Alban News December - February 2024

Alban News

December 2023 - February 2024 Welcome | Updates | News

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Worship Regular Services Sundays 8am Eucharist 9.30am Parish Eucharist 11.15am Choral Eucharist 11.15am Matins (3rd Sunday) 12.30pm Eucharist (3rd Sunday) 6pm Choral Evensong Weekdays 7.30am Morning Prayer 8am Eucharist 12noon Eucharist at the Shrine 5pm Evensong (Evening Prayer on a Monday) Saturdays 8.30am Morning Prayer 9am Eucharist 12noon Eucharist at the Shrine 5pm Evensong Monthly Services 10am 4th Wednesday Mothers’ Union Eucharist 2.30pm 5th Saturday Diocesan Service for the Deaf Ecumenical Services Roman Catholic Mass is celebrated every Friday at 12noon.

German Lutheran A service in German is held on the last Tuesday of every month at 7pm.

Free Church First Wednesday of every month at 11am.

Orthodox Liturgy A service is held once a month on a Tuesday at 10.30am.

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A Day Chaplain is available to talk most days.

Opening times The Cathedral is open daily 8.30am – 5.30pm.

Special Services Advent and Christmas Visit our website to learn about our Advent and Christmas events and services taking place in December.

Carols on the Hour Saturday 16 December, 11am - 4pm Live Nativity Trail Saturday 16 December, 12 noon - 3pm Boxing Day Carols Tuesday 26 December, 4pm New Year’s Eve Sunday 31 December Eucharist, 8am Sung Eucharist, 10am Carol Service, 4pm Candlemas Carol Service Sunday 28 January, 6pm Ash Wednesday Wednesday 14 February Sung Eucharist, 8pm Highlight Events Vigil for Peace Tuesday 9 January, 7pm Born Survivors: In Conversation with Eva Clarke and Wendy Holden Thursday 1 February 2024, 7.30pm Parish Pancakes Sunday 11 February Tickets for all our events are available through our website.

Message from the Dean Welcome to this edition of Alban News which takes us on the journey from Advent anticipation to the great Feast of Candlemas. In all of this we celebrate the light of Christ that is coming into the world. In this holy season we are so aware of the many places across the world where the light is at best dim or seems to have been extinguished. As we gather in our Cathedral over these next weeks we will be reminded in Scripture spoken and sung that nothing can extinguish the light of God’s love for the world and that Christ calls each of us to be bearers of that light in our daily lives.

All that we do here at the Cathedral seeks to express that truth for all who come here, and the pages ahead tell some of that story.

The Peace Doves installation and Holocaust Memorial Day Exhibition in January speak of our commitment to a world in which all humanity, made in the image of God, can live in peace and can flourish. There are lots of opportunities to engage with the prayers for peace written on the 10,000 paper doves that will be suspended in our Norman Tower, and each to bring our own prayers. Our work continues also in our Pentecost to Advent Cathedral revisioning. We have met with over 30 different groups of people and thank you to all who answered the online survey.

© Still Cast Photography

Let the light Shine!

All this amounts to hundreds of people who are helping us prayerfully discern our way ahead. This winter Chapter and Mission and Ministry Committee are reviewing all the feedback and we will be in touch early in 2024.

There are many opportunities, for people of all ages, to get involved here at the Cathedral: as a volunteer or in various learning, social, and service groups. This is your Cathedral and we pray that you know this as a place of peace and might also want to join in our shared work to build a world where all know peace and light.

Jo Kelly-Moore | The Dean

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Social Justice In December 2023, the asylum seekers group will have been meeting for two years. From initially seeking to teach English to a small group of young men, mainly Iranian, who first came to us, we now welcome men and women of many different nationalities from both Home Office run hotels in St Albans.

I believe the Cathedral is seen as a place of trust, friendship and support.

Some asylum seekers come regularly to the 9.30am Parish Eucharist and 11 have been baptised. Some come to a weekly Monday afternoon meeting for English conversation and discussion about issues of concern and life in the UK. By request, there is now a question and answer session on Sunday mornings on matters of the Christian faith.

