Reflection Cathedral News July 2018

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In this issue: Ordination Services picture special – New volunteers

- Welcome to our new verger – Divine Beauty update – Music news

– #teamcathedral walking wonders – BBC’s Songs of Praise success

Congratulations

to the new Priests

and Deacons

recently ordained! See inside for our souvenir

picture special

I can’t believe that it is already nine months since I was

installed as Dean. It feels like a good moment to reflect

on all that has happened since and to report that I am

enjoying being in the city and that I am settling well

into the rhythm of Birmingham Cathedral life.

Since last September, I have had the opportunity to experience

and share in a busy Advent and Christmas and a joyful Holy

Week and Easter, together with two exceptional Ordination

Services.

Throughout my early months at Birmingham Cathedral, I have

been delighted to witness the strength of the community:

congregation, volunteers and staff who share an evident passion

for hard work and prayer, rooted in their love and service - to

God and each other.

One of the highlights in recent months has been witnessing the

ability of the whole Cathedral community, to serve the people

of our city and diocese, in particular working with ‘Let’s Feed

Brum’ to serve Christmas dinner to 250 rough sleepers;

working with BBC West Midlands to share a wonderful

celebration for the life of Ed Doolan and sleeping out at

Edgbaston Stadium with colleagues to raise over £5,000 for the

Edgbaston Foundation and St Basils.

All these experiences have provided me with a valuable insight

into the opportunities we have together to make God’s love

known in such a varied urban context, and it certainly makes me

hugely positive and excited about the coming months and years.

WELCOME FROM THE DEAN

Dean of Birmingham,

The Very Reverend Matt Thompson

Birmingham Cathedral

Colmore Row,

Birmingham, B3 2QB

Cathedral Office

0121 262 1840

Cathedral Facilities and Vergers

0121 262 1850

enquiries@birminghamcathedral.com

Follow @bhamcathedral on Twitter,

Facebook and Instagram

Review

@BirminghamCathedral(StPhilips) on

tripadvisor.com

For up-to-date news and

details on our services and

events, visit

birminghamcathedral.com

A warm welcome to Ailsa who

has joined the Verger Team.

Ailsa worked in the Cathedral Offices

last year and has now returned for

this exciting role working at the

cathedral.

By expanding the team, we hope to

offer more support to those visiting

the cathedral and our commitment

to maintain our magnificent building.

MEET OUR NEW

VERGER AISLA!

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

78 years ago the railings

around Cathedral Square

were taken down for the

war effort!

The Birmingham Post published

this article on 2 July 1940

showing 120 tons of

Norwegian iron being removed

for the government.

.

"ARISE, WALK ABOUT THE LAND THROUGH ITS

LENGTH AND BREADTH; FOR I WILL GIVE IT TO YOU."

GENESIS 13:17

BBC One recently filmed an episode of Songs

of Praise at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

Look out for our organ scholar Sam and another

familiar face Ashley when the show broadcasts on

14 October 2018.

Ashley is now organ scholar at Worcester

Cathedral, but used to train at Birmingham

Cathedral prior to Sam.

SONGS OF PRAISE INDEED

Two senior members of the cathedral team have walked wonders this summer.

Our Canon Missioner Nigel Hand walked 350 miles of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain and Chief

Executive Anna Pitt walked a marathon across the Cotswolds.

The Camino del Norte or Northern Way is the Camino route taking pilgrims along the wonderful Northern

coast of ‘Green Spain’ from the Basque Country, across Cantabria, Asturias and on to Santiago de Compostela,

in Galicia. Along this coastal Camino, Canon Nigel discovered fascinating cities and fishing villages, enjoyed

beautiful sandy beaches and delicious seafood.

Anna walked 26.2 miles

through quaint traditional

villages and medieval burial

grounds with her friend. They

finished at the magnificent

Broadway Tower, home to one

of the best views in the

country.

Well done to both Nigel and

Anna for their training,

dedication and strength for

such epic walks!

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Reverend Canon

Nigel Hand, Canon

Missioner

Chief Executive Anna

Pitt with her walking

companion Rachel

NEW ADDITIONS TO #TEAM CATHEDRAL

At Birmingham Cathedral we are extremely fortunate to have an army

of volunteers who help make the cathedral a welcoming place.

Whether it’s bellringing, guiding visitors in and outside the cathedral, cleaning,

refreshments, singing in the choir or helping with the young people who visit the

cathedral – our volunteers and the time they give creates an incredible impact.

We recently celebrated National Volunteers Week and have since welcomed

some new members to Team Cathedral. We are happy to welcome the

generosity of extra volunteer help, adding weight to the Cathedral team cause,

increasing the stretch to cover so many things that need doing to keep the

building functional, looking good and welcoming.

