Monthly Album 18

Crowd Scene (1)

Crowd Scene (2)

The May Day early Bank Holiday saw the Cathedral welcoming the annual Migrants’ Mass which, appropriately, itself migrates from year to year between Westminster, Southwark and Brentwood Cathedrals. Bishop Michael Campbell OSA presided and, as can be seen, a group of musicians led the spirited singing. Previously the Mass has been in the morning, but was moved to the afternoon this year, to allow those attending to spend time with their families on what is, after all, a holiday.

Large though the Sacristy is, the thought is unlikely to have been in anyone’s mind at the time of design that it would need to accommodate both the Cathedral choir and that of Westminster Abbey. However, we have now been able to revert to the practice of the Cathedral visiting the Abbey in October around the feast of St Edward the Confessor and of a reciprocal visit here to Our Lady of Westminster during her month of May. Vespers were followed by the customary hospitality being enjoyed by clergy and lay clerks of both foundations and we believe that the choristers of both were refreshed, too.