All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

Thanks
I would like to say a huge thank you to all who have helped to keep the “show on the road” over the past two weeks whilst I have been away on pilgrimage to Walsingham, and then on a week’s holiday.

I would like to express a particular thanks to my colleague Fr Julian for all he has done to cover the liturgies and preach over the past two weekends, and also for the increased number of Masses he has been celebrating during the week. I am very grateful indeed to him for his help. Our parish is so lucky to have Fr Julian amongst us on our clergy staff.

I would also like to thank the other clergy who have helped cover the daily Mass over the past two weeks. We have recently drafted in a number of priests to help us cover the daily Masses better in the period over the next few months in which we have no full-time assistant priest. We are very grateful to Fr Reg Bushau, Fr Matthew Duckett, Fr Jeremy Haselock, Fr Barrie Newton, and Fr Nigel Palmer who have been helping by covering Masses each week. We could not continue to offer the rich liturgical life we do without them!

Apologies
I apologise for the fact that there was no broadcast of the High Mass last Sunday. This was due to faults with our camera system which have all since been sorted out. We are aware of how much our regular broadcasts mean to our online worshippers and are sorry we weren’t able to connect with you last Sunday. We are now confident this fault won’t happen again.

Renewal of church speaker system
Our PCC met last week and discussed the work we have done so far in renewing our speaker system in church. I am very aware of how significant an issue this is for many people. I have been frustrated myself that it is often so difficult to hear speakers in our building because of shortcomings in our present system.

Just to bring you up to date, engineers have undertaken an acoustic survey of our building that has highlighted some of the technical questions that need to be resolved in a new system. However, a number of other issues need dealing with in connection to our cameras and Wi-Fi connection first. It seems wise, therefore, to sort these out in order, attend to these issues first, and then undertake the work to improve our sound system once that is accomplished

We are determined to renew our speaker system well and in a thought-through way rather than rushing to fit a system in haste which then needs further adjustment later. It was reported to the PCC that most of this work should be done by the end of the year so that we can look to having a new speaker system in place at some point in the New Year.

Walsingham
Details of next year’s pilgrimages and visits to Walsingham are listed below. Please sign up as soon as possible so we have a good idea of numbers.

If you are wondering what a pilgrimage to Walsingham entails, a number of pilgrims from our our recent visit to Walsingham have agreed to write about their experiences over the next few weeks. We hope this can give people who may never have been a better idea of what pilgrimage to Walsingham is like. Daniel Fielden is the first to write and his reflections are to be found below. I am grateful to him for sharing his thoughts.

New Parish Paper
Our new look Parish Paper has been published and posted out to the Friends of All Saints’. If you are a Friend and have, for some reason, not yet received your copy of the Parish Paper, please be in touch with us so we can make sure your details are listed appropriately in our database of Friends.

More information about membership, its benefits, and how to join can be found here.

The newly re-established Friends scheme continues to grow, and in the last three months the total number of Friends has risen from 128 to 146 members, of whom 47 are “Benefactors”.

Fr Peter

Reflections on Walsingham – Dan Fielden

Despite going to All Saints’ for nearly 15 years, I had never made it to Walsingham. Having just returned from my first pilgrimage, feeling refreshed and spiritually-renewed, I now wish I had not waited so long.

Shortly after arriving, we made our first visit to the Holy House and I was immediately struck that this truly was a holy place where one feels drawn close to the presence of God.

Throughout the pilgrimage, I really valued the range of devotional activities on offer, from the quiet and meditative Shrine Prayers to the large and joyful outdoor processions. Praying the Stations of the Cross in the beautiful gardens was a particular highlight while our final Mass in the Holy House was a profoundly moving experience.

We had plenty of free time, during which I enjoyed exploring the Shrine Church’s many chapels. I also had great fun each evening, socialising with pilgrims from All Saints’ and elsewhere.

It was so wonderful to set aside several days for prayer and worship, free from the distractions of daily life, and going on pilgrimage to Walsingham was a genuinely transformative experience. I will certainly not wait so long to return and am already eagerly anticipating next year’s pilgrimage!

Daniel Fielden

Walsingham Pilgrimages 2023

The following visits to Walsingham are now available to book through our parish office over the next 12 months.

Walsingham Silent Retreat
Friday 2nd December-Sunday 4th December 2022
Cost: £182 (including full board plus mini-coach from Kings Lynn – retreatants need to book their own train ticket to Kings Lynn).
Retreat leader: Rt Revd Roger Jupp, Vicar of St Lawrence, Long Eaton.
This retreat will be silent from after supper on Friday night to the Parish Mass on Sunday morning.

National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
Monday 29th May 2023
This is a day pilgrimage to Walsingham which takes place on the last Bank Holiday in May each year. We travel together in a coach from Margaret Street, setting off first thing, and return late in the evening of the same day. The pilgrimage includes a large outdoor Mass in the Abbey grounds of Walsingham, with sermon and procession in the afternoon. The cost is usually around £20. Details will be announced closer to the time.

