All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

I am pleased to announce a number of online Zoom opportunities which we hope will make it easier for our online congregation to connect with those who worship in person at All Saints’. I hope these plans will allow us to deepen our links, knowledge and connection with those who worship with us each week via our online live-stream.

We are aiming to have a number of Zoom conversations on Sunday mornings through the autumn which we hope will mimic the coffee hour taking place after the High Mass.

The idea is that after the High Mass, at around 12.30 pm, a member of the clergy team will grab a cup of coffee and open a Zoom meeting online to be available to chat with anyone from amongst our online congregation who wishes to spend time connecting virtually with their fellow parishioners and members of the extended All Saints’ family.

We hope this will offer an opportunity for those who worship with us online to get to know each other better, for us to have a more accurate idea of who lives where, and how we can be of service to them. We also hope those who are housebound or in hospital will find the experience allows them to feel more connected to life at All Saints’.

We envisage this “virtual coffee hour” will offer an opportunity for people to share their news, ask any questions of the clergy that they may have, maybe discuss that morning’s sermon, and for the clergy to be able to let people know the latest news and notices from All Saints’.

We envisage having three Sunday morning “Virtual Coffee Hours” through the autumn at 12.30 pm on Sundays: Sunday 3rd September; Sunday 8th October; Sunday 19th November.

In a similar vein, there will also be a slightly later Zoom get together for those joining us from North America. We are aware that the time difference may make it difficult for Americans and Canadians to join us so early in the morning, so we are suggesting an All Saints’ “Virtual Cocktail Hour.” This will take place on a Sunday at 10.00 pm GMT, which should mean 5.00 pm on the North American East Coast and 2.00 pm on the West Coast.

The idea is the same as the virtual coffee hour – simply grab whatever drink you consider appropriate to your time of day and join us online for time of chat, catching up and finding out more about our dispersed parish community.

Our first North American “Virtual Cocktail Hour” will take place on Sunday 20th August at 10pm UK time (5.00 pm Eastern Time Zone/2.00 pm Pacific Time Zone).

I hope these plans will make it possible for members of our dispersed parish community to connect more easily together, to get to know each other better, and to be able to support each other prayerfully and emotionally, even though we may be many miles apart.

I urge our online worshippers to make a note of these dates in their diaries and to join us – I look forward to seeing you all!

Fr Peter

Evensong on 16th July: Byrd’s “Great” Service

2023 is the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, who is regarded by many as the finest of the numerous composers writing for the liturgy in the late 16th and early 17th century.

Byrd’s music features regularly in the lists at All Saints, but to mark his anniversary year, there will be a rare performance of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from the ‘Great’ Service at Evensong and Benediction on Sunday July 16th.

The work was composed towards the end of the 16th century for the Chapel Royal, one of the few foundations able to offer the resources and expertise required for its performance; it is among the most magnificent works ever conceived for the liturgy. It’s not a work which receives many liturgical performances, and this may well be the first time it has been sung at All Saints; it may not appear on the music list again for quite some time.

Do come and hear this great masterpiece!

Feast of the Assumption 2023

Please put in your diaries that we will be keeping the feast of the Assumption this year with two important liturgies over several days in August.

There will be  celebration of Evensong and Benediction with an Assumptiontide procession of Our Lady down Oxford Street on Sunday 13th August at 6.00 pm. The preacher at Evensong will be the Rt Revd Glyn Webster.

On the feast day itself, Tuesday 15th August 2023, there will be a High Mass at 6.30 pm. The preacher will be the Vicar.

Visit to the Fo Guang Shan Temple
Saturday 28th October – 3.00 pm

On Saturday 28th October at 3.00 pm a group from All Saints’ will visit the London Fo Guang Shan Temple on Margaret Street in order to learn more about our Buddhist neighbours’ community of faith. After our tour of the temple, our group will invite our Buddhist neighbours back to the Vicarage for tea together.

The community that now inhabits 84 Margaret Street is a branch of a Taiwanese Buddhist order which practices what is described as “humanistic Buddhism.” This is a modern expression of Buddhism which emerged in China, which seeks to place emphasis on integrating Buddhist practices into every day life, and espouses a shift away from liturgical ritual being for the dead and more for the living.

