All Saints' and St. Nicholas' Churches
Church of England
Poplar, Tower Hamlets, London E14
Church Mouse Blog 8 (Easter to Summer 2009)
This blog records all of the important, memorable or disastrous events which occur at All Saints and in the Parish of Poplar.
It therefore provides a narrative and pictorial record of the people and events in Poplar.
As you can see, this blog is a work in progress - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.
So another Easter comes and goes. Father Alan (pictured in the pulpit) led us in the annual festival with skill and compassion.
We had the usual services, plus infant baptisms, and of course bacon and eggs in the crypt after the dawn service on Easter Sunday.
Who would want to be a mouse anywhere other than All Saints?
14th May 2009
Saint Cuthman
Who is this St. Cuthman, do I hear you ask? Well he was a medieval peasant who pushed his mother around in a wheelbarrow. One day he tipped her out and built a Church, thus becoming an early English saint. (I expect he was also martyred for his trouble). An Anglican order of nuns were set up many years ago and bought a property at Billingshurst, not far from Horsham. This was taken over by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brighton and Arundle some years later, and now it is a lovely retreat House.
Your mouse loves to go there to get away from the hustle and bustle of All Saints. You get looked after proper, with three good meals a day and comfy beds. I can recommend it to anyone who wants some peace and quiet. Also every time I've been there, God also shows up. You ought to try it sometime. Click to go to their web site for full details.
6th June 2009
Men's Breakfast
Again, I have no report on this yet as I was on holiday. I heard it was good, with Andrew Walker speaking on prayer. Hopefully we can get him to come back again as we do need more teaching on prayer.
14th June 2009
Confirmation Service 2009
Here they all are again, another year, another happy group of confirmation candidates surrounding Bishop Stephen.
They seem a handsome lot this year, and there was the usual great party afterwards. This is another of those services that All Saints does really well.
Thanks, Boss!
18th June 2009
Peter McBride arrives
So here he is - the new man at St. Nicks' being officially installed as priest in charge down on the Aberfeldy. The Bishop did the honours, ably assisted by the Boss and the beautiful Reverend Jenny.
A large crowd came from Guildford, presumably to make sure that they had really got rid of him and to ensure he didn't come back! But seriously, he is settling in very well. Everyone loves him and he is shaking down nicely.
It is nice to go back to a full complement of priests, as it was getting a bit hectic for some of the staff. But now they can all settle down to a nice warm summer.
19th June 2009
Ayelsford Priory, Church Weekend Away
I'm waiting for John Milbank to send me details of what went on, with a few pictures as I was not able to attend. So come back shortly for news of what was reported as an excellent weekend away. There is a special page on the web site devoted to this weekend away - so click to go there.
20th June 2009
A weekend in Warsaw
Your may, or you may not, be interested in what your Church Mouse gets up to when let off for the weekend.
However, I wasn't at Church on Sunday because I was in the company of a Russian Orthdox Priest and two other Russians on a weekend in Warsaw (pictured here). We also had Ukranians, Romanians, Finns, Germans, Poles and a variety of other nationalities, all gathered together to talk about theology! Well it takes all sorts, and the beetroot soup is always nice - as the bottom pcture of supper in Old Warsaw shows.
Warsaw is one city I could retire to, so long as I could return to Poplar from time to time. The last picture in this entry is a view of All Saints as seen from Poplar Dock, looking past the MacDonald's M to our spire. Perhaps we ought to link Poplar with Old Warsaw - how about it?
27th June 2009
A "virtual" Church
Did you know that there is a virtual Church up in the clouds somewhere?
A friend of mine is the Church Mouse there and she tells me that lots of people go to this Church.
It's a funny old world, however this web site does have some very useful links if you are looking for spiritual help and guidance.
Our new curate has arrived, and as you can see she looks like a bundle of fun and energy. Let's hope she can keep up the smile through the years of hard work ahead!
We mouses will find out all of the details about our Jane, so watch this space for the full revelations.
5th July 2009
Our 186th birthday
Once again All Saints celebrates it's Dedication Anniversary. Now we are 186 years old. The highlight of the service was another of "those" sermons by Father Tom.
Tom Duncan has been around, man and boy, for a very long time - in the sermon he said it felt like 186 years, but perhaps it's not quite that long.
However he has a long memory of life in the East End, and as he says in his sermon, as a young reporter he interviewed Bud Flanagan - so he must be really old now!!
But perhaps you had better read the sermon for yourself - although we can't also supply the sound effects. If you want to do it yourself, get a record ready of "Underneath the Arches" and another of "Who do you think you are kidding My Hitler". I've now attended a handful of services where the sermon ends with spontaneous applause - and this was one of them.
The other treat was a visit from Brother Raju George from the Delhi Brotherhood (here pictured with the boss after the service)
19th July 2009
A new little helper !!
Helen Elliott has now retired from working in the NHS and so has some time on her hands.
That nice webmaster Mike has suggested she helps him out as a sort of trainee assistant master, and perhaps able to take over the arduous and exacting task of reporting the happenings in Poplar.
So now she has to become proficient in weaving dreams and file transfer protocols. It's a hard world out there!
This may give us poor mouses some more help in our task of reporting what goes on, and comes off, down here in the crypt.
So here he is - the new man at St. Nicks' being officially installed as priest in charge down on the Aberfeldy. The Bishop did the honours, ably assisted by the Boss and the beautiful Reverend Jenny.
