Events

Memorial to an Exceptional Year

On any view it’s been an exceptional year so far, with the first half of 2020 now behind us and the second half looking to be just as remarkable, as we face the new challenge of rebuilding our plans, lives, homes and church for the future.

Altogether, it will be a year like no other any of us can remember, and with this in mind we think it important to find ways to record and commemorate what we are living through, both for us to reflect on now and for posterity.

Particularly as it struck us recently that our church archive includes little of the events of 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic struck, and a glimpse of how our church family in the past coped with a similar situation to ours could have been a source of great hope and encouragement.

Memorial Box

We are planning a physical memorial or ‘box’ of items of significance from when the church closed for the first time in March. The idea is that the box will then be securely put away and only re-opened on our 150th anniversary in 2041.

We have already begun to collect various important mementos: the letters and drawings that many of you sent to Fr David while the church building was closed; service sheets for the last service before lockdown; funeral booklets for those who have died without the usual funeral service; and various objects, such as the containers for each of the Presence Candles that Fr David replenished every week of our closure.

Your Contributions

We want to capture as many different contributions as we can for our memorial box, so that it is a true reflection of this exceptional year across all ages in our entire church family. What form your contribution takes is down to you – it could be writings, drawings, photos and any objects that capture your experience of the year.

All ideas are welcome, so please do send any thoughts you have on this project by email to communications @hisj.co.uk.

But, most important of all, please do start thinking about, working on or creating anything you’d like to contribute.

There’s no real restriction, other than size, on what could go in the box, as long as it commemorates this year for you in a way that future congregations will find moving, interesting and encouraging – so do (excuse the pun!) think outside the box!

We will continue to update you on our plans and the closing deadline for submissions, so that the box can securely be put away twenty years ahead of our 150th anniversary and, together, we provide a loving and important Memorial to an Exceptional Year for our future church family.

Parochial Church Meeting

July 4, 2020

On the occasion of the church building reopening for public worship after 15 Sundays of closure

The Meeting will open at 6.30pm with a Celebration of Holy Communion (BCP)

The Parish Eucharist will be held for the first time on July 5 at 10.10am (Common Worship)

Parochial Church Council Meeting Notes

Creating for Community

Raising funds for this year’s Lent Appeal: ALMA

After a fantastic turnout at the voting polls, we are pleased to announced that the winner of this competition is… Sophie’s nephew, Theo Efremidis!

Congratulations, Theo, for your uplifting Isolation Song “God Almighty”, which is a worthy winner among some fantastic creative entries, which you can be reminded of at Creating for Community Competition entries

Well done to all participants and voters, because thanks both to your creative activities and then votes in support we have raised £343.60 for ALMA.

If you’d like to relive Theo’s the lovely song you can find it at

A great effort all round.

Musical Prayer for Holy Saturday

‘Art truly is a Holy Saturday Experience.’ – Botho Strauß

From lockdown in his home in Bremen, Parvis Hejazi shares with us his reflections on Beethoven Op. 110 as a ‘musical prayer’.  To accompany his words you can enjoy his performance of the pieces by clicking on the links below.

Beethoven’s Second Last Sonata as a Musical Prayer

Beethoven Sonata Op. 110 I. Moderato
Beethoven Sonata Op. 110 II. Scherzo
Beethoven Sonata Op. 110 III. Adagio – Fuga – Tempo primo – Fuga

Being a pianist and composer, Parvis Hejazi (20) is well known as an acclaimed and highly promising young musician living in London. Working in a wide range of artistic activities from solo recital and concerto programmes to chamber music performances and from composing to conducting, he holds the Gerd Bucerius Award of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben for being “a highly promising young artist”. Parvis has already performed in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, the US, Russia and Israel, including major concert venues, such as the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Die Glocke Bremen, Mozarteum Salzburg or the Federal Chancellery in Berlin. In 2016, Parvis played his debut recital at the Salzburg Festival.

Sing Resurrection

Easter Sunday, 12th April, 10am

Easter Sunday 2020 will be an Easter Sunday like no other before it. We cannot sing the great Easter hymns inside our churches, but we can sing them in this way…

At 10am on Easter Sunday April 12th we call on all who want to celebrate the resurrection to go outside and sing Jesus Christ is Risen Today and Thine be the Glory at the top of their voices! You could sing them…
In your garden
In your street
Like an Italian from your balcony!
On your permitted daily walk in your local park
By the sea or by a lake
…all of course keeping safe spatial distance.

How to make this happen…
Please share Sing Resurrection with as many people as possible by social media, email, phone.

Let’s share it globally too and see if Sing Resurrection can happen at 10am in 24 time zones around the world!

Invite friends and neighbours in advance to listen out for Sing Resurrection or to join in themselves.

Visit https://ctbi.org.uk for more information and for the words of the hymns.

Take up the Cross Challenge

You can download our full Lent, Holy Week, and Easter 2020 booklet HERE