In addition, there have been many social gatherings: an invitation to the river at Richmond, outings to Ashridge, Chalfont and Kensington, an Iranian New Year lunch cooked by the Iranians themselves, art workshops at the Cathedral and an exhibition of their work, and many invitations to homes of the Cathedral community. Clothing give-aways and cooking sessions offer practical help.

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Home Office decisions on asylum applications have often taken 18 months to 2 years. The process has been speeded up recently for some nationalities at least, and we know of at least 10 young men who have been given permission to stay for five years.

The Home Office are moving some people out of hotels into rented rooms in shared houses all over the country, sometimes with very short notice, to continue to await their decision. When it is made, whether successful or not, they lose their accommodation and must find jobs and housing for themselves.

Housing is in short supply and expensive and it is a time of great uncertainty and anxiety.

This is likely to be an on-going situation and we do what we can.

Grateful thanks to the clergy, staff, our Social Justice Group and many members of the congregation for their generous support in many different ways.

Helen Bishop | Asylum Seekers Support Group

Environment

Biodiversity at the Cathedral: The Eco Garden Biodiversity is flourishing behind Cathedral House. Early this year the Eco Team put a pond in the old ‘potato patch’, covered with a strong grid for safety.

Birds very quickly started bathing and drinking from the pond. Frogs and newts colonised and young newts (‘efts’) have been seen; pond snails are busily eating the algae.

Near the building the Flower Guild have cleared ground and are growing plants to supply them with greenery for arrangements in the Cathedral, and Excite, our Youth Group, has installed a bug hotel.

Over the rest of the patch the Eco Team and other volunteers have been clearing brambles and woody nightshade, constructing paths around the garden and preparing the ground for planting.

We plan to plant a range of British plants (including some naturalised herbs), which themselves will support pollinators and other insects, birds and mammals. There are some plants already there which we will retain, and we have put in some around the pond. In spring we will plant many more, and we invite any of our Cathedral gardeners to contribute.

It would be lovely to have a dog rose and honeysuckle growing up among the ivy on the fence. There are so many plants that we hope could flourish - field scabious, betony, angelica, hemp agrimony, wood sage, vipers bugloss, bugle … please do think if you could provide something next spring, either a plant or some seeds. We plan for the area to be a haven not only for wildlife but also for people – a quiet area where peace might be found - and look forward to its flowering.

Chris Lyal | Eco Team

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Music

One of the most rewarding things about the organ scholarship here is the opportunity to stay for two years. As a result, I have a bit more foreknowledge of what the next few weeks have in store!

The ‘core’ organ scholarship duties continue throughout Advent and Christmas. This chiefly comprises a share of the service playing and chorister training. I also conduct the Abbey Singers and serve as choir librarian. On top of this, I am involved with the Advent Procession (3 December) and Lessons and Carols (21 and 22 December) services. For these, I can either be found up in the organ loft playing the pre-service music, or downstairs playing the chamber organ or piano.

As choir librarian, I am responsible for making sure that the Cathedral choirs have all the music they need for rehearsals and services.

Typically, this involves hauling a lot of boxes back and forth between Cathedral House and the Song School in the Chapter House! In addition, I prepare and print bespoke music booklets for the Advent Procession and Lessons and Carols services. These contain all the music and liturgy featured in the services.

Having these booklets is essential – there is such a large quantity of music, and the choir folders can become quite a mess if there are separate sheets and books for everything.

Although this time of year is so busy, it is the period I find to be most rewarding. The Advent journey is rich and varied and there is an abundance of beautiful choral and organ music which accompanies it.

It is a privilege to be a part of this at the Cathedral.

Oliver Morrell | Organ Scholar

Christmas Charity 2023 Supporting Centre 33 Founded in 1977, Centre 33 provides invaluable support for the socially deprived in St Albans. Centre 33 visitors include rough sleepers, those in temporary, precarious accommodation (including sofa surfers) and others who have needs.

It is open to all, there is no prequalification process – we only ask their name when they arrive.

Centre 33 is entirely operated and staffed by volunteers. Volunteers prepare and serve hot meals for about 20 people twice a day, six days a week, every week of the year.

