The organist librarian

A good day at the library and caught up with my work. Liz was cantor at vespers and we were joined by several seminarians including Ed. We were acolytes at the Ordination Mass at 6 p.m. There were around 60 priests present and loads of servers and it was a great occasion. Ed and Kingsley both coped well. It was a pity that Philip who serves with us on Saturdays did not get more to do but he was communion torch (although I gather there were not enough torches!) I made sure he got a first blessing. We had our blessing together. We gave Ed a cross we bought in Wurzburg cathedral shop. Most unusual it has bread and wine on it. The music was great - MacMillan and Bingham sung by the special choir. The service lasted form 6 p.m. to 7.50 p.m. a long time for the Cardinal. Fr Ed is going to Chiswick and Fr Kingsley to the cathedral. There was a lovely reception in the hall. Excellent food and loads to drink although I had consumed a lot of the Precious Blood so I stayed on the orange juice! Su...

Swam 34 lengths. It was a busy day it being half-term. Thank God Caroline is coming to replace Calix. To the Globe to get tickets for Lear in August. Tate Modern had an interesting photographic exhibition contrasting street scenes with portraits. Surprised Karsh of Ottawa was not represented. Some iconic images notably Oliver Goldblatt in Johannesburg. Walked along the Thames in the rain to the Festival Hall and found myself looking at people imagining photographing them! Free recital by Martin award winner Pei Sian Ng from Sydney - a very fine cellist playing Rachmaninov cello sonata with an excellent pianist Miyako Machida in a lovely blue dress. He was lovely to watch and the G minor made me feel sad remembering Mum and Dad and the prom concert of Rachmaninov Bells when they died. Across the bridge to Embankment and tube to Victoria for rehearsal of Saturday's ordination. We are acolytes so a bit of a waste of time!

Steak for birthday lunch and crumble! To Croydon Parish church for 4pm ordination of 4 deacons including Linda Williams from St Andrew's. Good turnout of Coulsdon parishioners (I sat next to Vickie) and St Matthew's folk too. Martin Goodlad was there too. 4 good hymns to sing but no Veni Creator! Bishop Nick on good form. Holdup after offertory hymn and we could have sung another communion hymn. Penny Brown preached well. To Grandma's to move broken fridge into garage - new one coming tomorrow. Bruce rang and missed me so sent a face book wall message. Dennis rang from Dublin. Off to watch Antiques roadshow and Michael Palin - hope to stay awake!

On Friday morning I was sitting on the station reading Morning prayer when along comes Maureen looking as smart as ever. Her son Eugene was tragically killed in a gang fight and he was not a gang member at all. I went to his funeral as he used to come to the library to see his Mum when she worked with us. She said to me "What can we do?". My inadequate reply "Try to do good, speak out against this tragic loss, fight to improve things". Saturday to the ordination of Richard Nesbitt at the cathedral. He was ordained with John Elliott by the Cardinal. What a wonderful celebration with good strong hymns for all to sing and some excellent cantors. Richard will be a fine priest as he is 40 and so kind. We gave him a candle Liz had specially made. The party in the Allen Hall garden which Richard tended for 6 years was delightful. Chatted to Deacon Peter and Fr Michael about music. Saw the famous mulberry which stood in St Thomas More's garden and visited the modern cha...