The organist librarian

As we were celebrating Bible Sunday and the serving community we sang David Ogden's setting of "Christ has no body now but yours" and I played Suite Gothique. The toccata went well. To Cricketers Harvester at Addington Village for Dulwich catenians lunch entertaining Mike Reidy the PP. Had pork belly. Dennis and  family came back to us afterwards. Mass at Anerley. Watched programmes on Antarctica and Oxford in the Civil War. 

A wonderful day! Swam, Nelson Ferreira and I put Julian Barron on the auction and he gave us lots of great advice. He thought my paintings would sell well! Coffee than Gauguin portraits at the National Gallery which we enjoyed. Tea then Pre-Raphaelite sisters at NPG which we hated but we liked Elizabeth Peyton. A delightful recital by Gerard Brooks at St John's. Great to have English music plus Bossi and Gothic Suite. The Apprentice.

Ciaran came to art group with me and did some nice drawings. In the afternoon Louise took the boys to Bethlem for action painting workshop. Bruce coming over end of May. Sang at funeral of Chris Younger at St John Upper Norwood. Morgan played Claire de lune beautifully. Maundy Thursday began with the tolling of a single bell for Notre Dame. I played Priere a Notre Dame, Words worth Nicht so traurig, Bach Passion chorale and Coleman Pange lingua. We had incense and Love is his word. Elgar Ave verum and Ps 88. Great to have 4 good singers. I could not help thinking of the musicians and people of Notre Dame. Celebrity painting challenge was good.

We sang "Thee we adore" which fitted very well with the excellent sermon from Anne-Marie Garton. I played Boellmann on Adoro Te, Peeters on Lasst uns erfreuen and a new piece for me Parry's Bridal march from The Birds. Started a new jigsaw. Antiques roadshow and  Call the midwife excellent and now watching the wonderful Antonio Pappano on arias.

Mass, art, interfaith lunch, Corpus Christi at Caterham. 5 in choir sang Schubert setting and Elgar Ave verum. Lovely to have incense. Played Boellmann Adoro te and Peeters O saving victim. Enjoyed Secret life of 5 year olds. Liz sang at Upper Norwood an impressive carpet of flowers. Vierne.

Liz took one of the boys to a sleepover in the BUG house at London Zoo. Great fun had by all specially our walk around in the dark to see some animals that come out at night. Also tee shirt designing as mask making.  Priere a Notre Dame and Toccata from Suite Gothique today. I think the rehearsal went better than the performance - maybe I speeded up too much!  We went to the community preview of Living with the Gods at the British Museum which is featured in Neil MacGregor's outstanding radio 4 series. Not to be missed! Watched German dramatisation of Luther's reformation and Bad habits again.  Simon Reeve in Russia. Blue planet II was great.

Today a lady came to compliment the 4 of us on the anthem King of glory Bach arranged Harris. I played Boellmann Angelus, Verset on Adoro The and Carillon. There wasn't time to play Elevation which is a bit like Puccini! Just before the first hymn the book fell off the stool onto the pedals so there was a gap while I retrieved it and found the number. As Fr Jerry said in his excellent sermon Murphy's law. I liked the Gilbert principle i.e.only promote the incompetent to management so they can do the least harm to the bank! Good practice afterwards and 2 new items introduced. Watched Lucy Worsley on opera and fell asleep - I woke early again. Evensong at St John's Sumsion in A and Bruckner Christus factus est. The vowels were not the same and pitching difficult. Bob changed sides which did not really help! Victoria returns at Christmas! Antiques roadshow. University challenge. Glyndebourne Hamlet by Brett Dean. Programme on governments using music 

Played Peeters on Ewing and Boellmann Chorale and minuet from Suite gothique. He died 11 Oct 1897. We sang Brother James' Air and a simple hymn by John Bell Bread blessed and broken which I did not know. Also Jerusalem the golden.  The 3 monks from Downside who were at mass last night now on radio 3 singing Gregorian chant.  What a delight Elgar's Vesper voluntaries which I played at evensong tonight are. Earlier I was enjoying playing the Enigma variations on the piano tenderness combined with gentle humour. Got to Purley and train cancelled so home on buses.  Jonas Kaufmann on TV what a singer! Otello from Covent Garden. 

