The organist librarian

Played another new piece Meditation by Gabriel Dupont and Finlandia Liz's Dad's favourite. We sang Boyce Alleluia which fitted well with 4 children admitted to communion and 5 new Mothers Union members. Abandoned attempt to reach St Paul's cathedral for the lunchtime talk - train broken down at Blackfriars meant a long delay at London Bridge. listened to the final evensong from King's conducted by Stephen Cleobury. End of an era? A very calm evensong and Benediction at St John Sumsion ATB setting, Stanford Song of Wisdom, Howells Master Tallis' testament.

To Bedford Park for start of the festival. Oxbridge organ duo were fun. Ad Wammes worked well, the Wesley was a bit too long. Briggs on Veni creator Welcoming at cathedral and met 2 nice Americans and new shop manager. She is keen to produce children's guides. To Tate Britain to see Frank Bowling. Artists who pour paint on canvases do not impress. The photos and films by Joanna Pietrowska are wierd. A film of a hand stroking another arm and hand felt repulsive where it should be a tender gesture! Choir practice Tallis too slow and such a strain. Alan complained of loud singing from the tenors and David is loud but it was Brewer in D with top Gs! Louise and the boys arrived. Finished printing the memoir of John East and the prayers for Liz. Sir Stephen Cleobury and Sir Simon Russell Beale! 

For Christ the King played Elgar Imperial March (bells started late and had to cut it short - no light) and Walton Crown Imperial. We sang  Stephen   Cleobury's setting of Let all mortal flesh with Linda and I singing top A in the descant! The keyboard works better than the piano and being in the chancel the singers sound better. Good carol practice and a new recruit. Will try for more at the fairs.  Christ triumphant has to be one of the greatest hymns with a wonderful tune. Lovely to have Bruce with us for lunch of lamb and Christmas puddings with pinot noir. Dennis and AnnMarie came down with Molly. Watched Planet earth II, Pentecostal Brixton church. Lovely programme on Sheku.

Set up dining room table from Bow and Liz has bought a lovely matching cover for it. To tai chi and Tony taught us some good breathing exercises - my left shoulder still giving trouble. To Baden Powell house for rehearsal. Very nice meal at Carluccio's with Peter Kirby. The concert went really well and I spoke to Stephen Cleobury briefly. We sang Vivaldi Gloria and carols. King's sang a lovely selection including Villette Hymne a la Vierge, Goldschitt, Warlock's Bethlehem Down. Got a 452 to Battersea Park in snow and could have got earlier train to Thornton Heath but West Norwood was due. It never came so ended up going to Thornton Heath any way and 468 home - back by 11.20. Wed evensong from Chester cathedral. This was in fact the last concert I sang with the Chorus! 17.8.2011

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...

There was a good congregation for the service. We had a quintet and we sang Psalm 121 to Barry Rose's chant, Thou knowest Lord and Nunc Dimittis to Tonus peregrinus - the latter 2 unaccompanied as the keyboard is so naff! I played Vierne Epitaphe, 2 Brahms choral preludes and angel's farewell from Gerontius at the end. The hymns were Praise my soul, Lord of all hopefulness, Love divine and Immortal invisible and we used "O Lord hear my prayer". There was time for me to light 4 candles for the grandparents and all the names were read out. Arnold's 5th symphony on way home and William Mathias on The Choir with Stephen Cleobury.

The reading group had a great discussion about "Native son" by Richard Wright. I'm surprised I had not come across this amazing book before. It certainly paints a bleak picture of racist America in the 1940s and has a powerful message for today. It was a shame Celine was not there to give a black perspective and later in the day when I told Pat Kahn about Doris I asked her about her American perspective on the book. Vespers and Mass for Christ the King with smoke. Fr Alexander sings really well and has a natural authority - so good to have a young priest. The choir from Limerick did not impress alas! We did sing "How shall we sing that majesty" which Fr Alexander wrote about in the newsletter. He would have preferred "Coe Fen" to "Kingsfold". Started with "Hail redeemer King divine". To swing party in the hall for the friends. Good to see Mark, Connie, Hannah, Andrew there. Anna sang beautifully - she sings at Harrods. The Irish ban...

