Weekly Email – Passion Sunday
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Dear friends,
The annual National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham will soon be around the corner. It takes place on Monday 26th May 2025.
The pilgrimage involves travelling to Walsingham and back in one day and participating in a wonderful outdoor Mass, followed by a Procession of Our Lady and Benediction in the afternoon.
Pilgrims travel from all over England to take part in this joyous celebration of our Christian faith, and our parish usually sends a big group. It is a terrific way of proclaiming our trust and belief in Christ and the love we have for his mother the Virgin Mary, whose intercession and presence is so palpable in Walsingham.
Pilgrims need to bring a packed lunch with them, which everyone eats together on the grass in the beautiful Abbey grounds between the Solemn Mass and the procession in the spring sunshine. It is a lovely opportunity to catch up with friends and acquaintances from all over the country.
This year, we have booked a substantially larger coach to enable us to take a bigger group. We have decided to go for a double decker!!! The number of people who travel in our bus has grown each year so that we have now outgrown the total number of seats in a single coach. The double decker coach we will be taking increases our usual group size of around 50 to 75.
The coach journey will cost £30. We leave Margaret Street at 7.30 am (on the dot!) and arrive back in London by the evening. To book your place on the All Saints’ coach, simply sign up at the Eventbrite link here. You pay your £30 online as part of that process. It’s as simple as that.
If you know of anyone who wants to get to the National Pilgrimage and is looking for travel from London, do please forward the Eventbrite link to them. They are more than welcome to sign up and join us as long as the can get to Margaret Street by 7.30am on 26th May.
It is such an encouraging sign that our pilgrimage group has grown to the point where we now need a larger bus and I pray that the pilgrimage will be an occasion of blessing and renewal for all who take part. May Our Lady of Walsingham pray for our parish and for all who take the pilgrimage road to her shrine.
Fr Peter
What a joy it has been over the past few days to celebrate parishioner Yvonne Craig’s 100th birthday. She threw a birthday party on Tuesday for her family and friends, and the birthday itself was on Thursday. Many congratulations, and happy returns, Yvonne!
Electoral Roll 2025
2025 marks the renewal of our parish electoral roll. The old roll is wiped and a new one must be created.
You can enrol yourself in one of two ways. The first is to do it online by filling in the form here and submitting it electronically. This is the simplest, quickest and easiest way.
Alternatively, you can apply using a paper form that can be handed in on Sunday mornings or posted to the parish office. A copy of the paper form is enclosed as a pdf with this email and you are welcome to print it out.
In order to be included in the Electoral Roll of a Church of England parish, you have to fulfil certain simple criteria. In essence, if you are baptized, consider yourself to be a member of the Church of England, and have worshipped regularly in person at All Saints’ for at least six months, you can be enrolled.
People who are formally members of other churches but who worship here can also be enrolled if they wish. You can also be a member of more than one Electoral Roll if you regularly worship at more than one church and fulfil the criteria.
If you have any questions about enrolment, please be in touch with Daniel Fielden, our parish’s Electoral Roll Officer, or with any of the clergy via our parish office (office@asms.uk).
Full details of all our Holy Week and Easter liturgies can be found here.
Confessions
Next week, Fr Graeme Rowlands will be available to hear confessions at All Saints’ on Monday 7th April from 5-6 pm, and Fr David Houlding will be available on Friday 11th April from 5-6 pm.
Please note that both these priests will be preaching Holy Week elsewhere in parishes outside London this year. Consequently, if you wish to make your confession to either of them, this is the last occasion before Easter that they will be with us.
During Holy Week itself, Fr Jeremy Haselock will be available to hear confessions, as will the parish clergy, on Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 5.00 pm.
Next Parish Walk – Easter Saturday 26th April
Our next parish walk will be an 11 mile circular route from Amersham in the Chilterns, hoping to take in some earlyish bluebells and the wall paintings at Little Missenden.
Amersham is accessible at weekends on the Metropolitan line, and takes about an hour from central London. There are trains every half hour, and we’d want to start walking by 11.30am. There will be a stop for a picnic/pint half way, and the opportunity for an early pub supper together when back in Amersham. Email Fr Alan (assistantpriest@asms.uk) to sign up, or for more details.
Yvonne Craig was very touched and proud to receive a birthday card from Their Majesties the King and Queen on the occasion of her 100th birthday on Thursday!
Lent Appeal
You can contribute to our Lent appeal here. The proceeds of this year’s fundraising will be split between the work of the Homeless Shelter at the American Church on Tottenham Court Road and the Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal, which this year will support a number of climate justice projects in Mozambique and Angola. You can read more about the Bishop of London’s Lent Appeal here.
What a wonderful Laetare Sunday we had. After the High Mass we had a drinks party in the courtyard with champagne and simnel cake. It was with bitter-sweet emotion that we bade farewell to Sam Parker who leaves our parish to try her vocation as a Franciscan nun. She goes with our love, admiration and prayers as she explores this new vocational possibility in her life.
Stations of the Cross
During Lent, the Stations of the Cross will take place at 12.30 pm on Wednesdays after the noon Low Mass, and at 7.00 pm on Fridays after the evening Low Mass. The service takes around half an hour.
We are very grateful to Simon Rainey for providing champagne for a splendid Laetare Sunday drinks party in our courtyard after the High Mass. Thank you, Simon, we are hugely grateful for your generosity!
Volunteers needed for Holy Week
Please be in touch with Fr Alan if you would like to volunteer to be a steward on Palm Sunday or to have your feet washed at the evening liturgy on Maundy Thursday.
Stewarding on Palm Sunday involves wearing a “hi vis” vest and helping to organise the procession from Oxford Market to church in such a way that the event is safe and secure for everyone involved. A full briefing is given beforehand.
At the12 noon Low Mass on Thursday, Yvonne Craig received a special blessing from Fr Peter to celebrate her 100th birthday!
Fidelium
A new network for young adults (18-35) who worship in parishes under the care of the Bishop of Fulham has recently been launched, called Fidelium. They will be meeting at All Saints’ in Easter Week to celebrate St George’s Day – Mass at 6.30 pm will be followed by drinks in a local pub. All our young adults are welcome to join them.
You can find out more about Fidelium here on Twitter and here on Instagram.
Easter flowers sponsorship
We toasted Sam Parker on Sunday after the High Mass, assuring her, as she becomes a Franciscan postulant, of our prayers and best wishes. We made a presentation of a framed picture of her with our serving team.
Attendance last Sunday
You can watch last Sunday’s High Mass for Lent 4 (Laetare Sunday) here.
For your Prayers
The Friends of All Saints’ Margaret Street:
6th – Christopher Walsh, Philip Wayne, Fr Benjamin Weitzmann, Fr. Mats Wendt, Michael Westcott
7th – Sandra Wheen, Matthew Whittaker, Tim Widdowfield, David Wilcox, Samuel Wildy, T. Bradford Willis, Ian A. Wilson, Fr Michael Witcombe
8th – Martin Woods, The Rev’d John Wylam, William Yale, Michael Young
9th – Mark Allan, Martin Amherst-Lock, Robert Austen, Richard Ayling, James Babington Smith, Ruth Baker
10th – Stephen Baldwin, Stephen Barber, Nigel Beanland, Jonathan Beck, Dr William Benefield, William Bonnell
11th – John Bristow, Paul Brough, Michael Brown, David Blunden, Fr Michael Bowie, Dr Graham Burns
12th – Derek Bussey, Katherine Butler, Maureen Cambrey, David Caplowe, Adrian Carlton-Oatley, Timothy Cassady, Norman and Zulette Catir, Kate Charles, Stuart Chillingworth, Sir Robert Chote, Sandy Christian
The sick:
David Craig, Tony Hawkins, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Elizabeth Lyon, Philip Payne, Fr John Rick, Ingrid Slaughter
The recently departed:
Mable Forde, June Rodd, Nathalie Sharpe, Peter Strange, pr, Valerie Snapes
The faithful departed:
7th – Stanley Eley Bp, Peggy Monk, Margaret Leech
8th – Leonard Neville, Muriel Vickery, Richard Davall, Minnie Webb, Olive Routledge, Evelyn Light
9th – Cecil Higgins, Ada Spicer, Anne Garside, Cyril Golding-Bird Bp, Lewis Fleming
10th – Thomas Senior Pr, Brian Phillips
11th – Maud Woodin, Mildred Banyard, Roy Sutherland
12th – Edith Malcolm Wood, Norman Peryer, Eric Yates
Services this week
Saturday 5th April – Lent Feria
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 6th April – FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (Passion)
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction
Monday 7th April – Lent Feria
12 noon Low Mass
5.00 pm Confessions: Fr Graeme Rowlands
6.30 pm Low Mass
Tuesday 8th April – Lent Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm High Mass
Wednesday 9th April – Lent Feria
12 noon Low Mass
12.30 pm Stations of the Cross
5.30 Holy Hour
6.30 pm Low Mass
Thursday 10th April – Lent Feria
12 noon Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Friday 11th April – Lent Feria
12 noon Low Mass
5.00 pm Confessions: Fr David Houlding
6.30 pm Low Mass
7.00 pm Stations of the Cross
Saturday 12th April – Lent Feria
12pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 13th April – PALM SUNDAY
8.30 am Low Mass
11.00 am High Mass with Procession (meet at Oxford Market)
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Mysterium Pascale: Music and Readings for Holy Week