All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

I gave the PCC which met on Wednesday night an update on how our Choir and Music Trust fundraising campaign is going. I was able to report the extraordinary news that after just one month, we have now raised a total of £44,410.29.

This is an amazing achievement and shows that God has put wind into the sails of our efforts to re-endow our Music Trust.

I would never have imagined we would be so significantly advanced towards meeting our fundraising goals at this early stage in the campaign. This magnificent sum is testimony to the generosity of so many parishioners. Thank you so everyone who has contributed to this in any way!

This total is the result of a range of gifts and donations which we have received from a very large number of people. I particularly want to express my thanks publicly for one donation of £25,000 which has been very generously made by a parishioner. I want to thank that individual profoundly and say how grateful we are.

The Choir concert which took place over the weekend of All Saints’ Day was a huge success. In total, we raised around £3,000 in one night. I want to record our huge thanks to our Choir, Director of Music, Associate Director of Music, and our Organ Scholar for their hard work and generosity in making the evening such a success.

We have seen a steady growth in the number of people who have joined the All Saints’ “Music Patrons” scheme. If you have not yet joined, I urge you to consider it. This scheme involves donating at least £10 a month to our Music and Choir Trust. So far 15 people have become Music Patrons, contributing between them £465 per month. This equates to £6,975 per year.

It would be wonderful if we could increase the number of people contributing regularly to this scheme. To join the Music Patrons of All Saints’, simply set up a regular gift of at least £10 a month via this link. If you are an American tax payer, you can become a Music Patron by making a regular gift of at least $15 a month via our Chapel and York account here. If you are a UK tax payer, please make sure to tick the box that allows us to reclaim Gift Aid.

As we look forward to the next stages of our campaign, I urge you to put Jeremiah Stephenson’s Christmas Organ Concert on Friday 19th December at 7.00 pm in your diaries. It will be a wonderful evening of festive music. The programme will include: Dupré, Variations sur un vieux Noël; plus improvisation on a series of well known and loved Christmas carols. We are so grateful to Jeremiah for offering this wonderful concert in aid of our campaign. You can book your tickets here.

We celebrate this weekend the feast of Christ the King with so much to give thanks for. I am grateful to everyone for the splendid efforts they have put into making the first month of this appeal such a success.

Do make sure all our future fundraising events are in your diary – and especially Jeremiah’s organ concert. Keep this whole effort in your prayers, that God may continue to bless our parish and provide us with the resources we need to ensure the future of our parish and its liturgical tradition.

With many thanks,

Fr Peter

Music sponsorship

The music at Sunday’s High Mass is sponsored by Roger Clark, in gratitude for the birth of his first great-grandchild.

Make a Donation to the Choir and Music Trust Fund

You can still make a donation to our Choir and Music Trust Fund here. There is no All Saints’ Festival Appeal this year. In its place, all parishioners and friends are being invited to make a special gift to our Music Trust to launch our year-long fundraising appeal

Carol services

We need volunteers to help with the Carol services that we host at the church for various schools, Oxbridge colleges, and professional societies. Please be in touch with Kate Hodgetts. Carol services will take place on 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 16, 18, and 19 December.

Zoom Theology – next Tuesday!

Please note that our next Zoom Theology seminar takes place next week on Tuesday 25th November at 7.00 pm. It will be called, “The Theology of Sacred Space in Victorian” and will be given by Professor William Whyte, Professor of Social and Architectural History at St John’s College, Oxford.

We usually leave a couple of months between each seminar, but because of various diary complexities, this takes place a week after our last Zoom Theology Seminar.

The nineteenth century saw the transformation of the Parish Church in England, and a renewed interest in sacred space. One of the leading organisations at the intellectual and aesthetic heart of this movement was the Cambridge Camden, later Ecclesiological, Society, the ideals of which our own building here at Margaret Street perhaps represents the fullest expression.

Professor William Whyte, will lead us in a discussion of the theological elements of this transformation, and more broadly how theology and space interact and inform each other.

The link for the Zoom Seminar can be found here.

Month of Holy Souls

There will be a weekly Mass of Requiem during the month of November. The last of these will be on Wednesday 26th at 12 noon. If you would like the names of departed loved ones prayed for and named at any of these Masses, please be in touch with the Parish Office.

Immaculate Conception of the BVM

There will be a Low Mass with short homily and hymns at 6.30pm, followed by refreshments at Fr Alan’s, to celebrate this solemnity. All welcome!

Winter Night shelter volunteers

Please be in touch with Fr Alan if you are able to assist running the night shelter on the evening of November 26th and/or the morning of the 27th, and/or on January 7th/8th. The main shift is 6-9pm, and 7-9am for breakfast. Email: assistantpriest@asms.uk

Recent Attendance

For your prayers

The Friends of All Saints, Margaret Street

23rd – Alan Kimbrough, Brenda Koupis, Stanislav Kudryashov, Christopher Laws, Margaret Leggett

24th – Cornelius Logue, Frau Dr Christiane Loidl-Rainey, Nigel Lynn, Henry Macey, Bishop Michael Marshall, David Mason, Robert Mason, Graham Mather

25th – Judith Mather, Fr Stephen McClatchie, John McWhinney, Peter Medine, Colin Menzies, Amanda Miller

26th – Thomas Moller, Michael Mortensen, Barry Moore, Deacon Christopher Morash, Grace Morgan, Heather Morgan, Dr John Morrell, Fr Stephen Morris, Inger Mosbery, Lachlan Moyle, Carol Mundell

27th – Christopher Naylor, Brian Newman, Barry Newsome, Letitia Nicholl, Elaine Norman, Richard North, Fr Paul Ockford

28th – Fr Peter and Anna Oesterby-Joergensen, Amanda Oldman, Daniel Oliver, Fr Barry Orford, Nicholas Page, Samantha Parker, Malcolm Parr, Bhaven Patel, Philip Payne, Alma Pearson, Gladys Pearson

29th – Pat Philips, Dr Colin Podmore, Nick and Cecilia Powell, Susan Prain, Vasileios Psomas, Simon Rainey, Heikki Repo

The sick

Jean Castledine, Simon Cottee, David Craig, Pat Hawkins, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Daniel Oliver, Fr Peter Roberts, James Rodger, Carol Simmons, Ingrid Slaughter, Juliet Windham

Anniversaries of death

23rd – Josephine Fletcher, Robert Walker, Ailsa Critchley, Ann Swanton, Susan Beauchamp, Craig Williams

24th – Henry West, Gladys Howard, Alyo Purdon

25th – Agnes Mackay, Mabel Egerton, Marjorie Gilley, May Beeken

26th – Philip Burrage, Thomas Tomlinson, Priscilla Sedgewick, John Clayton, Barbara Morrissey, Thomas Ellis

27th – Edith Martin, Margaret Mack, Charles Hawksley, James Crompton, Joseph Kirkham, Margaret Pickering, Valerie Oram, Ann Cook, Phyllis James, Valerie Reddington

28th – Annie Marshall, Doris Harmsworth, Lovinia Miller

29th – John Clough

Services this week

Saturday 22 November – St Cecilia
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday

Sunday 23 November – OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction

Monday 24 November – St Andrew Dũng-Lạc and Companions
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Tuesday 25 November – St Catherine of Alexandria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Wednesday 26 November – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
5.30 Holy Hour
6.30 pm Low Mass

Thursday 27 November – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Friday 28 November – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Saturday 29 November – Feria
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday

Sunday 30 November – ADVENT SUNDAY
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Advent Carol Service