Choir on tour!

Our choir were in Amsterdam over the weekend, bringing a little bit of Catford to our European friends! On Friday and Saturday they sang concerts, and on Sunday they sung at St Cornelius Church, Beuningen, near Utrecht. Here's what they sang at mass:

Introit - Ave Verum (Elgar)
Kyrie & Gloria - Missa de Angelis
Gradual - Litany to the Holy Spirit & Gloria tibi Domine
Offertory - Let us break bread together
Communion - Praise to thee Lord Jesus (Schutz)
Lords Prayer (Sanger)
at the end - O God thou art my God (Purcell)

It wasn't all work, though, as there was a free afternoon on the Saturday. After a canal trip, the adults had free time to explore the various places to visit, and the children went on a supervised shopping trip.

Luckily for us, they are back on duty here tomorrow night at 8pm, singing Missa Brevis (Palestrina) at the sung mass for All Saints day!

Celebrations in St Laurence Centre

I have just returned from a very enjoyable lunch with the Turkish Elders Club, who meet in our halls twice a week. Today they were celebrating Ramadam Bayram 84th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. I joined the other representatives from various groups and voluntary organisations from the local area for this event (including the Catford Safer Neighbourhood Team - the "boys (and girls) in blue" - as the Turkish Elders made this positive effort to get to know other groups. To quote from their letter "Our group believes that we must involve ourselves with other voluntary organisations and the council to work together, to support each other and provide a united voice on issues that affect the community".

Free concert!

I've just found out that our choir will be giving a concert in church this Tuesday evening at 7.30pm, prior to their trip to Amsterdam later in the week. It will be our chance to hear their tour repertoire, and there will be a retiring collection to help towards the expenses of the trip (they've promised to tell me all about it when they get back). Everyone very welcome, of course, to come along and support our young people (and the not-so-young ones too).

Harvest

Here is the altar ready for last Sunday (photo is a bit dark). And below, one of our harvest flower arrangements, complete with fruit!

Harvest Festival

This Sunday we celebrate Harvest Festival with a special family service at 10am, when we give thanks to God for the fruits of his creation and pray to be able to take better care of the earth he has put into our charge. You will be given a full service booklet (I did eventually finish printing them!) which explains what is happening and includes the words of the hymns. It also has the notices on the back which tells you what's coming up, so you can take it home with you afterwards to read again and refer to. Not that you have to, you understand, but I did spend ages and ages putting it all together .....!

Tea and coffee will be served in the hall after the service, and we're also having a parish lunch so do join us for a cuppa and/or a meal if you'd like to.

As it says on the sheet: "In the evening, why not come back at 6pm for a glorious choral evensong, which is a perfect opportunity to come and give thanks to God and lift the spirits for the week ahead." Can't think of a more uplifting way to start the week! (Well, yes I may be biased, but you know what I mean.)