The organist librarian

Harvest so we sang Greene Thou visitest the earth. I played Peeters on Wir plufgen, Statham on Monkland and Recessional on St George by Vernon Griffiths. We sang For the fruits but to Ar hyd y nos. Liz came for the harvest lunch and Julie entertained us with poems and 3 flute pieces. Richard Sutton conducted evensong and John Pritchard played. Sumsion in G, Attwood Teach me O Lord, Benediction. Nice to see Nicholas Ansdell-Evans and his mother.

To ENO for Satyagahra - Alan Oke as Gandhi was superb. Philip Glass's music is mesmerising and a fine production. How do they learn it? Stuart Stratford conducted. It was great to be in the stalls for the first time on the secret £20 seat scheme. Met Nick  Ansdell-Evans at interval -I had forgotten how tall he is. It was a long opera and we got back to Acton on tube and train well after 11.30 p.m. Slept well. Thursday I took Ciaran to school and Liz took Sean to Maples playgroup.

To All Saints Warlingham for my first free lance - £30. Lovely churchyard which is very large and touched by war graves - RAF man aged 21. Service went well - Thorne Mass and Purcell "O God the king of glory" which I conducted. Fr Jeremy doesn't decide the Eucharistic prayer until he gets to it!?? How helpful is that to the visiting organist! Played Bach Ascensiontide prelude on the fine William Hill organ. Many appreciative comments! To St John's for an excellent lunch provided by the choir. Good to have Louise with us and had a lovely chat to Ruth. Bishop Christopher was there. Tea and then evensong with "How lovely are thy dwellings" (so much better in German) Stanford in C and I was glad. Nicholas Ansdell-Evans played a super piece at the end. Nice to see former choir and congregation members. Tommy Hewitt-Jones very reassuring about the All Saints business. Fr Leonard is the problem  - he was friendly and agreed to open the church for the torch relay. W...

Friday to work until 11.30 a.m. then train to Crystal Palace. Adrian's mum was 91 and a dear. The funeral was lovely with Faure Requiem, And I saw a new heaven, Justorum animae of Stanford, All my hope and Thine be the glory. This fitted well with the gospel of Mary meeting the risen Jesus. Elgar Sonata No 1 from Chris Moore at the end. Kit conducted and Nicholas Ansdell-Evans played. He said he had been doing Walkure in Salzburg with Rattle! Adrian played Bach beforehand. 2 of the grandchildren who are in Birmingham cathedral choirs sang in the large choir. It was very moving to see Beverley touch the coffin and speak so well. Robin Martin was next to me and Chris Wardle sang too. Lovely eats and a good chat to Beverley about spirituality -I missed her January evening alas! To choir practice and we started work on the new Oxford Book of flexible anthems and Byrd 4 part Mass. The CD helped a lot. Watched a programme on the harp and the sad life of Hughie Green.