Volunteers welcome!

Volunteers are the life blood of the Latin Mass Society. Much of our activity is ‘grass roots’ and we rely on the imagination and energy of members in developing initiatives in their local areas.

The great success story of 2023 has been our pilgrimages, which are increasing in popularity each year. The walking pilgrimage from Ely to Walsingham is becoming a major logistical operation. There are cooks, marshals, servers, choir, drivers and a range of other volunteers looking after logistics. Reports particularly praised Lucy Shaw and her catering team for providing delicious food, all made on the day from fresh ingredients. Bookings for the 2024 pilgrimage will open next year and there will be discounted rates for volunteers.

Another success story is the Southwell Consort.  This LMS choir dedicated to singing liturgical polyphony was formed just two years ago under the direction of Dominic Bevan.  September saw the launch of its Byrd 400 Festival, marking the 400th anniversary of the death of the renaissance composer William Byrd.  Twelve festival Masses are highlighting works by this magnificent composer across three London churches. In September the festival went overseas, with 30 members of the consort preforming a programme of music by Byrd and other reformation-period composers at Fontgombault Abbey. They also sung at the Abbey’s Grand Messe the next day.  In return they received a masterclass in Gregorian chant from the Abbey’s Père Maitre de chœur. You can read more about this elsewhere in this edition.

Our LMS officers and committee members give an enormous amount of time, both in formal duties and in other more practical ways. Our network of Local Representatives is key to enabling the work of the society across the country.  Each diocese has at least one Representative and there are additional Representatives for places such as Walsingham, Ampleforth and churches in London and elsewhere which are particularly active. Earlier in the year Louis Maciel (Birmingham City) and Stefan Mazzeo (Cornwall) were given life membership of the society in recognition of their long service as Representatives.  October saw our annual Committee and Representatives’ Meeting, which was an opportunity to get together and share perspectives from across England and Wales.

The Society of St Tarcisius continues to train new altar servers.  The Guild of St Clare is equipping a new generation of needleworkers with skills for making and mending sacred vestments. This year our sponsorship programme has enabled two members to undertake advanced training at the Royal School of Needlework.  They will share their new skills with local Guild members.

We would like to increase our pool of office volunteers at Mallow Street, which is in central London, near Old Street Station.  Roger Wemyss Brooks continues work as our archivist and we have another member who spends an afternoon each week cataloguing our library of church music. Others participate occasionally, helping fulfil Christmas orders etc.  We would welcome more volunteers to work on our archive, our library of liturgical and other books, and other projects.  As many of our flagship events take place in London, we’d also appreciate a team of roving volunteers who could assist with stewarding and catering at events such as the Sacred Triduum and the AGM.

As indicated by this short summary, an enormous amount of work goes on behind the scenes.  If you have further ideas or would like to become involved, please contact your Local Representative or our National Office: info@lms.org.uk.