A Corporate Act of PrayerMembers of the Society are encouraged to join together in saying the following Collectat the same time in their own homes, at 10.00 p.m. each Sunday evening.

THE COLLECT OF THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITYO LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defendthy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thysuccour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; throughJesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

© The Prayer Book Society 2015Individual articles are © the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, inany form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the Editor, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with theappropriate reprographics rights organisation.

Issue No. 38 · Trinity 2015ISSN: 1479-215X

THE PBS JOURNALEditor:The Revd Canon Andrew Hawes

Address for correspondence:The Prayer Book Society, The Studio,Copyhold Farm, Goring Heath,Reading RG8 7RTTelephone: 0118 984 2582E-mail: pbs.admin@pbs.org.ukWebsite: www.pbs.org.ukSpecial anniversary website: www.bcp350.org

All contributions, including articles,letters for publication, Branch newsand notices of forthcoming events,should be sent to ‘PBS Journal’ at theabove address, or by e-mail topbsj@pbs.org.uk

Submission by e-mail is preferredwhenever possible. Electronic sub-mission in editable format (such asWord® or RTF) saves the Editor aconsiderable amount of work. A shortstyle sheet is available from the PBSoffice, and adherence to this is alsovery helpful in reducing the need fortime-consuming subediting. We reservethe right to edit or amend con-tributions.

Advertising Manager:Ian WoodheadTelephone: 01380 870384E-mail: ian.woodhead@pbs.org.uk

Produced & printed by SS Media Ltd

THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETYA Company Limited by GuaranteeRegistered in England No. 4786973Registered Charity No. 1099295Isle of Man Registered Charity No. 952Registered office: The Studio, CopyholdFarm, Goring Heath, Reading RG8 7RT

Patron:HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB

Ecclesiastical Patron:The Rt Revd and Rt Hon. Richard Chartres,KCVO, DD, FSA, Bishop of London

Lay Patrons:The Rt Hon. Lord Hurd of Westwell,

CH, CBE, PCLord Sudeley, FSA

President:Lord Cormack, DL, FSA

Vice-Presidents:The Revd Dr Roger BeckwithThe Rt Hon. Frank Field, MPProfessor Roger HomanC. A. Anthony Kilmister, OBE

Board of Trustees:Miss Prudence Dailey ChairmanThe Revd Paul Thomas Deputy ChairmanMiss Hilary Rudge Company SecretaryJohn Wimpress TreasurerThe Revd Rob Desics Regional Trustee –

North East RegionPeter Hardingham Regional Trustee –

Midlands RegionThe Revd David HarrisThe Revd Richard HoyalNicholas Hurst Regional Trustee – Eastern

RegionThe Revd John Masding Regional Trustee –

South West RegionPaul Meitner Regional Trustee – South East

RegionThe Revd Andrew Montgomerie

Regional Trustee - West and Central RegionAshley Perraton-WilliamsDavid Richardson – Director of Fundraising John Scrivener Regional Trustee – North

West Region

Prayer Book Churches and Clergy Co-ordinator:John ServiceTelephone: 07557 665609E-mail: john.service@pbs.org.uk

Youth Officer:The Revd Canon Fredrik Arvidsson

The Prayer Book Society’s childprotection policy is available on itswebsite, www.pbs.org.uk

The Prayer Book Society, like theChurch of England, is a broad churchwhich embraces a wide breadth ofopinion and churchmanship. Viewsexpressed in the PBS Journal are those oftheir individual authors, and do notnecessarily represent the opinion of theSociety or of the Editor. The inclusionof any advertisement in the PBS Journaldoes not imply that the Societyendorses the advertiser, its products orits services.

PBS TRADING LTDOrders and enquiries for PBS Tradingshould be sent to:

PBS Trading Ltd, The Studio,Copyhold Farm, Goring Heath,Reading RG8 7RT

Website: www.pbs.org.uk/online-shop

Cover image:Yasmin Nachif in quiet preparation

Photography:Helen Brown

The deadline for contributions for thenext issue is: Friday, 11th September (preferably typed or electronically submitted)Publication date: Friday, 23rd October

Submission of Photographs

When submitting photographs for the PBS Journal,please note the following:

• Digital photographs should be taken using thehighest resolution possible. If the resolution istoo low, photographs may have to be printedvery small, or may not be useable at all.

