Bernard Bergonzi RIP

In the Guardian obituary of Bernard Bergonzi, we read: 'In 1982 an essay by Bergonzi was included in Why I Am Still a Catholic, a collection edited by Peter Stanford. Bergonzi remained a lifelong practising Catholic, though of a distinctly liberal temperament. Occasionally describing himself as a “papist critic,” he was a man of the second Vatican council, and the winds of change that were blowing through the church in the 60s.'

David Lodge wrote: 'I always looked forward to these meetings because we had plenty to talk about: new books, our current projects, literary and academic gossip, and the state of the Catholic church. Bernard took a particular interest in my novels that dealt with this last subject, and wrote perceptively but not uncritically about them.'

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Gerard Manley Hopkins - The Leaden Echo & the Golden Echo.

Feast of the Transfiguration: Choral Evensong & Garden Party

St Stephen Walbrook is to hold a Festal Evensong on Thursday 6th August at 6.00pm for the Feast of the Transfiguration. The setting for service, sung by the St Stephen Walbrook Choir, will be Stanford in Bb and the anthem will be 'Jubilate Deo' by Benjamin Britten.

The service will be followed by a Garden Party at which wine and snacks will be served and you are encouraged to bring guests with you. There is no charge for the event but, for purposes of catering, we do need to know if you are coming so please let us know in one of the following ways: by email: send an email to office@ststephenwalbrook.net; by telephone: 020 7626 9000; or by post: The Administrator, St Stephen's Church, 39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN.

The choir that sings every Thursday for Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook is a consort of four professional singers led by Choir Director, Emma Corke. They sing an unaccompanied mass setting, generally of the seventeenth century, and a motet (as well as a congregational hymn). Emma Corke joined the choir of St Stephen's in 1997, becoming Choir Director in 2002. She has also sung with the Oratory Choir and the BBC Singers. Our organist, Joe Sentance has been associated with St Stephen Walbrook since 1987 as well as having been Master of Music at the Chapels Royal, H.M.Tower of London and Director of Music at Sherborne Abbey. 

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Benjamin Britten - Jubilate Deo.

Patronal Festival (2)

On display at St John's Seven Kings this Sunday were the winning entries in our Images of Hope Art Competition for the Year of the Bible 2011. Bishop David, the Bishop of Barking, presented the Art Competition prizes - bibles given by the Bible Society - during our Patronal Festival service to the winners; Nancy Palumbo, Katrina Rugundu and Hannah Sayers. This competition, based on materials from the Bible Society, invited children and young people to illustrate a Bible story of hope and brings communities together as they think about hope and its meaning. Katrina illustrated Noah and the Ark, while Nancy and Hannah both illustrated Moses parting the Red Sea.

The Patronal Festival Service also included a prayer of dedication for our congregation, bringing our Stewardship month to a conclusion, Dr Winston Solomon was licensed as an Authorised Local Preacher, and we sang the St John's Centenary hymn, which was composed by church member, Lester Amann. Bishop David said that each person who follows Christ can be a preacher of the Gospel sharing the message that Jesus is the light of the world.

At the end of the Patronal Festival service, Bishop David dedicated newly commissioned mosaics which have been installed at St John's Seven Kings this week and which complete the work we have done, with the support and funding of the Area 5 and 7 committees, London over the Border, and Living Street's Fitter for Walking project, to create a community garden at the church. The mosaics will feature in both the local Church art trail

and the art trail for the Barking Episcopal Area. Both mosaics were created by artists from commission4mission.

Graffiti Love, installed on the east wall of the church, has been created by Viki Isherwood-Metzler, who learnt the art of mosaic in Ravenna, Italy and worked until 2001 as a mosaic maker in Zurich, Switzerland from where she comes. Since 2002 she has lived and worked in London and undertakes all kinds of commissioned mosaic work in marble, glass, ceramics, terracotta and pebble stones. Graffiti Love is made with smalti glass and the image comes from a series of mosaics utilising words with graffiti stylings.

The Trinity sculpture, in the remembrance area of the community garden, was designed by the community garden planning group and incorporates a mosaic by Sergiy Shkanov. Shkanov is a professional artist working in the fields of stained glass, murals, mosaics, painting, graphic arts, and book illustration. He is a tutor of Fine Arts, has participated in group shows across Europe since 1987, and holds numerous personal exhibitions in the United Kingdom. He undertakes art commissions for private and corporate clients. The Trinity sculpture includes three granite shapes representing the three persons of the Trinity set within the circles and triangles of Shkanov's mosaic which represents lines of exchange and connection within and between the godhead.

In the evening choir members from more than eight local churches joined with the St John's choir for a special choral celebration of anthems, hymns and readings entitled Sing Glory! The programme for the evening included Stanford's settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis among other anthems together with a selection of rousing hymns.

We have been blessed throughout our Patronal Festival by the artistic and musical gifts that God gives to his people. Bishop David encouraged each of us to be someone who shares the light of Christ with others and we have seen that happening in practice during our Patronal Festival through the Art Competition paintings, our new mosaics, the choir members who sang so well, Lester Amann's Centenary hymn, Bishop David's preaching and prayers together with his affirmation of the preaching ministry of Dr Winston Solomon.

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Sir Charles Villiers Stanford - The Magnificat in B flat.

T. S. Eliot Festival

Yesterday was spent at the second annual T. S. Eliot Festival held at Ferrar House, Little Gidding. The day’s programme began with the annual Little Gidding Lecture, delivered by Peter Stanford, the authorised biographer of C. Day-Lewis. Titled On Not Saying Everything, the talk examined poetry’s role in capturing religious experience. The festival’s Keynote Speaker was Ingrid Soren, also known as the writer Rosamund Richardson. Fresh from the International Symposium in Florence, Soren delivered her paper We are Born with the Dead - Dante and Eliot: A Conversation. The day concluded with an evening reading by the acclaimed poet, Sean O’Brien, the recipient of both the 2007 T. S. Eliot Prize and the 2007 Forward Poetry Prize.

More to come on the programme itself but for now here are photos of Little Gidding Church, Oundle School Jazz Band and Sean O'Brien.

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The Blue Aeroplanes - Jacket Hangs.