Breakfasts are served from the Centre 33 premises in Spicer Street and evening meals from the Salvation Army Citadel in Victoria Street.

Centre 33 provides not only meals but also, critically, a warm, friendly welcome for all who need to make use of the service – it is a greatly needed and valued social facility for its visitors. For many, it is one of the limited opportunities they have to interact socially. At a Civic Service some years ago in the Cathedral, the Mayor’s chaplain, at that time vicar of St Peters, said that the deprived in St Albans do not have many places to call their own. But they do have Centre 33.

When they are available, Centre 33 also distributes sleeping bags, tents and warm clothing, which are always being requested. It also provides facilities for visitors to have a shower.

Centre 33’s trustees work closely with the Council and other local agencies involved in supporting homeless people, including Open Door. Users of the Winter Beds obtain their evening meal at Centre 33 before heading to a bed for the night. Centre 33 volunteers are able to signpost visitors to other organisations that can provide specialist medical help or addiction support. In recent times, we have found our visitor numbers increasing but the cost-of-living crisis has also resulted in an increase in the cost of the food provision and there is a gap between our expenditure and revenue.

We therefore have an ongoing challenge in maintaining the revenue required to provide the meal service.

We are very grateful to St Albans Cathedral for supporting Centre 33 as its designated Christmas charity this year.

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Peace Doves

From 3 January until 13 February 2024 the Cathedral will be home to Peace Doves, a beautiful hanging installation, by Peter Walker Sculptor, in which thousands of paper doves will hang from the Cathedral tower.

Visitors, schools, members of the community and congregation have written their messages and prayers of peace, hope and love to the doves, which will be displayed in the installation.

Join us in from January to appreciate the scale and beauty of the final installation, and experience a sense of serenity and peace. The installation will be open to view daily and in addition there will be an accompanying program of events. The installation will open with two nights of Dove Lates, an opportunity to view the installation with musical accompaniment and atmospheric lighting after hours.

On 20 January, acclaimed jazz musician and composer Tim Boniface premiers a new jazz suite ‘Psalter: Themes for Peace’ written specially to coincide with the installation. Over the five weeks of the installation there will also be yoga sessions, talks, concerts and a performance by the OVO theatre company.

All performances and events within the programme will take place beneath the doves, promising a unique and memorable experience not to be missed.

Carys Duggan-Rees | Events and Visitor Experience Manager Images and Art Installation by Peter Walker Sculptor.

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Children and Youth On 3 December we launch St Albans Cathedral’s first ever published Christmas Children’s Story, and copies will be on sale throughout December.

Felipe the Sheep Christmas is always the most wonderful time of the year, in most places and most contexts. This is probably never more true than when working with Children and Young people in a church. December is when we relive the most important story ever told, but for children it is always as though it is being told for the first time.

This year, we really are telling a new Christmas story for the first time. We are bringing to life Felipe, the sheep that was lost but must be found for the Nativity Play to go ahead.

Creating this book has been the most creative and inspiring process; where happenstance, talent, good ideas and fortunate timing have collided.

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We are indebted to our wonderful creative team, whose tireless work have brought to life this amazing tale. Firstly, my thanks go to Anna, our Children and Families Worker, whose brainchild this was, and who has brought together the creative elements; to Andrew Baird, one of our fantastically talented Children’s Church Leaders, who has lent us his professional skills, and whose mind first imagined Felipe; to Liz Cherrett, who created the most vibrant and charming illustrations. All of the team worked tirelessly with drafting and re-drafting, edits, and amendments – and all within a few weeks. I’m also grateful to Memory Lane Publications for turning the book around so quickly, and for getting on board with our vision!

So spread the word about Felipe – the sheep who was lost, but now is found.

Fr Calum | Youth Chaplain Anna Chambers | Children and Families Worker Purchase the book for £6 online: www.stalbanscathedral.org/felipe

The Mayor of St Albans All Ages Together: Connecting Our Communities to Tackle Loneliness and Isolation This is the theme adopted by this year’s Mayoral team of Mayor Cllr Anthony Rowlands, Annie Stevenson, Mayoress; Cllr Josie Madoc, Deputy Mayor and Rhys Madoc, Deputy Mayor’s Consort.