• Photographs taken using conventional film arealso acceptable. Prints should be sent to the PBSOffice at Copyhold Farm, and we will arrangefor them to be scanned in high resolution. The original prints will be returned to you.

• When taking photographs at events, ‘actionshots’ of the event in progress are preferable toposed photographs of groups of people orindividuals standing still.

Filling vacancies in Prayer Bookparishes

There can be little doubt that the most effective wayof ensuring the continuation of worship from theBook of Common Prayer in a parish is to make surethat, when filling a vacancy for a new parson,someone with strong personal sympathy to thePrayer Book is appointed. To this end, and thanks tothe efforts of our Churches and Clergy Co-ordinator,John Service, we now have a list of over 70 non-retired clergy, sympathetic to the Book of CommonPrayer, who have asked to be kept informed ofvacancies in potentially suitable parishes. Inaddition, we are able to provide information aboutthe legal rights of PCCs in relation to appointments.

If you are a member of the congregation at a churchwhich has a significant commitment to the Book ofCommon Prayer for a large proportion of itsservices, please do let John Service know as soon asa clerical vacancy arises. Information from ourmembers about impending parish vacancies isvitally important, alongside the details we receivefrom a variety of other sources. All informationreceived will, of course, be handled with discretion.

John Service can be contacted by e-mail atjohn.service@pbs.org.uk, or via the PBS office atCopyhold Farm.

The PBS Annual Conference:

Bursary appeal 4

The General Thanksgiving 5

P. D. James: life, death

and the memory of God 7

Commemorating Thomas Cranmer

at Junior King’s School, Canterbury 9

Cranmer Awards Finals 2015 10

St George’s Day and the Book of

Common Prayer 12

St Bartholomew’s Chapel,

Goring Heath 14

The Edith Matthias Fund 15

Correspondence 15

The Book of Common Prayer Cross 16

How I met the Prayer Book Society 17

Pews 18

A thought on the Evening Collect 21

Book Reviews 22

News from the Branches 24

Forthcoming Events 28

Branch Contacts 30

CONTENTS

3

It is essential to the future of the Society and ofthe Prayer Book that we increasingly involveclergy, ordinands and young people in our work.

The Annual Conference provides an excellentopportunity to make connections, but many of thosewe especially need to attract are deterred by theconference fee.

Since 2012, the Society has been operating abursary scheme, funded by the generous donationsof our members, to enable clergy and ordinands (ofany age) and anyone under thirty to attend theconference at the much reduced cost of £50 for thefull conference fee. We know from the feedback wehave received that the opportunity to attend theconference is very much appreciated by a group ofpeople who would not otherwise be able to afford todo so, and whose involvement is vital to the work ofthe Prayer Book Society, and to the survival of theBook of Common Prayer.

The details and booking information for this year’sconference at Girton College, Cambridge areenclosed with this magazine on a separate flyer. Ifyou are booking to attend the conference yourself,there is an option to add on a donation to theconference bursary appeal; otherwise, please use theform below. Or please send your donation (cheques

made payable to ‘Prayer Book Society’) to the PBSoffice at Copyhold Farm, enclosing a note that it isfor the conference bursary appeal. The office (whichis open Monday to Friday mornings only) can alsoaccept debit/credit card payments over thetelephone.

Note: If you have previously completed a Gift Aid form, pleaselet us have your name and address with your donation, to enable usto reclaim Gift Aid. If you have NOT previously completed a GiftAid form in favour of the Prayer Book Society and are eligible forGift Aid, please request one from the PBS office.

Annual Conference 2016Next year’s conference will again be held at GirtonCollege, Cambridge from Thursday, 8th to Saturday,10th September 2016. Please make a note in yourdiary! We are experimenting with a Thursday-to-Saturday conference, as opposed to the Friday-to-Sunday format which has been the norm hitherto,having received feedback that it is very difficult forordinands and clergy (especially curates) to attend atthe weekend. Our hope is that changing theconference days will further increase the number ofclergy and ordinands who are able to be present,without causing too much inconvenience to otherconference-goers.

4

The PBS Annual Conference: Bursary appealHelping clergy, ordinands and young people to attend the conference

I wish to support the PBS Conference bursaries appeal for clergy, ordinands and young people

Name________________________________________________________________________

Address_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________Postcode_______________________

Telephone number(s)______________________________________________________ _____

E-mail address__________________________________________________________________

I enclose a cheque for £___________ made payable to ‘Prayer Book Society’.