2 people at evensong and both agreed they did not wish to chant the psalm. I played Adoro te of Boellmann and Thiman on Hanover also some Stanley. Jerry thought we could have sing the psalm. As we did not do so for the last 3 evensongs I followed precedent. I think it would have been very tricky to play and sing an unfamiliar psalm. Any way Shona is playing for the summer ones and I do not have to go again until October. I think it cannot last at £40 a go. It all seems so pointless. Watched Antiques roadshow and Poldark was well done.

To Mass and then the dentist. Rebecca really hurt me when doing the injection and explained that she had caught a blood vessel hence the white cheek! She did the filling which feels like a cusp. Julie would never have done that! To St Stephen Wallbrook not impressed by the paintings but the playing by Kayol Lam from the Royal College of Music was impressive -Bach, Liszt, Boellmann and an overlong tribute to Liszt by Lionel Rogg. Watched Betroffenheit - amazing acting and dancing. Also Versailles and art guide to St Petersburg.

For Corpus Christi played Boellmann and June Nixon on Adoro Te and Andrew Moore toccata. The choir of 4 sang Ave verum by Saint-Saens. We need more singers and the excuses for not joining are unimpressive! Chicken and red wine for lunch. Catching up on Songs of Praise including a digital Benedictine nun and Leeds cathedral music programme and the Mercy bus.

8 am at St Mary's - sang 2 hymns to Mary and Kyries. Rick Baxter there.  In honour of the Assumption played Liszt's version of Arcadelt's Ave Maria,the Gounod and Schubert and Boellmann's Angelus finishing with Dandrieu on Ave maris stella. Fr Leon remarked that I had played the tune for "Her virgin eyes" after the gospel and started his sermon with reflecting on Thomas Ken's fine hymn which we sang after communion.

It being Sea Sunday I played Walter Webber Trumpet tune on Lobe den Herren, Bonighton on Melita and Neils Gade Lobe den herren which has a fun waltz section. Toccata from Suite Gothique which always makes me think of the sea!  Superb virtuosic playing from Richard Pilliner at  St Michael and All Angels Beckenham  - he loved the organ. Delicious cucumber sandwiches and strawberry cream sponge cake. At evensong at  St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood   we sang Coleridge-Taylor's fun setting and Britten Jubilate Deo. "Sing choirs of heaven" to Richard Shephard's tune and "Songs of praise the angels sang". Bridge Adagio in E.

Not a good night! We had Corpus Christi procession this morning and I played voluntaries on Picardy and Adoro te including the lovely Boellmann. Dubois Toccata, Fr Leon gave us a long explanation of why the parish should join the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda which is basically against the ordination of women. I am not convinced! After 23 years it's about time the C of E stopped tearing itself apart! Shared lunch but not many there. Liz home after a night of babysitting Sean and partying! It seems it is true that Beverley voted against the ordination of women bishops in the Southwark synod because provision for traditionalists was weak. Had a sleep after picking up Liz. Evensong and benediction was fun with Smart in B flat and I saw the Lord. Fr Leon seems to know everyone including Mother Theckla! 

Strange that I thought about Josie all through the service for All Saints and the news came through that she died at 3.30 a.m. So glad Liz got to see her and sad that Malcolm didn't make it in time. There were only 16 at the family eucharist but we did sing For all the saints. The organ tuning does not suit Jesus is Lord! I played Flor Peeters and Boellmann. Straight to St Paul's cathedral for Margaret Silf's excellent talk on faith. Bus stop closed so walked to and from London Bridge. To St Andrew's Coulsdon for centenerary concert which was enjoyable and everybody so welcoming. The large choir sang Hallelujah chorus, O thou the central orb, I was glad and Jo Richards' new Jubilate. She (formerly he) is not a good conductor and seems to say what she likes! Stephen Bowey played really well and the organ has been fixed. Nice supper afterwards. Watched Downton. 

