Weekly Email – Trinity 20
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Dear friends,
As we approach the end of October, our thoughts turn to the celebration of our feast of title over the weekend of All Saints’ Day.
Many celebrations await us, some of which are a slight departure from our normal routine, so I would be grateful if you could put these in your diary carefully and come to as many as you are able.
The first celebration in the week of All Saintstide is the gala fundraising dinner which will take place at the Savile Club on Thursday 29th October 2026. This will raise funds for our Choir and Music Trust, but also marks the festive end of our year-long campaign. Tickets are £100 each. Dress is black tie or equivalent for ladies. Tickets are selling fast and we only have 10 left! You can book your place here.
The next day, Friday 30th October, sees a drinks party at the Vicarage for all the Friends of All Saints’ and the Music Patrons of All Saints’. This is a way of thanking those who support our parish through giving to the Friends and Music Patrons. If you are a member of the Friends of All Saints’ or one of our new Music Patrons, you are warmly invited. Drinks will begin at 7.00 pm after the evening Mass and will finish at 9.00 pm.
Saturday 31st October is the eve of the feast of All Saints. Don’t bother with trick or treat or dressing up as a ghoul or ghost – come to Evensong and Benediction! We are particularly honoured to be joined by the Ven Katherine Hedderley, Archdeacon of Charing Cross, who will preach. The parish party after Evensong will include the solemn revelation of the final sum we have raised in our Music Fundraising campaign!
The music at Evensong on 31st Oct for the eve of the feast day will include Wood’s Collegium Regale setting and Victoria’s O quam gloriosum. The canticles at Benediction will be Caplin’s arrangements of the O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo to music by Bortniansky and Basil Harwood.
The feast day of All Saints itself falls on Sunday 1st November this year and we will be joined by Bishop Jonathan who will celebrate and preach.
All Saints’ Day also marks the retirement from our serving team of Quentin Williams after many years of sterling service to our parish. There will be an opportunity to thank him for all he has contributed in the sanctuary, and to mark his retirement, at the end of the High Mass.
The music at the High Mass for All Saints’ Day will be splendid: Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicoli; Byrd’s Justorum Animae; and Demessieux’s Te Deum as the Voluntary.
At 6.00 pm on 1st Nov, the setting at Evensong will be Jackson’s in G, with Glorious in Heaven by Whitlock as the anthem. Benediction will include Harry Bramma’s canticles and Sumption’s Te Deum in G offered in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
All Souls’ Day falls on Monday this year and there will be a High Mass of Requiem sung to Victoria’s setting of the Requiem propers at 6.30 pm to pray for the faithful departed.
Our commemoration of the departed will continue on the following Sunday 8th November, which will be Remembrance Sunday. A High Mass of Requiem will be offered for the war dead to Fauré’s setting at 10.55 am. Please note the earlier than usual starting time so we are all gathered and the liturgy has begun by 11.00 am when we will make our Act of Remembrance together with the rest of the nation.
Our All Saints’ Festival Appeal will be dedicated to our Choir and Music Trust this year. If you are able to make one last donation to our Music appeal, we would be hugely grateful. We are currently aiming at reaching £1million raised over the past year and every penny counts as we seek to raise the last few thousands and reach that goal in these last weeks of our campaign. Please be generous if you can and make your donations here.
When the All Saints weekend arrives, I hope you will want to rejoice with full gusto in the fellowship we share with all God’s angels and saints. Let us proclaim our firm hope in the Resurrection of the Dead and the efficacy of the saints’ intercession through these many liturgies, celebrations, and commemorations. As we will sing on All Saints’ Sunday, “when the shadow of death fell upon them, we sorrowed, but now we rejoice that they rest in the Lord.”
Fr Peter
Thank you, Julian!
Julian Manresa, our parish administrator, had his last day with us on Wednesday as he moves to another job. We are hugely grateful to Julian for all he has done for our parish and for all the hard work he has put into keeping our parish office in good order. We will miss his humour, good sense, commitment and dedication. We wish him well in his new work and assure him of our prayers. Many thanks indeed, Julian!
Thank you, Julian, for all your terrific work in our parish office!
RIP Robert Flanagan
A Low Mass of Requiem will be celebrated on Thursday 22nd October in thanksgiving for the life of Robert Flanagan, the husband of Anne Flanagan. Refreshments will follow the Mass and all are welcome.