Please charge my debit/credit card with the amount of £_________________(Visa/MasterCard/Maestro/Electron/Solo)

Card No:

Valid from: / Expires end: / CVV:

(Last 3 digits on rear of card)

Cardholder’s signature ___________________________________________

Please send your donation to:Prayer Book Society, Copyhold Farm, Lady Grove, Goring Heath, Reading RG8 7RT

IMPORTANT: If you prefer not to cut your magazine, please enclose a note with your donation clearly indicating that it is for the Conference Bursaries Appeal.

5

The General ThanksgivingJulian Barker

We are here, of course, to celebrate the Bookof Common Prayer, with whose patternsof worship I guess many of you grew up.

But there’s no point in my telling you how good it isbecause you know that already, so I thought I wouldtake just one very special prayer and say somethingabout that.

Many years ago, when I was rector of a group ofNorfolk parishes, there was an old boy (at least hefelt old to me then), a farm worker called HerbertCann, who lived at Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe. He washardly an intellectual, though he had his own specialskills. He kept the whole churchyard mown like alawn using only a scythe. But Herbert had a lot morewisdom than many of us. One day he said to me, ‘Oi hin’t unnerstood haarf o’ what thai paarsons haisid, but’ and then he told me that every day he madea point of saying the General Thanksgiving. I thoughtabout that and, aside from the Lord’s Prayer, I think itwould be hard to find a better staple for the Christiandiet.

Christianity motivates people. When others askwhy, the simple answer they are apt to give is thatwe’re motivated by the fear of punishment or thehope of reward, the carrot or the stick, heaven or

hell. Both have no doubt played their part. However,there have always been many Christians for whomone motive has taken precedence over all others. We do not need to be scared or lured into ourpatterns of behaviour. Gratitude and love are themotives which trump all the rest. It is just the samein the world of our human relationships. Fear ofpunishment and hope of reward are a useful back-upfor our motivation. There are legal penalties forseriously abusing your children, and so it should be,but on the whole that isn’t what restrains us. We doour best for them because we love them. If you’regrateful to your parents and do what you can to lookafter them they won’t usually disinherit you, but ingeneral that’s not why we care for them. Ourprincipal motives are love and gratitude.

If someone does something really important foranother person, saves their life or gets them out of areally bad situation, they will often say, ‘I don’t knowhow to thank you. What can I possibly give you inreturn for what you have done for me?’ The answer,of course, is probably ‘nothing’, but what may bepossible is to do something similar for someone else.In fact we can express our gratitude to one person bywhat we do for others.

PBS TradingDon’t forget that you can view and order the fullrange of stock from PBS Trading all year round via thePBS website: just go to www.pbs.org.uk and click on‘Online Shop’. Orders are despatched directly fromthe PBS office by our own staff, who will be pleasedto deal with queries.

For reasons of cost-effectiveness we have to limit thefrequency with which printed booklists are circulatedto all members; but you are welcome to request acopy from the office at any time.

2015 Annual Conference andAnnual General meeting

The programme and booking form for the2015 Annual Conference of the Prayer BookSociety, to be held from 11th to 13thSeptember at Girton College, Cambridge,are enclosed with this magazine as aseparate flyer. The programme and bookingform can also be downloaded from the PBSwebsite, and spare printed copies may beobtained on request from the office.

Please note that the Annual General Meetingof the Society will take place at GirtonCollege on the afternoon of Saturday 12thSeptember, and is open to all members(whether or not they are also attending theConference). The Agenda and papers for theAGM will be circulated in August.

Retired Clergyman and experiencedphilatelist wishes to purchase quality

stamp collections.

Valuations given without obligation.

Tel No: 07903673692

What God has done for us is beyond thepossibility of any kind of repayment, but the teachingof Jesus gives us precisely what we ask for; a way ofpaying him back. ‘In as much as you did it to the leastof these my brethren you did it to me’ (Matthew25:40). So, for my money, gratitude is one of the bestof all the motivations for a Christian pattern of life.

And so to the General Thanksgiving, one amongmany of the gems in the 1662 BCP, composed in1661 by Bishop Reynolds. ‘Almighty God, Father ofall mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give theemost humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodnessand loving kindness to us and to all men.’ As we getolder it is all too easy to fall into a pattern ofdiscontented grumbling about the world in whichwe live. It is good to be reminded that there are alsoa great many things to be grateful for, and certainlyenough to counterbalance the everyday sources ofirritation.