In order to book a place on the Buddhist Temple visit, please simply email our parish office. There is no charge for this event.

The Director of Music writes:

In 2013 I embarked on what was intended to be a recording of the complete organ works of J S Bach, on the award-winning Resonus label. It now seems unlikely that I’ll finish it (it takes about 20 discs) before I draw my princely C of E pension – neither parenthood nor Covid was on the cards 10 years ago – but I do hope to add a few more discs to the series, and certainly to set down all the major works based on chorales.

The previous disc, the ‘Orgelbuchlein’, was recorded on an instrument of 1730 in Waltershausen, Thuringia, and I am very fortunate to have been granted permission to record the next (the so-called ’18’ chorales) on a magnificent 18th century instrument by Schnitger in Groningen (Netherlands).

As with all the previous recordings in the series, I shall be funding the project (hire of the instrument will cost around 3000 Euros, apart from travel expenses) substantially from my own resources; but if any Bach-loving member of the All Saints congregation felt able to offer any support, I would be inestimably grateful! If you feel able to consider this, do please contact me c/o the ASMS office.

Young Adults Group

Fr Alan is organising two events for our younger parishioners over the coming weeks.

On Saturday 19th August there will be a hiking trip to Lewes and the South Downs. The walking trip will leave London around 10 am and last most of the day, returning in the early evening. Please be in touch with Fr Alan if you are interested in going.

On Thursday 7th September Fr Alan will host a dinner for our younger parishioners at his home from 7.00 pm. Please email him if you would like to attend.

Visit to the London Cartoon Museum
Thursday 5th October 2023 – 7.00 pm

On Thursday 5th October 2023 at 7.00 pm, there will be a parish visit to the London Cartoon Museum, just around the corner from All Saints’. There will be a brief introduction and tour of the Museum’s collection offered by a member of their staff, time to see their latest exhibition on Wallace and Gromit, and the evening will finish with a buffet supper back at the Vicarage. The cost of the evening will be £15, which includes entry to the museum, a glass of wine as we look at the exhibition, and supper at the Vicarage.

The museum is “dedicated to preserving the best of British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation, and to establishing a museum with a gallery, archives and innovative exhibitions to make the creativity of cartoon art past and present, accessible to all for the purposes of education, research and enjoyment.”The Museum contains a fascinating collection of British caricatures and political cartoons ranging extensively from 18th Century to the present, plus an exhibition which changes once or twice a year.

This autumn’s exhibition will look at the history of Wallace and Gromit with a retrospective entitled, “30 Years of the Wrong Trousers,” which should be interesting and great fun at the same time! You can read more about it here.

In order to book a place on the Cartoon Museum visit and the buffet supper at the Vicarage, please email the parish office (office@asms.uk) and make a payment of £15 to secure your place. This can be done most easily through our parish’s PayPal account, to which Jonathan, our office administrator, will send you a link. There are 20 places in total available on this trip, which will be apportioned on a first come, first served basis.

Visiting Guest preachers

Sunday 13th August 2023 – Assumptiontide Procession
Evensong, Procession of Our Lady and Benediction | 6.00 pm
The Rt Revd Glyn Webster.

Sunday 10th September – 14th Sunday after Trinity
High Mass | 11.00 am
The Revd Dr Michael Bowie,
Vicar, St Peter’s, Eastern Hill, Melbourne, Australia.

Sunday 1st October – 17th Sunday after Trinity
High Mass | 11.00 am
The Revd Katy Hacker Hughes,
Priest Pastor, St Marylebone Parish Church.

Wednesday 1st November 2023 – All Saints’ Day
High Mass | 6.30 pm
The Revd Richard Bastable,
Vicar, St Luke’s Uxbridge Road, and St Matthew’s, Kensington Olympia.

Tuesday 2nd November 2023 – All Souls’ Day
High Mass of Requiem | 6.30 pm
The Revd Dr Barry Orford.

Links for Sunday

The Friends of All Saints’