All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

I want to say a heart-felt thank you to our Director of Music Dr Stevie Farr and to Professor Margaret Faultless for the magnificent concert they offered last Friday. It was a wonderful evening and many people have spoken to me about how much they appreciated it.

Stevie and Margaret played a number of Bach sonatas together in first half with Stevie on the harpsichord and Margaret on violin: Cantabile ma un poco Adagio (BWV 109a); and the Sonata for violin and harpsichord in B Minor (BWV 1014). These were a magnificent and thrilling beginning to the evening.

After the interval, Stevie’s rendition of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was quite simply spell-binding. It was clear all present were entirely transfixed. Thank you, Stevie, for all you contributed to a remarkable evening.

I would also like to thank Monica Hall for sponsoring the cost of the harpsichord which was hired for the day. We are very grateful indeed for her generosity.

I also want to thank all those who came. All proceeds from their entry tickets will go to our Choir and Music Trust fundraising campaign. We are especially grateful to all those who made further donations to our Music and Choir Trust Appeal on the night itself.

I am pleased to announce that a total of £1,379.25 was raised on Friday night. This is a splendid achievement, and brings our current running total for our year-long campaign to £447,445.18 raised so far. We are making great progress towards our campaign goal of raising £1 million by the end of the year.

Thanks be to God for all the blessings he is showing our parish through the generosity and creativity of so many people!

Our fundraising campaign continues this Sunday with a special Festival focussed on the intriguing connections All Saints’ has with Sergei Rachmaninoff. As part of this, all the music at the main liturgies will be by him, including his Mass in Bb which was performed for the first time at All Saints’ in November 1915.

Our Director of Music at the time, Dr Walter Vale, had adapted movements from Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom to the words of the Ordinary of the Mass from the Book of Common Prayer. The adaptation was sanctioned by Rachmaninoff, who attended a performance of the Mass at All Saints’ in 1924.

We are also exceptionally pleased that Bishop Rowan Williams will be coming to preach at the 11.00 am High Mass. He is surely England’s foremost expert on the Russian theological and spiritual tradition and I am sure he will have fascinating insights for us. We are so lucky to be able to count him as a good friend and supporter of our parish.

After the High Mass there will then be two short lectures given by Professor Iain Quinn and Professor Geoffrey Norris about Rachmaninoff’s involvement with All Saints’, and his Mass of St John Chrysostom.

Our Rachmaninoff Day will conclude with Evensong and Benediction with works distinctly from our parish’s repertoire inspired by the composer.

In the 1970s, Vale’s successor as Director of Music, Eric Arnold, followed up on the Rachmaninoff Mass setting by creating a set of Evensong and Benediction canticles similarly adapting choral pieces by Rachmaninoff and fitting English words to them. He used other movements not only from the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom but also from the Vespers or All-Night Vigil which Rachmaninoff wrote in 1915.

These pieces are distinct to the musical patrimony of All Saints’ and represent a particular contribution our parish has made to English reception and understanding of orthodox liturgical sensibility.

I hope this celebration will be of interest to many and will prompt renewed appreciation for our parish’s musical tradition – of which we are all so proud.

Fr Peter

Electrical work in church

Please note that for the next few weeks, beginning next week until the middle of July, All Saints’ church will only be open during service times on weekdays. This is because extensive electrical work needs to take place ahead of the installation of our new sound system which we hope will be finished by the end of August.

During this time, the church will open at 11.45 am in time for the 12 noon Mass, and then at 5.45 pm in time for Evening Prayer and the 6.30 pm Mass. The church will not be open as it usually is during the morning and afternoon for private prayer and visiting. The Wednesday Holy Hour at 5.30 pm will also be suspended until the work is finished.

We hope this does not cause too much disruption or disappointment. If anyone needs to be in church or wishes to see the building for a specific reason, please be in touch with the Parish Office and we are happy to make an appointment to show you the church. Other than that, the building needs to be clear of visitors so that complicated work can take place.

As soon as this important project is finished, we will return to our usual habit of having the church open in the mornings from 11am and through the afternoon. During this closure time, we will not need church welcomers to be in duty in the afternoon.

Confirmation: Sunday 28th June

Please note that Bishop Jonathan will visit All Saints’ on Sunday 28th June to baptize and confirm our catechumens. There will be a parish lunch after the liturgy. Please be in touch with Kate Hodgetts if you are able to provide a dish of some sort.

Parish walks

Fr Alan will be leading a number of walks over the coming months, each around 10 miles and involving some climbs. Bring lunch. There will be a short pub stop on each, and the option of an early supper together at the end of the walk. Be in touch with Fr Alan to sign up or ask for details.

Saturday 13th June 2026
Chiltern Hills. 10.27 Marylebone Station. Aylesbury Vale Parkway train to Wendover.

Saturday 25th July 2026
Surrey Hills. 10.23 Waterloo Station. Dorking train to Box Hill & Westhumble.

Saturday 22nd August 2026
Kent Downs. 10.34 Charing Cross Station. Ramsgate train to Wye.

Attendance last Sunday

For your prayers

The Friends and Music Patrons of All Saints’ Margaret Street

8th – Carolyn Farrar, Dr Martin Faulkner, Sue Feakin, Adrian Felaar, Daniel Fielden, Janice Fielden, Julia Fielden, Nigel Fisher, Mark Fleming

9th – Stuart Fletcher, Christopher Forman, Daniel Formston, Derrick French, Jason Frost, Carole and Christopher Gabriel, Revd Canon Graham Holcombe, R Alan Kimbrough, Amanda Miller

10th – Derek and Cecilia Gatherer, Dr Rebecca Gibbs and Sam Wildy, Pamela Goddard, Paul Golding, John Goldsmith, Genevieve Gomi, Fr Michael Gudgeon, Sheelagh Gudgeon

11th – Monica Joan Hall, Paul Hannah, Jillian Hargreaves, Julie Harland, Christopher Harlow-Jennings, Patrick Hartley and Rebecca Hirst, Fr Jeremy Haselock, Sandra Hill, Timothy Hill, Martin Hime

12th – Fr David Hobden, Edwin Holmes, Rosy Holt, Elizabeth Hunter, Fr David Hutt, Andrew Jervis, Powell Johann, Frau Dr Christiane Loidl-Rainey and Simon Rainey KC, Stephen Jury

13th – Stanislav Kudryashov, Christopher Laws, Katherine Lee, Margaret Leggett, Cornelius Logue, Nigel Lynn, Henry Macey, Hilary Rodger

The sick

Kay Benefield, Jean Castledine, Gérard Choley, David Craig, Valerie Mary Foss, Asuncion Gines, Suzanne Goodstein, Fr Harry Hodgetts, Danny Mather, Rebecca Morrison, Daniel Oliver, Ingrid Slaughter, Nanello, Shirley Thompson, Juliet Windham

Recently departed

Judith Craemer, Robert Flanagan, Agatha Hunt, Martin Wright

Anniversaries of death

Mass times this week

Monday 8th June – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Tuesday 9th June – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Wednesday 10th June – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Thursday 11th June – St Barnabas
11 am Funeral of Martin Wright
6.30 pm Low Mass

Friday 12th June – Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass

Saturday 13th June – St Anthony of Padua
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday

Sunday 14th June – TRINITY II
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction