephen Cleobury and all went well. Friday practice went well. Liz was at John Lewis carol service. Saturday to Battersea Park library reading group to discuss "Oliver Twist". Unfortunately did not have phone and skipped the lunch to get to East Croydon only to find that Messiah had been postponed because of the snow! So I finished my Christmas shopping and on getting home cleared up. Sunday buses to Coulsdon and stayed at church. The carol service went really well and featured Angels' carol by John Rutter and Jesus Christ the apple tree arranged by Alan Bullard to the tune "O waly waly". To Janet Stimpson's for nice eats and wine. Buses home and watching Sports personality of the year. Last night watched fi...

Friday to meeting at Battersea and a phone call about Monday's disaster. To choir and 2 missing but we covered all the ground and had a discussion prior to the meeting due for October 1st. As John cannot come on 3rd and 17th asked choir to make suggestions and we tried a few more items in the Oxford book of flexible anthems some of which the choir rejected immediately! Watched at 6 p.m. the memorable service from Westminster Abbey. Rowan Williams gave a great address and so did the Pope. His speech in Westminster Hall was impressive too. Liz has been watching the live web cast 24 hours coverage. Saturday we were up in good time to watch the Mass from the cathedral which was most impressive. wonderful music as there was at the Abbey and again a very fine homily. We spotted the servers and people we know. Sad that we were not asked to take part but there were some girl servers! We left for Hyde Park and arrived there at 3 p.m. so we were in the second row of the invited pilgrims area...

Maundy Thursday arrived at church to find Vincent Coggin had been and disconnected the flute but was unable to tune as he had no assistant in Holy Week - a lot of use! I used the piano for some of it as we sat in the transept. Vickie washed feet for the first time and we sang "To mock your reign". Psalm 22 went well at the end. Liz was at the cathedral. Good Friday Liz left the car at Victoria for me as she attended the liturgy. I got the train at King's Cross and had a quiet time after the rehearsal. Had a simple lunch at M & S and saw the end of the procession outside King's. Went to evensong at King's with the men only - plain chant and a 3 part motet. The performance went really well and the composer was most complimentary - I never got to speak to him. Jean and her friend accompanied me on the train home - a fleet of taxis got us to the station in good time. What a wonderful work it is! Saturday I was working but I did hear bits of the broadcast and it so...

Woke early so did music list for March. Liz liked her card and love bugs and she gave me a lovely card with fridge magnet and book about husbands. Arrived at church to find chairs removed and nowhere for me to sit next to the organ. Cleared bookcase and moved keyboard downstairs. All this disruption made me a little tetchy and I was outraged when choir member walked out of the vestry in the middle of practising the anthem! And I moaned about the talking too. Any way the Rutter "The Lord bless you and keep you" went well and I played Toccata and Fugue in D minor with great panache after my St Paul's and Catford experiences. Bought Fairtrade stuff including fish jigsaw shapes for Ciarán and cleared up and practised. Transferring tape to CD using new device - Hereford and Worcester with Dad and me playing in 1985! Delightful M & S meal (£20) pink champagne, pate starter, steak and salad, chocolate puddings, cherry liqueurs, Cointreau. Songs of Praise made me cry - Mum...