Wednesday rehearsal with Stephen Cleobury for Thursday concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Had staff meetings in the morning and they went well. Left at 2 and Liz brought car up. Between rehearsal at Holy Trinity (hopeless sightlines and acoustic very echoey) and concert we walked down to the ice rink in front of the Natural History museum and bought spiced candles and decorations. The concert was great. King's sang Bullard, Weir, Vaughan Williams - superb baritone and tenor soloists, not so keen on the boy. Part 1 of Creation was fun with good tenor and baritone soloists, soprano not so great. Overture to "St Paul" and dance of the tumblers by Rimsky-Korsakov. Tenor sang "Ave Maria" and soprano "Panis". Best of all Fantasia on Christmas carols by Vaughan Williams. 3 congregational carols and 2 encores from Kings - Walford Davies The holly and the ivy and Stephen's arrangement of "Infant holy". 452 bus and 44 bus and drive home by 11.15 p.m...

The 15 day Holy Land pilgrimage was amazing and I will have much to write about it. We returned on the Friday and I went to choir practice as usual to find much consternation about the choir's fee for the wedding while I was away. Liz went to the servers dinner at Allen Hall. Saturday unpacked and I played for the wedding at 1 p.m. and Vickie was not best pleased that I arrived at 12.50 because the back tyre was down and had to be pumped up. The bride was 15 minutes late any way. To Vespers and Mass. Sunday all was sweetness and light again at Coulsdon. It seems the bride was not charged for the choir as we never had 6 people available to sing so the 4 who came were given £5 each from church funds! We sang Cleobury's arrangement of "Let all mortal flesh". To Adrian Adams' recital at St John's and long chat to Bev - we saw her in the Holy sepulchre church! Evensong - Howells Coll Reg and RVW O clap your hands. New guy called David played. Ironed all my long sle...

Liz off to Salisbury cathedral to sing services until Friday. Monday 40 lengths. Busy day. To Beckenham Catenian meeting - bitter and good jokes. Tuesday woke late so missed swim. All banking stuff finished. Book sale going well. Left at 4 and reached Rochester by car at 6.30 but Holiday Inn hotel not reachable form one side of dual carriageway so arrived late and had to change in to evening dress before meeting. Furious. 88 miles to say a few sentences about Norwood's 1000th meeting! Good dinner - roast beef. Sat with Duncan Aitkins. Nice photos from Saturday. Left at 10. Wed snow overnight so meeting at British school of osteopathy postponed although it was clear. Left at 12.30 to go to Shirley for lift from David and Sylvia to Tunbridge Wells. Visit to Salomons theatre organ - heard 3 rolls including Lemaire playing Bach very fast. Quite fascinating. Michael Cooke a know-all a pain! Enjoyed it and lovely sunny day. To cathedral for last of organ recital series. Stephen Cleobu...

Today we read of the Annunciation to Mary and one of my daily meditation books has an interesting poem by Fr Killian McDonnell called "In the kitchen" ('In the sixth month the angel Gabriel ...' Luke 1:26) Bellini has it wrong. I was not kneeling on my satin cushion, in a beam of light, head slightly bent. Painters always skew the scene, as though my life were wrapped in silks, in temple smells. Actually, I had just come back from the well. Placing the pitcher on the table I bumped against the edge, spilling water on the floor. As I bent to wipe it up, there was a light against the kitchen wall as though someone had opened the door to the sun. Rag in hand, hair across my face, I turned to see who was entering, unannounced, unasked. All I saw was light, white against the timbers. I heard a voice I had never heard. I heard a greeting, I was elected, the Lord was with me, I pushed back my hair, stood afraid. Someone...

Saturday there were lots of people at Vespers and Mass as there had been a day with Mary in the cathedral. We found ourselves helping to cense the altar at Vespers and doing everything at Mass as young Philip is still in the Philippines (sounds sort of right!) We drove to West Wickham arriving just after grace. As President elect I presided at the annual dinner of the Bromley and Croydon organists association. Dr Stephen Cleobury from King's, Cambridge was a delightful guest and spoke so well. He was very complimentary about the chorus and told us of the new appointments at St Paul's and Norwich. Oliver Brett is going to Westminster cathedral as organ scholar. He is senior scholar at King's and a very good organist. The other guest was our old friend Fr Tomas Creagh-Fuller now at Beckenham Hill and and he too spoke well. The meal was excellent and much enjoyed by all. Stephen's challenge was to encourage more young people to play the organ and sing and also to bear in m...