Abbey on a Sunday

Dear Reader

Today we sang at Westminster Abbey. It was a thrill five years ago, and again a thrill today.

Musical Menu up front:

The day belonged to Jonathan Dove, musically speaking. 

For the Eucharist we sang the Dove Missa Brevis sans Kyrie, the psalm appointed, three hymns and for the motet, the beautiful Gjielo Ubi Caritas. We were well received. 

We fronted up again after a short sandwich lunch with Evensong. Stanford in G canticles, with Luca Shin and Andrew Chatterton as soloists, the psalm appointed, which was really quite long, and for the anthem, Dove’s The Three Kings, with Maxwell, Archie, Crystal and Henry doing the honours. And Hunt responses. 

Dear Reader, Anthony Hunt wrote these responses in 2006 for our first tour, and they hold up well. They also herald the exciting future, when Anthony succeeds our dear Leonie Hempton as Director of Music. 

Now, the sandwich lunch was one of those occasions when your tour leaders need to utilise the well laid contingency plans we have.Thank goodness for our intrepid Tour Managers, Bec Bailey and Penny Bowen, as well as Andrew Chatterton and Leonie Hempton. On this occasion we were expecting sandwiches for the choir to appear between the Eucharist and Evensong rehearsal. Their non-appearance meant a trip down the street, led by Nick Iles, to Pret a Manger to buy sandwiches for the team. In the end this was achieved with the minimum of fuss and the Choristers had enough energy to sing the Office of Evensong. 

Yesterday we had a tour of the Abbey, but no photographs are allowed. However, some of us were very excited to be reunited with Benjamin, the Virger we met on two previous tours. He was generous with his time and humour. 

Speaking of reunions, there were two more yesterday, following on from Michael G’s reunion with his parents and brother the previous day. We were delighted to arrive at dinner last night at Colosseo Restaurant to find not only Nick Iles, but also our beloved Rev Jenny Wilson. She issued us a charge to continue our work here in the UK as a Choir, while remembering the devastation at home in Australia, which really helped. Another reunion was for Luca and Peter Shin when the rest of their family joined them. I think young Noah Shin was especially excited to see his Dad and brother. 

So we were allowed one camera for the photo of the Choir in the Abbey. I am reposting here as it is special.

 And here are a couple from the stairs up to our rehearsal room, where the watercolours on the wall were beautiful. We respected the request not to photograph their artworks, but thought we could probably take a picture of the 35 stairs we ascended and descended around a dozen times today. Enjoy. 

And for one more Dove reference, here is a photo of us heading to Westminster Abbey where Margot is pulling the case named after Mr Dove.

Margot and I are heading off on a Champagne Flight on the London Eye shortly. I am expecting to have a lovely time but possibly more crowded than when Lavinia and I did the Pimm’s Flight nearly ten years ago. On that occasion it was just her and me, and Elodie our Hostess. However, as this is the last flight of the season before it closes for maintenance for a fortnight, I think more may arrive. Until later

Cxx