Zoom Theology – The kids are alright: How Gen Z found the Church of England
Our next Zoom Theology seminar will be given by Esmé Partridge on Tuesday 27th October 2026 at 7.30pm. Esmé is Senior Researcher at Civitas, and Fellow of Civic Future. Her work focuses on young adults, faith and the contemporary Church of England.
There has been much talk in recent years of a renewed interest in Christianity amongst younger people. But what does that actually look like? Why do some young adults turn towards faith, and what expressions of the Church of England are attracting them most?
Esmé Partridge’s research explores the experiences, relationships and questions along the journeys by which young adults are coming to faith.
In this session, she will introduce the findings of her recent report for the think-tank Theos, “Understanding Young Adult Journeys to Faith in the Church of England,” and invite us to consider what they might mean for the future of the Church, and the experience of our parish.
Participants are encouraged to read the document before the session. You can download it here, and the Zoom link to join the online seminar is here.
Homeless Shelter Volunteering
Each winter, we seek to show the love of God for our neighbour by staffing the nearby over-night homeless shelter at the American Church on Tottenham Church Road.
We now have the dates of the shelters which All Saints’ will be running:
11th – 12th November 2026
16th – 17th December 2026
13th – 14th January 2027
17th – 18th February 2027
10th – 11th March 2027
For each evening, we need a team lead to oversee the smooth running of the evening, a kitchen lead to cook, five other helpers, and a male and female overnighter. The following morning, we need a team lead and three further volunteers to run breakfast.
There are lots of different ways of taking part, and you don’t need any particular experience: making beds; preparing food; offering welcome; and helping to create a safe and hospitable space. If you would like to volunteer, please be in touch with Fr Alan (assistantpriest@asms.uk).
Attendance last Sunday
Fr Peter and Sanjay Ranpuria spent last weekend in Berlin as part of our diocesan ecumenical partnership with the Church of Berlin-Brandenburg. The conference focussed on the Church’s role in the realm of politics and the public square.
For your prayers
The Friends and Music Patrons of All Saints Margaret Street
19th – Naomi Slippe, Vaughan Snook, Jonathan Spelman, Louise and Richard Stallwood, Iain Stewart, Robert Stoltz
20th – Madeleine Storer, Veronica and Ian Summers, Colin Symes, Ann Tacchi, Sebastian Taite-Ellis, Michael Taylor, Kitty Thompson
21st – Dr James Thomson, Charles Thomson, Jeremy Thorp, Michael Traynor, Fr Roger Turner, Dr Christine Vaughn Lillie, Christopher Walsh
22nd – Philip Wayne, Fr Benjamin Weitzmann, Mats Wendt, Michael Westcott, Sandra Wheen, All Departed Friends and Benefactors
23rd – Matthew Whittaker, Tim Widdowfield, David Wilcox, T. Bradford Willis, Ian Wilson
24th – Fr Michael Witcombe, Martin Woods, Martin Woolley, William Yale, Michael Young, All Friends and Music Patrons in Need
The sick
Jean Castledine, David Craig, Fr Luke Demetri, Pamela Reeves, Ingrid Slaughter, Juliet Windham
The recently departed
Fr George Bush, Joseph Cherian, Terry Gray, Danny Mather
Anniversaries of death
18th – Lilian Geddes, John Williams, Christopher Rawll, Wilfred Bevan
19th – John Hillaby, Colin Wesley
20th – Benedict Alois Loidl
21st – Dora Bull
22nd – Martin Lawrence Pr
23rd – Roy Prince
24th – Eva Dean, Ron Keating, Peter Laister Pr
Services this week
Saturday 17th October – St Ignatius of Antioch
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 18th October – TRINITY XX
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction
Monday 19th October – St Frideswide
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Tuesday 20th October – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Wednesday 21st October – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Thursday 22nd October – Feria
12 pm Low Mass of Requiem – for Robert Flanagan
6.30 pm Low Mass
Friday 23rd October – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Low Mass
Saturday 24th October – Feria
12 pm Low Mass
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 25th October – LAST AFTER TRINITY
8.30 am Low Mass
11 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Solemn Evensong and Benediction: in memory of Harry Bramma