All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear Friends,

As Christians, Sunday is our weekly celebration of Easter. We set time aside, whatever it is going on in the world, and in our lives, to realign our hearts happily with the hard-won joy and promise of the Resurrection. And so it is only on very particular occasions that it is appropriate to have a Mass of Requiem on the Lord’s Day.

For the first time since 1951, this year we kept such a Requiem on Remembrance Sunday, 9th November. It was a deeply moving Mass; honouring the sacrifice, and praying for souls of those who gave their lives in war. It engaged with our collective memory of those history-shaping events and griefs, and reminded us of the continuing cost borne by those who serve in our armed forces today. It helped us acknowledge and lament the persistence of conflict across the world: from the discernible tensions and unrest across our own nation, to all-out warfare in places like Ukraine and Sudan.

The deeply moving strains of Gabriel Fauré’s famous setting of the Mass also gave us a context to remember our own complicity in the darkness of sin; our own grief, in the midst of this month of Holy Souls, at those we have lost; and our own call to amend our lives, with God’s Grace, and seek better to live out the Gospel in this world.

But against the drama and tumult of the Dies Irae the light of the Resurrection shines forth even brighter. Aware of what Jesus Christ has unleashed us from, we are better steeled for the pilgrimage that lies ahead of each of us, better comforted by the promises of the life of the world to come, and more fundamentally imbued with that deep joy and thankfulness that make us better citizens of this world, here and now. We acknowledge our collective sorrow against a backdrop of collective joy and conviction – the joy and conviction that make us Christians and equip us, even as we suffer, to be soldiers of his life-giving Gospel.

Continued thanks to all those who enabled our festival celebrations; all those who attended and to all who have donated so generously so far to our music campaign. Even before we meet Advent there is lots to look forward to in the Parish – please do digest the opportunities for worship; service and learning detailed in the notices below.

with much love,

Fr Alan

Make a Donation to the Choir and Music Trust Fund

You can make a donation to our Choir and Music Trust Fund here. There will be 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.

Join the Music Patrons of All Saints’

The Music Patrons of All Saints’ is a newly founded group of people committed to giving regularly to support the Choir and Music and Trust Fund of All Saints’ Margaret Street.

The idea revolves around giving £10 or more a month. Our Music Patrons will receive the Parish Paper twice a year and a special drinks party will be organised year year around the All Saints’ Festival in the Vicarage to thank them for their generosity.

In order to join the Music Patron 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 sign up 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.

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: The Book of Revelation

Our next Zoom theology seminar takes place on 7pm, Tuesday 18th November, 2025, and is focussed on the theology of the Book of the Apocalypse.

Professor Ian Boxall will be leading this session. He is Senior Fellow in New Testament and Professor of Biblical Studies at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St Louis, Missouri. He has taught previously at the Catholic University of America, and the University of Oxford, from which he received his Doctorate in the Book of Revelation.

He has since published further on the topic, and is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on this complex and enigmatic book of Scripture. Professor Boxall will introduce us to the history and interpretation of Revelation and its place in the canon.

It would be especially useful to have re-read the text itself in preparation for the evening. A number of Professor Boxall’s books are available affordably.

You can see more details about our full Zoom Theology Programme along with the Zoom link here.

Christmas Organ Concert

The next event in our fundraising programme will be a Christmas Carol Organ Concert offered by our Associate Director of Music, Jeremiah Stephenson, on Friday 19th December 2025 at 7.00 pm. Tickets are now available.

It will be a wonderful evening of organ music for the festive season. 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.

Month of Holy Souls

There will be a weekly Mass of Requiem during the month of November: Saturday 15th at 12noon; Wednesday 19th at 6.30pm and Wednesday 26th at 12noon. 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

For your prayers

The Friends of All Saints, Margaret Street

16th – Linda Edwards, Pamela Edwards, Jane Elliston, Dr Terrence Ellsworth, Richard Everton and Fr Philip Bevan, Carolyn Farrar, Dr Martin Faulkner

17th – Sue Feakin, Adrian Felaar, Elizabeth Ferguson, Daniel Fielden, Janice Fielden, Julia Fielden, Nigel Fisher, Mark Fleming

18th – Stuart Fletcher, Christopher Forman, Matthew Foster, Antony Fox, Dr Ralph Donald Fram, Dr Jason Frost, Derrick French, Derek and Cecilia Gatherer, Dr Charlotte Gauthier, Dr Rebecca Gibbs and Samuel Wildy, Margaret Goddard, Paul Golding, John Goldsmith

19th – Genevieve Gomi, Canon Michael Gudgeon, Sheelagh Gudgeon, Ginger and Del Hall, Monica Joan Hall

20th – Paul Hannah, Jillian Hargreaves, Christopher Harlow-Jennings, Patrick Hartley, The Rev’d Canon Jeremy Haselock

21st – Eoghan Healy, Rebecca Hirst, Fr David Hobden and Catherine Hobden, James and Gwendoline Holdcroft, The Rev’d Canon Graham Holcombe, Edwin Holmes, Rosy Holt, Bishop David Hope

22nd – Richard Hoskinson, Marissa Howard-McNatt, Fr David Hutt, Alfred Imhoff, David James, Andrew Jervis, Powell Johann, Stephen Jury, Malcolm Kemp

The sick

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

Anniversaries of death

16th – William Foster, Alfred Stephens

17th – Elizabeth Church, Jonathan Walker, Rodney Beasley

18th – Nadine Olivey, Norman Caplin

19th – Clifford Doyle Pr, Joan Roberts, Donald Page, Mary Rowe

20th – Florence Searle, Helen Clayton, Douglas Cudmore, Gwendoline Minnett

21st – Emma Stephens, Jack Harrington, Kingsley Stansfield, David Voy

22nd – George Ebbs, Joyce Harvey, Winifred Brough, Mary Buchanan, Timothy Lawford

Services this week

Saturday 15 November – Feria
12pm Low Mass of Requiem
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday

Sunday 16 November – II Before Advent
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction

Monday 17 November – St Hilda of Witby
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Tuesday 18 November – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Wednesday 19 November – Feria
12 noon Low Mass
5.30 Holy Hour
6.30 pm Low Mass of Requiem

Thursday 20 November – St Edmund, King and Martyr
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Friday 21 November – Presentation BVM
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

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