Our vision is an age-friendly St Albans City and District that cherishes social inclusion, accessibility, connection and enriches lives. Our purpose is to sow some seeds to realise our vision of connecting the generations to improve people’s wellbeing. We are so fortunate to live in our unique City and District with a myriad of community organisations, charities and faith groups. They are central to the fabric of our community.

We are delighted to have this wonderful opportunity to highlight the terrific activities that bring old and young together which so many of you do already. We want to build on these creative ideas and inspire people to do more!

Never has the need to come together been greater than now. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic and now the cost of living crisis with unprecedented levels of loneliness and social isolation.

The need is so great that we decided to focus on this broad theme to find new ways to strengthen our community to ensure that the marginalised are included. No one should feel they are forgotten, alone or invisible. Everyone needs to feel that they matter and belong.

This is ambitious. Community organisations are key to making this theme work. They have the knowledge and lived experience of what intergenerational activities work well.

They know about the gaps. To build an intergenerational-friendly city, we need to think beyond what we do already This is a topic which is becoming increasingly important across the UK. On the council website, we have posted some guiding principles to help ensure success and as well as links to websites with tools and resources to assist: www.stalbans.gov.uk/all-ages-together St Albans is not alone in pursuing this goal. We have recently connected with a newly formed national charity, Intergenerational England, which has ambitions to make this a social movement for change and are interested in our work here in St Albans. Our Mayoral year is passing quickly. We hope to witness the seeds germinate and start to grow.

Anthony and Annie, Josie and Rhys

Learning

The Schools Learning Team work with around 11000 pupils from 250 schools each year. These cover the whole range from Nursery aged children to 1st Year Teacher training students and everything in between!

Our schools generally come from nearby in the Diocese, but we have welcomed visiting schools from Surrey, Inverness and overseas as well. We also offer outreach sessions to schools who are unable to travel to us.

Particular highlights in 2023 have been our very successful Science Festival which saw pupils learning about topics such as Light, Materials and Forces in the Cathedral (if you were in the building at the time you may have seen some intrepid teddy bears parachuting from the inside of the tower!), and also our Cathedral Away Days which were run in partnership with the Diocesan Schools Team.

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These special events are in addition to our wide-ranging daily activities which cover a vast array of subjects based around the Cathedral and its rich heritage – topics as diverse as Roman, Saxon, Viking, Medieval, Tudor and Victorian history, the Cathedral as a Place of Christian Worship, Easter, Christmas, Maths, Creative Writing, Art and, for our very youngest visitors, Shape and Colour, Materials and Celebrations.

In 2023 we were also awarded the Sandford Award for Heritage Education for the seventh time. We could not have achieved this without our wonderful team of Learning Volunteers who give up their time to support us in delivering our activities to schools. We are always looking for new volunteers to join our team, so if you or somebody you know would like to find out more about what is involved please do get in touch.

Steve, Rachel, Claire and Marina | Learning Team

New Vestments

I wonder if you, as I once did, think silk is pretty much indestructible?

Sadly, it isn’t and the purple vestments we have been using in Advent and Lent, made some forty years ago, were in a very sorry state, beyond the point of yet more repair.

So the decision was taken after Lent 2023 to create a new set of vestments. No problem, you might have thought – almost seven months before they would be needed! Alas, as it turned out, we did not have the luxury of time in hand after all. We quickly sourced a medium-weight polyester satin to be lined with purple slub silk donated to the Cathedral after the filming of Jonny English. This was a good start and the Textile Guild members were able to begin making the seven stoles and nine apparelled amices which would be needed.

Then we began the search for an appropriate orphrey braid. Samples were sought from potential suppliers and Dean Jo made her choice of braid. But could we get it in purple? Seemingly not. We hit a brick wall at every turn.

