FRIENDS' PAGE
A Walk in the Park through his verse. The poem inspired me to take a walk in St James’s Park. I liked the contrast between the squirrel intent on gathering food for winter and the tropical planting.
Christina White Richard Hawker popped by the Friends’ Office this week to discuss his forthcoming tour of the Sacristy. As Head Sacristan, he was one of the contributors to the Memorial Booklet for Canon Christopher. He told me that a friend from Shrewsbury Diocese had got in touch after reading the booklet which, in turn, had been shared by a Friend. We agreed that the Cathedral’s reach is wide and that, in no small measure, is a tribute to all the Friends across the country and further. I hope Richard’s tour attracts a large and appreciative audience. He is responsible for unearthing some of the most beautiful and under-used vestments and altar frontals which now grace the Cathedral. I travelled in by tube this week and was pleased to see a poem from John O’Donohue Time to be Still on the wall as part of London Underground’s poetry series. The verse was shared widely in lockdown and the journalist Fergal Keane also read it aloud on Radio 4. It seemed so apposite for these Covid-19 times, and I have shared it in the autumn newsletter. O’Donohue, now deceased, had been a Catholic priest in his younger years and that vocation shines
22
Of course, we go to press with the Covid-19 Regulations changing. We decided sensibly to focus the majority of events online, which now seems like a good call, but the walking tours will be restricted to no more than six people including the tour leaders – Paul Pickering and Joanna Bogle. Paul’s tour at the time of writing was therefore already ‘sold out’. Friends please note, there will be no Christmas Fair this year, but please sell the raffle tickets which have been enclosed with the mailing. There will also be tickets on sale via Clergy House – books only, we are not selling individual tickets this year. As notified last month, we have already secured the pledges for our online Big Give campaign, which means that your donations to our appeal for Cathedral Communications will be doubled. There will be more information in the Cathedral Newsletter and on the website in the weeks to come. In the meantime, we continue to collect funds for the Canon Tuckwell Memorial Fund and donations to this and Big Give will be treated as being ‘in Father’s memory’. Our Memorial Booklet is available to all Friends of the Cathedral, or you can make a donation of £30 or more to the Memorial Fund and you will receive a copy. Payment for our events and donations to the Memorial Fund may be made via our Virgin Money Giving Account (we are not accepting cash). It is the simplest and easiest way to pay: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/ make-a-donation/ We will also have a Friends’ payment link on the Cathedral website. If you wish to pay for an event by cheque, then the cheque will need to have cleared well in advance. There are full details of the payment conditions in the autumn newsletter.
Finally, please help us to grow membership of the Friends whom the Cathedral needs more than ever. You can download an application form from the Cathedral website, we can email you a form, or there are paper forms in the Cathedral. Keep well.
Forthcoming Events Tuesday 6 October: Online Cathedral Quiz via Zoom with Fr Daniel Humphreys as Quizmaster. 7pm £10. Wednesday 14 October: Online talk via Zoom by Fr Nicholas Schofield: Defending the Papal States in Italy: the Britons who marched for the Pope. 7pm £5. Thursday 22 October: Online talk via Zoom by Professor Caroline Barron of King’s College, London on St Thomas Becket 7pm £5. Monday 26 October: Joanna Bogle, a walking tour focused on London’s Marian shrines. Meet at St Dominic’s church, Haverstock Hill at 1.45pm for the tour, to start at 2pm £10 (please note current restrictions). Wednesday 4 November: Online talk via Zoom by Professor John Harvey on his novel Pax, looking at the complicated life of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. The talk will be live at 7pm £5. Thursday 19 November: An online private tour of the treasures of the Cathedral sacristy with Head Sacristan Richard Hawker in conversation with Professor Andrew Sanders. The video of the tour will be online at 7pm £10.
Contact us • Write to: Friends’ Office, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW • Call: 020 7798 9059 • Email: friends@ westminstercathedral.org.uk Registered Charity number 272899
Oremus
October 2020