Liz to Heythrop so continued with reading. To St George's Beckenham for Nick Wibberley's recital at short notice - Buxtehude, Bach, Mendelssohn, Demessieux, Daquin, Boellmann - well played. Watched the rest of Tosca from Covent Garden - Bryn Terfel, Jonas Kaufmann, Angela Georgiou conducted by Pappano - fantastic singing and playing. Saw Terence briefly at Beckenham. To Balham library to collect Roy book - all pleased to see me. Confirmation candidates at Mass Royal Holloway college sang unaccompanied Canterbury Mass by Cecilia McDowell. To catechists meeting with red wine. Picked up Dennis from station - been on course.

Music Sunday began with a broadcast celebrating the New Methodist hymn book. At Coulsdon we sang John Harper's choristers prayer and When in our music God is glorified. I play John's Triptych of the Holy Trinity. We also sang O praise ye the Lord and Angel voices. Sean turned up and is an good treble for 8 - great potential and the girls responded well too. Practised pieces and picked up Liz. Did not go to lunch at church for couple over from Oz as we had chicken at home. Dennis was at Glyn Close. Put away the 2 collapsible greenhouses as Liz has done most of the planting. Fox got at boxes in front garden. To St John's for joint service with All Saints The Word revealed 400th anniversary of King James Bible. Some good hymns and Handel and Mendelssohn "How lovely are the messengers". Tom played Suite Gothique. Had tea before service and nice to see Martin from Glyn Close. Surprisingly we did not do Tom's SAB anthem. He and Bridget enjoyed the dinner last night....

Bruce did in fact go back to Birmingham on Thursday to get more stuff. I went to chorus and we rehearsed Merlin 3 with Debbie. Emails about the low B flat for the tenors! Friday I did December music list and Christmas music draft, Darren and John organised a skip to get rid of the unwanted stuff from upstairs and Glyn Close. Dennis's old room looks much larger and will become my study. We set off to Paddington via London Bridge and Baker Street and arrived early. Train journeys went smoothly and at Newport we met Fr Barry Angus and Eric. Barry used to be parish priest at South Norwood but had to retire because of cancer. He is an oblate of Belmont. At Hereford we stood in fog for an hour as 3 taxis had crashed on the bridge and there was gridlock. Our taxi took an hour to get there and we arrived for dinner having missed session 1. David Briggs gave a splendid recital on the new Nicholson organ. He played Franck 3, Bach Toccata in F (pedal reed too loud for upper work) Dupre, Haydn...

To St Michael's for the lunchtime recital by the organist of St Martin's-in-the-Fields. He plays really well - Bach, Boyce, Howells and Boellmann Suite Gothique. Two interesting Chorale preludes by Favid Bowerman (born 1936) on Old 100th and Guiting Power. Tea and teacake with Terence and Adrian. They had been to 17 proms and enjoyed the Mahler and LSO and the operas. They are going to Don Carlos tomorrow. Reading Richard Wright Native son again - it is excellent. Reading group in November. We have the recital programme for 2010 - amazing that international folk will play just for a free lunch! Vespers on radio from Assisi sung by the RSCM millenium youth choir under David Ogden - very good. More Facebook messages and Bruce rang. Ann in Hobart with Paul as Bet has had a severe stroke. Watched the last episode of The Tudors. Liz painting kitchen ceiling.

Photos by John Scott. Sunday we sang Byrd 4 part mass and we both had solos. Best of all Mawby Ave verum. Quite a lot of people at Eucharist 10 a.m. Dean was at pains to explain restrictions on not sharing chalice and no contact at the Peace - where will it all end? Coffee afterwards and then tenor John Scott gave us a fascinating architectural tour about Pearson and he lent me an interesting article. To Real Ale house and had local bitter and shared roast lunch with Liz - too full after big breakfast! Evensong featured Holst Nunc Dimittis, a lovely chant by Robert Walker for unaccompanied psalm and Arvo Part Beatitudes. Boellmann Toccata at end from Vickie (who is moving to Hamilton for 2 years). Taxi to station where we enjoyed cream scones on the platform and then a 6 hour 6 p.m. train trip to Paddington. Got tube and train to East Croydon and taxi home by 1 a.m. Listened to Prom - Holst First choral symphony (very fine) Delius Brigg Fair and Enigma variations.