Apparently, the Italian manufacturer of these braids was badly hit by Covid19 and purple seemed to be the last colour on which they were catching up production. Finally we sourced a supplier in Paris who sent photographs but no samples so, on 29 September, not wanting to risk a colour faux-pas and with time running out, I decided there was nothing for it but to take the train over to buy the 30 metres we needed. Since when, the needles flew to complete all four vestments successfully!

Susan Stokes | Leader, Textile Guild

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Home Groups

These are an important and valued part of the Cathedral’s life. They provide a real mix of opportunity to explore the Scriptures and give fellowship and pastoral care, in informal spaces. They are vibrant, members having very diverse and individual faith journeys, resulting in interesting and ‘eye-opening’ discussions.

Nine Home Groups meet regularly throughout the year in individuals’ homes, with nearly 100 members.

Meetings have 4-12 attending. We seek to follow guiding principles including respecting others’ views and expressing opinions with generosity and gentleness. Topics studied are chosen by each Group, currently: Parables; lessons for coming services; Philippians; Psalms; Trinity; waiting in the context of Advent. New material prepared by Fr Will will be available for Advent looking at Care of: those in Need; Homeless; Lonely; and Creation.

All Groups are supported by the Clergy. Leaders meet biannually with Fr Will and as required. The number of Groups expands during Lent, when all study material is prepared by the Clergy; this year’s ‘Good Answers to Difficult Questions’ led to many more questions! This was followed up by a refreshing BBQ with many who attended the Lent Groups.

Watch this space for Lent which starts on St. Valentine’s Day! In the meantime, we are keen to hear from you if you would be interested in ‘trying out’ a Home Group or if you would be willing to host or lead a Lent Group, please contact Fr Will, will.gibbs@stalbanscathedral.org or Dawn Knight, who helps co-ordinate these Groups dawnandandrew@ntlworld.com / 07795 117312.

A Festive Walk Jack Drury suggests a gentle walk suitable for the festive period John Bunyan Circular Length: Medium - 4.2km Climbing: Mostly flat Dog friendly: Very Weather notes: Can get wet North of St Albans, between Sandridge and Wheathampstead, you might have encountered a double memorial to John Bunyan, the Puritan, preacher, and penman of Pilgrim’s Progress.

John Bunyan’s legacy is enshrined here - in our Hymnals. ‘Who would true valour see’ (No.621), set to a magnificently rousing Vaughan Williams melody, is text from Pilgrim’s Progress. I like to hum it as I walk. The double memorial of which I write is a stack of bricks marked as a ‘chimney’, and a pub.

Start at John Bunyan’s chimney, which is on the other side of the road to the pub. Note the inscription that John Bunyan used to stay here. Also note that we’re on a hill: if you want to preach a proscribed sermon, you’re going to want to see if the authorities are coming. For just under a kilometre, follow a clearly-defined trail ENE. Turn South and cross agricultural land (1km), keeping a row of hedges and trees to your immediate right.

You will pass a grove on your left and come to Upper Cromer Hyde Farm. Cross the farm’s track and continue.

Before long, you’ll have a small wood on your left (2km). Coming up behind Symond’s Hyde Farm, you will be at the most Southerly point of the walk.

You’ll see a NW-headed public footpath headed over a field and through Symondhyde’s Wood (3km).

As you come out of the woods, you’re on the home stretch, headed NW, crossing two fields, in the latter keeping a hedgerow to your left. You’ll hit Colman’s Green Lane at the 4km mark and can walk up the path for a refreshing 15 pint at the John Bunyan pub.

Opening times The Cathedral is open daily 8.30am – 5.30pm.

Entry is free All donations are gratefully received.

Tickets Book online at www.stalbanscathedral.org, in-person at our Box Office, located in the Cathedral Shop, or call 01727 890290.

For the latest information visit our website and sign up for our What’s On newsletter.

St Albans Cathedral Sumpter Yard, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1BY Cathedral Office: 01727 890210 Email: mail@stalbanscathedral.org www.stalbanscathedral.org /StAlbansCathedralOfficial @stalbanscathedral @StAlbansCath @stalbanscathedral

“St Albans Cathedral exists to glorify God and, inspired by the witness of Alban, proclaim Christ’s message of love.”

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