Annual parish weekend pilgrimage to Walsingham
Friday 21st July to Monday 24th July 2023
Cost: £270 Friday to Monday; or £190 Friday to Sunday evening (including full board plus mini-coach from Kings Lynn – pilgrims need to book their own train ticket to Kings Lynn).

A weekend pilgrimage away involving: Pilgrimage Mass at the Shrine Church; evening processions; sacraments of healing; sprinkling at the holy well and finishing with procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.

We are aware that including Monday in the time we are away might not be convenient for those who work. We have decided therefore, to offer two deals: one for those who wish to come home on Sunday night and one for those who want to come back on Monday.

Parish theatre trip this Thursday

Our parish trip to the Bridge Theatre to see The Southbury Child starring Alex Jennings will take place this Thursday 11th August at 7.30 pm. Find out more about the production here.

We have bought 15 tickets at £39.50 each. There are still some spare for those who want to join us. To reserve a place, please email Jonathan, our administrator, via the parish office (office@ASMS.uk).

Fr Peter will simply meet those who have booked places at the theatre at 7.00 pm and hand out tickets on the night before the performance.

Assumption 2022: stewards needed!

As our Assumption celebrations approach, we are particularly looking for stewards who can help marshal the procession. Our stewards are a crucial part of making sure the liturgy a safe and happy experience for everyone, and we need more volunteers for this important role. Please speak to Chris Swift or email the parish office if you would like to volunteer.

On Sunday 14th August there will be a High Mass at 11.00 am, (Music: Missa Brevis in D K194 – Mozart; Assumpta est Maria – Palestrina) and Evensong, Procession down Oxford Street, and Benediction at 6.00 pm (Music: Dyson in D; Tantum Ergo – Henschel).

Our preacher in the evening will be Fr Graeme Rowlands, Vicar of S. Silas’, Kentish Town. He is known to many as Chaplain General of the Society of Mary, and as a Guardian of the Holy House of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

You may not know, however, that Fr Graeme became a Twitter sensation in 2020 when a short video made by a parishioner of his about his sense of vocation and priestly life went viral and was watched by thousands of people. It was even reported on the Church Times! The video is a beautiful account of priestly ministry and can be seen here. We look forward to welcoming Fr Graeme and hearing his words of wisdom.

All Saints’ Treasures in the V&A

Parishioners might not know that one of our most precious treasures, a jewelled Butterfield wine flagon (below, on the left of the image, and enlarged on the right), is kept at the V&A Museum.

Our PCC renewed last week the loan agreement enabling it to be kept at the museum for a further five years. Fr Peter happened to be at the V&A on Monday and hunted out the cabinet it is displayed in.

It is to be found in the ecclesiastical silver room in the left hand corner of the display case of Victorian Neo-Gothic silver. It is displayed beside a host of impressive artefacts by Pugin and other great names of the Gothic revival. We are clearly listed as the owner and it is an impressive sight to see one of our parish’s most treasured artefacts displayed in such an august institution, and alongside such stunning objects.

Some minor Christmas alterations

Some minor alterations to our parish’s schedule of liturgies for Christmas 2022 were agreed at our PCC meeting last week. This is an attempt to reduce music costs and see if some slight changes to what we offer increases attendance.

There will be no lunchtime carol service offered this year (only thirty attended last Christmas). In addition we will experiment with moving our parish evening carol service from a weeknight to be in the evening of Sunday 18th December in place of Evensong and Benediction.

The funds released by the cancelling of the lunch time carol service will then be used to restore a High Mass for the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the evening of Thursday 8th December.

Links for Sunday

The links for the livestream and service sheet for Trinity 8 are at the end of this email.

Evensong and Benediction is at 6pm on Sunday. The music includes Gibbons’s Service in Fauxbourdon and Byrd’s Christe qui lux est et dies.

Flowers

We are looking for volunteers to help with the flowers in church. If you have a particular talent for flower arranging and would like to help from time to time or on a regular basis, please contact Shawn on 07988 287 663 or shawnwilbe@outlook.com.

If you would like to make a donation for flowers, please contact Shawn or speak to Chris Self.

Prayer list

The sick

Fr Harry Hodgetts, Elizabeth Lyon, James Shrimpton, David Robin, Gloria Fleming, Amanda Barrett, Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Michael Lamprill, David Craig, Martin Berka, Joanna Moses, Bruce Ross-Smith

The faithful departed

José María Romero García, Molly Voy

Anniversaries of death

August 6th – Jessie Graves, David Archer
7th – George Albert Young
8th – Harriet Gray, Derek Mathews
9th – Michael Goldin
10th – Sidney Browne, Gay Cardew, Leslie York, Andrew Heley, David Johnstone, Charles Oram, Marie-Olivier Mercy, David Welch, Lenore Kimbrough
11th – Marie O’Connor, Barbara Davis
12th – Beatrice Taylor, Joan Pulham, Philip Merritt, Valerie Hargreaves-Smith