Tag Archives: Church

Church, MobLog

Surprise Visitors

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Rachel

So tonight we had a couple of surprise visitors at Choir Practice. Andrew had been dropping hints all night that there were going to be a couple of extra sopranos coming along, and it didn’t really click who it was until they walked in!

Rachel and Kathryn appeared part way through the adult practice, and were down from their home in Scotland on part of the grand tour of the country that will be familiar to many young people considering going to university. Having interviewed at Cambridge earlier in the week, Rachel is going to be interviewing at Royal Holloway tomorrow for a place on their music degree next year.

Kathryn

Thinking about it, it’s actually been a while since we’ve seen them – Kathryn’s husband is a University Professor, and they originally came to Finchampstead from Scotland when he did some work in industry, heading back north of the border when he return to academia. Although they were only with the choir for a relatively short time they made a big impression, with Rachel singing a solo at our UK wedding celebration in 2001. Since they had both contributed towards the organ fund during their time here I thought they’d like to see and hear the finished article (even if the reeds are decidedly out of tune at the moment due to the cold) – so I took them both over to the Church and powered up the organ. Rachel had played the instrument previously, and she tried a few stops initially and I don’t think she noticed much difference – then she opened the swell box, and a big grin spread across her face! Although the volume has become rather an issue with certain people in the congregation, it certainly makes a great sound now.

Anyway, whilst it would be great if Rachel ended up at Royal Holloway as she’d only be a 20 minute train journey away when we needed extra help in the soprano line, I suspect that if she gets offered a place at Cambridge, that may be where she’ll end up. Certainly Danni, one of our alto line who started at Kings this term seems to be absolutely loving the experience. Whatever happens, it was great to have them visit, even if only for the evening.

Church, Music

Organ Restoration Photoset

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Playing the Refurbished Organ

Over the six months or so that the organ has been out of action, I’ve been periodically adding shots to the set of pictures, showing how things have changed.

This weekend marked the return to service of the original organ, although the restoration is not quite finished. The original trumpet rank was beyond repair, so a new one was ordered, however when it arrived at the organ workshop it was found to have been damaged in transit. As a result the last rank, and another rank of pipes that has to be put into the organ casing after the trumpet rank are yet to be installed.

Today I have added one last picture to the set which shows one of a number of special guests at the service on Sunday morning. The gentleman at the console is a former Director of Music at St James. Now in his nineties, he can remember the Compton organ when it was originally put in the Church back in the 1930’s, and also the hand pumped organ that it replaced.

Church, Movies & TV

Alternative Church Fundraising

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ChurchPic.jpg

If you are an Eastenders fan I’m sure you will have been glued to the show on Friday night, to see the second attempt by Billy and Honey to get married. It was also a good example of one of the other ways that churches are raising money for repairs, as rather than being a Church in Walford – like many of the locations on the show that aren’t permanent sets on the back-lot at the studio – it is actually a Church in Watford. In this case it is the Church my parents attend, St Andrews, one of a number that have been used by the show over the years.

The last appearance of the building in the programme was a while back, when it was the location for Dot and Jim’s wedding, and also used for the christening of Louise, daughter of Lisa and Phil. The more recent church events have been held at another local Church, however the BBC came back to St Andrews for the recent programmes. This time you also got to see a bit more of the Church, including a nice shot looking down the length of the aisle, and also use was made of part of their vestry that has a nice rose window. There were also a couple of external shots too.

Having the BBC has it’s benefits too. The local crematorium apparently now has a nice set of artificial flowers thanks to regular visits from Eastenders. However it also has it’s hassles. St Andrews church hall is actually in the former north aisle of the Church – the door of which was hidden behind a curtain on the programme on Friday night. However during term time there is a nursery school that uses the hall, and of course they are not allowed to be around when Eastenders take over the building. Luckily for this batch of filming, the school could make alternative arrangements. There is also the disruption to places used for filming. For example it wasn’t until Friday that Mum discovered why she hadn’t been able to find anything in the vestry recently!!!