In recent weeks we have appreciated the new skills of Mark and Tim, giving up their time to help with

Welcoming and Cleaning. Three existing volunteers, Irene and Doug have extended their help to include new

cleaning tasks and Joseph has become a tour guide. Not forgetting the extra hours put-in by Doreen and

Sandra in the preparation for a busy programme in the week leading-up to the Ordinations...and beyond!

New members of the welcoming team Sally and Mike

Joseph leading a free tour of the

cathedral and Cathedral Square Our new tour guide Sally

Find out more about volunteering at the cathedral …

If you have some time to spare and would like to discuss volunteering,

please contact stephen.brooker@birminghamcathedral.com

Volunteer Irene

We are progressing our intention to conserve the stained-glass windows by fundraising for

Divine Beauty.

There is a clearer understanding of potential project costs through work with an architect and quantity surveyor.

We are continuing to raise the profile of the windows and the need for conservation work with a range of

guided tours, external talks and a display.

In early July there will be a special Divine Beauty fundraising concert with the choir. This event features as part

of The City Beautiful, Birmingham Civic Society’s centenary celebrations. Music selected for the concert reflects

each of the four windows.

Products have been developed to support Divine Beauty, scarves and postcards are available and there is

dedicated website www.divinebeautyproject.com

DIVINE BEAUTY CONSERVATION PROJECT UPDATE

Divine Beauty scarves have been

made by hand at Beckford Silk

We would love to hear from

you!

If you are inspired by the

windows and would like to

contribute to the blog please

contact jane.mcardle@birminghamcathedral.com

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Divine Beauty

postcards

CONGRATULATONS TO ALL NEW DEACONS & PRIESTS

Please enjoy the pictures taken by one of our volunteers Robert during Ordinations Weekend

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9

Birmingham Cathedral Music Department has had a very successful academic year, while

working through the transition from the retirement of Marcus Huxley last summer to my

appointment as permanent Head of Music in May.

We have been hugely fortunate in our excellent organ scholar Sam Bristow, as well as freelance support from

organists Darren Hogg and Nick Morris. My appointment means that we are now preparing to advertise for a

new Assistant Head of Music. An exciting development is that for the first time, this is going to be a full-time

role, with nine hours a week earmarked for musical education and outreach work.

One of our biggest priorities this coming year is the growth of Supporting

Emerging Talent, our scheme to give performing opportunities to students. So far

this has involved organ students from Birmingham Conservatoire joining us to play

parts of Evensong, a number of student recitals and some opportunities for lay

clerks to gain choral conducting experience. Sam Bristow has been a key player in

the scheme and, along with last year’s organ scholar Ashley Wagner, he has just

recorded an appearance for BBC Songs of Praise. The programme is due to be

transmitted on 14 October.

Another big priority has been musical outreach work with schools. I had a

wonderful time in May working with Arden Primary School in Sparkhill. I went

into the school several times over the course of the month, teaching music to

Year 5 classes. This culminated in the whole year group visiting the Cathedral for

a day of music and learning. The pupils participated in different workshops, singing

folk songs, making arts and crafts and learning about our wonderful Burne-Jones

windows. The day culminated in a collective performance which even acquired an

audience owing to the great interest shown in the event by our volunteers and

visitors to the Cathedral. This very successful occasion has given us a model which

we hope to roll out to other schools over the forthcoming year.

Outreach work with schools is very rewarding for its own sake but it can also result in children from the schools

involved joining the Cathedral Choir. Having no choir school, we are fortunate in being able to recruit from any

school at any time. Several schools have links with us going back decades. We are delighted to work in

partnership with those schools and, at time of writing, interest in joining the Choir is on a high. A large number of

auditions are taking place in the last weeks of the summer term and in June we welcomed three new girl choristers

in two weeks. We hope very much that this trend will continue but also that we will form links with more and

more schools and generally raise awareness of the enormous opportunities and unrivalled experiences which can

be gained from membership of the Cathedral Choir. In the meantime, our existing Choristers are looking forward

to their summer picnic for which Bishop David kindly allows us to use his garden.

The Choir has some very exciting plans for next term, including

three very varied concerts. On Saturday 10th November, the Girls

and Lower Voices will present a Remembrance concert for the

centenary of the Armistice, featuring Parry’s Songs of Farewell,

composed between 1916 and 1918. We return by invitation to

Birmingham Town Hall on Monday 10th December, performing

Christmas music with city organist Thomas Trotter. On Saturday

15th December, we have ambitious plans to perform Handel’s

Messiah with orchestra, watch out for further information.

MUSIC NEWS

David Hardie

Head of Music

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