All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and our entry into the celebration of the Lord’s Passover. This is not a week simply of remembering past events; rather by celebrating the great rites of this week together, we enter ever more deeply into the mysteries of our salvation, and experience the power of the Lord’s saving action in the present as we move with him from death to life.

Please note that this Sunday morning, we gather at 11.00 am in Oxford Market (the small square where Great Titchfield Street meets Oxford Street) for our procession of Palms. Make sure you give yourself enough time to get there by 11.00 am. We hear the Palm Gospel and process en fête to All Saints’, where the liturgy then includes the singing of the Passion.

I am very grateful to Fr Julian for agreeing to preach at all the liturgies of Holy Week for us. It will be splendid to have a “home team” preacher this year. I know that many people appreciate Fr Julian’s excellent preaching and will welcome hearing him guide us through the theological realities we celebrate in Holy Week. I look forward very much to hearing his words.

As is our parish’s tradition, much of the music we will hear at the Palm Sunday High Mass will have deep connections with All Saints’ history: the Rachmaninov Mass setting will be the Mass setting, and at the procession we will hear Walter Vale’s Hosanna filio David. Stainer’s God so loved the world will be the Offertory motet.

In order to ensure our celebration of Palm Sunday takes place safely and in an orderly way, we need a group of stewards to help marshal the procession at the High Mass. This involves being briefed before the liturgy and wearing a hi vis vest during the liturgy so you are visible. Please be in touch with Fr Alan if you are able to help.

Evensong and Benediction on Palm Sunday will also be note worthy and slightly different from usual. The liturgy will be enriched by a number of extra pieces of music and hymnody to celebrate the beginning of Holy Week. Do make a special effort to be present as it should be a wonderful evening of sacred music.

The Magnificat will be from James MacMillan’s Short Service and the Nunc Dimittis will be that by Orlando de Lassus, Primi toni ‘Il magnanimo Pietro’.

The anthem at the office will be Solus ad victimam by Kenneth Leighton, and there will be an extra motet offered in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Christus factus est by Anton Bruckner.

The Benediction canticles O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo will be those by Thomas Tallis. Hymnody will include, “Doest thou surely seek renown?”, “The Royal Banners”, and “In the Cross of Christ I glory.”

The full details of our Holy Week liturgies are outlined below in this email and flyers are available in church. I look forward to celebrating the Lord’s Death and Resurrection with you all and pray that in this remarkable week, we might be drawn closer to the heart of the one who out of love gave himself for us.

Fr Peter

Congratulations, Jeremiah!

We congratulate our Associate Director of Music, Jeremiah Stephenson, on his appointment to the prestigious position of Associate Organist at St Thomas’, Fifth Avenue, New York City. We will miss him very much as he leaves All Saints’, but wish him well in his new role. We are so grateful for all he has contributed to the liturgical, musical and spiritual life of our parish.

Jeremiah Stephenson writes:

Leaving a place which has been a musical and spiritual home since 2017 was never going to be something I did lightly, but the post I have accepted at St Thomas Fifth Avenue is an unparalleled opportunity to take forward my vocation and skills honed at All Saints to a full-time position with a residential choir who deliver a busy schedule of concerts, tours and recordings on top of a Cathedral-style routine of sung liturgies.

I came to All Saints straight after completing further postgraduate studies in organ performance at Toulouse Conservatoire, so it was my first “proper job” as opposed to a fixed term scholarship or student position. The moment of leaving the aegis of these educational institutions and embarking on the career proper is one of incredible fragility, and for organists it’s often a case of finding a cathedral or public school to provide a salary and somewhere to live.  A huge part of traversing this chasm between the end of studenthood and the start of professionalism is the luck of what is available, and I will be forever grateful that I was able to take up the post of Associate Director of Music at All Saints when I did.

Having a central London base is always valuable to those looking to build a performing and teaching portfolio, but All Saints has been so much more than that: a community of musicians who approach the task of liturgical music making with a strong sense of collaboration and creative freedom, a congregation who appreciate the extra hours that go into taking something from “good” to “excellent” and a clergy team who value the role music plays inspiring growth and renewal of faith within the Anglo Catholic tradition.

Beyond the mere matters of the job, which are not trifling, my strong support network at All Saints have helped me through various flashpoints in the general rough and tumble of life. It will be difficult to leave this community on the other side of the Atlantic, but I look forward to being able to welcome friends in New York and visiting All Saints as a home-from-home in London. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the congregation, choir, PCC and of course Fr Peter, Fr Alan and Stevie for their support and encouragement over these past years, and assurance that you will remain in my prayers even as I try to navigate being taxed in two countries at once while everyone drives on the wrong side.

Yours, soon to be surrounded by a bewildering number of hot dogs,

Jeremiah

Holy Week Services 2026

Maundy Thursday

We need twelve volunteers to have a foot washed at the High Mass on Maundy Thursday. It is an especially moving part of the liturgy and your participation is encouraged. Be in touch with Fr Alan for more information, or to sign up.

Chrism Mass 2026

The Bishop of Fulham will celebrate the Mass of Holy Chrism with his college of clergy on Tuesday  31st March at St Andrew’s Holborn at 11.00 am. All are welcome to attend and are warmly invited by Bishop Jonathan to join him for this important liturgy.

Walsingham Pilgrimages

You can now book your place on any of the three pilgrimages which will be taking place this year to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham:

National Pilgrimage – Monday 25th May 2026
£45 per head. Setting off 7.30 am from Margaret Street, returning to central London in the late evening. Sign up and pay here.

Weekend Pilgrimage – Friday 18th – Sunday 21st September 2026
Set off early afternoon on Friday 18th September; return late evening Sunday 21st February. The cost is £240 Friday and includes full board plus mini-coach from Kings Lynn Station. Please note that we travel up to Kings Lynn by train and pilgrims need to book their own train ticket. Please book your place and pay via Eventbrite here.

Advent Retreat – Friday 4th – Sunday 6th December 2026
This year’s retreat leader will be Bishop Peter Eagles. The cost of the retreat is £274.  We will set off around midday on Friday 4th December and travel by train to Kings Lynn, returning to Kings Cross on Sunday evening around 7.00 pm. Please note that pilgrims need to book their own train ticket. Please book your place and pay via Eventbrite here.

Holy Week Confessions

Friday 27th March 2026: 5-6 pm
Fr David Houlding

Monday 30th March 2026: 5-6 pm
Fr Alan Rimmer & Fr David Houlding

Tuesday 31st March 2026: 5-6 pm
Fr Peter Anthony & Fr Alan Rimmer

Wednesday 1st April 2026: 5-6 pm
Fr Peter Anthony & Fr Alan Rimmer

Maundy Thursday 2nd April 2026: 5-6 pm
Fr Peter Anthony & Fr Alan Rimmer

Good Friday 3rd April 2026: 11am-12pm
Fr Peter Anthony & Fr Alan Rimmer

For your prayers

The sick

Jean Castledine, David Craig, Asuncion Gines, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Helen Hughes, Canon David Hutt, Daniel Oliver, Carol Simmons, Ingrid Slaughter, Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Shirley Thompson, Juliet Windham

Recently departed

David McClellan, Elizabeth Lyon

Anniversaries of death

Services this week