Having said that, for Churches struggling with limited finances, it is a great way to earn a little extra income, and also makes use of a building that will be largely unused during much of the week. Although current policy in St Albans Diocese require that all scripts are approved by the Archdeacon. This is partly because the scripts for programmes like Eastenders have previously had to be corrected to accurately reflect Church practice (for the Christening episode the crew turned up with the writers having written their own baptism service – on that occasion the Archdeacon was on site and asked that they used the proper service instead), however the full approval policy came in following an incident at another Church in the Diocese where the building was booked by a film company, and it later transpired that they were using the building to make a porn film…

Incidentally, if you saw the programme on Friday, you’ll have seen that the wedding itself didn’t actually take place, so there should be a return visit to St Andrews in the not to distant future.

Church

Change as Good as a Rest?

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Ok, I’m extending my rule of thumb over never talking to a comedian before a show to vicars before services as well. As many of you will know, we’re stopping running the Youth Group for a year from the end of the year, having said that, as somewhat of a trail run, we’ve not actually done that much this last term. Anyway, last night was the last Youth Group of the year, the annual barbecue, and Beth happened to mention this to Rev Richard before the service yesterday morning. She also mentioned a conversation we’d had a couple of weeks ago where I’d remarked how much I liked having Sunday evenings back, and that I’d said that I could well see myself not wanting to go back after the year, and to do something different. Anyway, Rev Richard read the first reading yesterday, stood up, and said that in view of the content of the reading, it seemed like a good opportunity to thank two people in the congregation who have done a lot for our Youth Group for a number of years. Cue me trying to hide behind my hymnbook…

Anyway, we got some nice comments after the service, and for a change we managed to hold a Youth Group barbecue in the evening without needing umbrellas or the gazebo. Although as usual by the time the barbecue had got going there was barely enough time for the food. Having said that it definitely confirmed that we were right to take a time out. Whilst I know there are some people who do the same job in the church for decades, in a Church like St James there is such a lot going on, and enough people that people can move round and do something different from time to time without feeling like you’re leaving someone, or some other group in the lurch. By forewarning people that we were wanting a change a number of parents have come forward wanting to help out with the Youth Group, and Cathy and Steve are still there providing some continuity with what went before. So that leaves Beth more time to do her Portfolio, and me with another job potentially coming my way next week…

Church

Going Round in Circles in Bracknell

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Bracknell has a bit of a reputation for being difficult to navigate. Again tonight it proved it’s reputation. Despite having printed out a map, we still got lost trying to find St Andrew’s Priestwood. Having looked at the map again once we’d found it, we’d actually circled around it almost completely before actually getting there!

The reason for our trip to Bracknell was to go along and support Rev Andrew Frearson as he was licensed as Team Vicar of St Andrew’s. As you may know Andrew spent his recent six month sabbatical at St James, having been a good friend of Rev Richard for many years. Ultimately he has come back to the UK, having spent the past few years working in the Atlanta Diocese in the USA. He is also bringing with him his American wife and step-daughter, who as Beth well knows, are probably just hitting the culture shock of landing in the UK – needless to say, Beth gave them our phone number just in case they need any help from someone who has been through the same thing.

The service was pretty good, if slightly different from what we’re used to at St James. St Andrew’s is much more towards the Anglo-Catholic end of the spectrum in terms of churchmanship, so there was lots of incense wafting around. Having said that, liturgy wise it was pretty straightforward and familiar – and I was pleased to find that they used the modern Lord’s Prayer too.

In fact the church as a whole is a bit different from Finchampstead. Whereas we are an ancient country Church in an affluent area, St Andrew’s is a modern building (built in the 1990’s) in one of the first of the big post-war estates that surround the centre of Bracknell. Whilst at St James our problems are often trying to find a way to fit everybody in, whilst maintaining our ageing building, the opposite would seem to be the case at St Andrew’s. Whilst it may well be that a Tuesday evening was a difficult night, and that a Sunday morning may be better, but I was really surprised at the numbers of empty seats in the congregation – compare that with when Rev Richard was licensed at St James when we had to run a video link across into the Parish Centre in order to accommodate everybody who wanted to come. Certainly I think that Andrew will have some interesting challenges ahead, and certainly some very different challenges to those which Rev Richard has in Finchampstead.