During October I attended significant meetings of two interesting organisations to which I belong.
On Saturday 4th the Ecclesiological Society (founded in 1879 as the successor to the original Cambridge Campden Society) held a day of fascinating lectures about Anglican and Catholic cathedrals built during the 20th Century, the emphasis being on what guided their individual designs, liturgically and artistically. It was held in the beautiful G.E. Street church of St James the Less in Pimlico, often described as “one of the finest Gothic Revival churches anywhere”. The photograph was taken from the pulpit, looking west; I took no eastwards-facing photograph as the view of the beautiful chancel and screen was blocked by an enormous projection screen needed for the lectures. Definitely worth a visit – even though the churchmanship has suffered a volte-face from Anglo-Catholicism to Charismatic Evangelicalism.
At the end of the event I made my to the London (Brompton) Oratory for a beautifully sung 6pm Mass, followed by a meal and a good chat with my long-standing New College friend, Patrick Russill, now retired from the RAM but still in post at the Oratory, where he has worked ever since leaving Oxford in the mid 1970s.
A week later, on Sunday 12th, I was at St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Warwick, for the AGM of the Traditional Cathedral Choir Association. This is a body with significant (though rapidly diminishing) funds which seeks to offer financial help to those cathedrals and churches which need such assistance to maintain a top line of boys in the choirs. Whilst welcoming the advent of girls of a similar age to boys in our leading choirs, the worry now is the number of boys singing is rapidly diminishing – to the great loss of our unique Anglican Choral Tradition. We enjoyed a convivial lunch and a fine Choral Evensong, with the AGM in between, presenting the St Mary’s Music Foundation with a cheque for a significant sum. These photos show some of the visual glories of this magnificent and unusual church.
The following week we attended Thomas Trotter’s first-class opening recital on the fine Willis II instrument in what was known for most of its life as “St Monica’s Home of Rest”, just north-west of Bristol.
A few days later I was inspecting the empty organ cases at Gloucester cathedral – a sight repeated only every century or so, so I’ve included some photos here.