Then it becomes specific. ‘We bless thee for ourcreation’, for the fact that we are here at all; ‘our preservation’, the fact that we are still here, ‘and all the blessings of this life’, and it doesn’t takemuch to think of a whole list of everyday things tobe grateful for. ‘But above all for thine inestimablelove in the redemption of the world by our LordJesus Christ, for the means of grace and for the hopeof glory.’

Our belief that, in the life of Jesus, God hasentered our world and shown us in our own human

terms what he is like and how much he loves andvalues us is something for which to be truly grateful.‘The means of grace’ are prayer, especially listeningin prayer; reading the Bible, in particular the Gospels,which put us in touch with God as he has shownhimself to us; and the sacraments, especially HolyCommunion which provides a kind of regularphysical way of affirming our link with Jesus’sacrificial love for us. And then of course there’s the‘the hope of glory’, the trust that our experience ofthis life will fade into paleness compared to the glorywhich is to come.

‘And’, finally, ‘we beseech thee, give us that duesense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may beunfeignedly thankful, and that we show forth thypraise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to thy service and by walkingbefore thee in holiness and righteousness all ourdays.’ There’s the final message that gratitude isn’t justa warm feeling to be relished. To be real it has to haveresults in the way in which we live.

It is all there really and, like Herbert Cann, I can’tthink of a better regular reminder of what ourChristian lives are about. Why not learn it by heartand use it regularly without even needing a book?Herbert can be a model for us all!

The Revd Julian Barker is a retired priest living in Suffolk. This sermon was delivered at a service for the Lichfield Branch of

the Prayer Book Society.

Welcome to our newest Trustee

The Board is pleased to welcome the Revd AndrewMongtomerie, co-opted to fill the vacancy for aRegional Trustee for the West and Central Region(which comprises the Dioceses of Bristol, Gloucester,Hereford, Oxford and Worcester; plus the PBS Branchescovering North and South Wales).

Andrew Montgomerie is Rector of St Margaret’s, IverHeath in Buckinghamshire—a post for which heapplied as a direct result of the Prayer Book Society’sscheme for circulating details of vacancies in PrayerBook-sympathetic parishes to potentially interestedclergy. He is married to Mary and they have four grown-up children, and are looking forward to becominggrandparents for the first time in August. He impressedthose present with his sermon at the Society’s 2013Annual Conference, and the Trustees look forward toworking with him more closely.

6

Isle of Man CompanyRegistration

The Prayer Book Society is now no longerregistered with the Isle of Man CompaniesRegistry.

Separate company registration in the Isle ofMan as well as in England imposed add-itional regulatory burdens on the Societyand, following appropriate legal advice thatit was not, in fact, necessary, the Trusteeshave taken the decision to de-register.

This does not affect the continuedoperations of the Sodor & Man Branch, andthe Prayer Book Society remains separatelyregistered as a Charity in the Isle of Man.

7

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom,who knowest our necessities before weask and our ignorance in asking:

We beseech thee to have compassion on ourinfirmities: and those things which for ourunworthiness we dare not and for our blindnesswe cannot ask, vouchsafe to give us for theworthiness of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen

That Collect from Cranmer’s Book of CommonPrayer was described by Phyllis as ‘the most perfectprayer of supplication ever written’. It was on PrayerBook Society outings that we first met and I fellunder her spell.

This part of the service is labelled as ‘The Sermon’,which makes me somewhat queasy because Phyllisherself said, ‘From an early age I have taken littlepleasure in sermons.’

She was never the one to sit docile under somedogmatist located many feet above contradiction.That is why I have decided to eschew one of the mostvertiginous pulpits in Christendom. Hers was acritical searching faith which grew stronger anddeeper with the passing years but less dogmatic asshe entered realms inaccessible to words. She lovedthe Prayer Book and often attended the services hereat the Temple Church, drawn by the liturgy and thesuperb music but, as she said to me, she was by nomeans a BCP fundamentalist and her views werealways fresh and often surprising.

Recalling her youth, Phyllis remarked, ‘there was,thank God, no Good News Bible, a version which is verybad news for anyone who cares either for religion orliterature’.

She loved the Church of England but was not blindto its absurdities. On being appointed to theLiturgical Commission by Archbishop Runcie, she remarked that ‘The bureaucracy of the Church ofEngland would be terrifying if it were efficient.’

But ‘The Church of England is the one into whichI was baptized, whose liturgy helped to make me awriter, whose sacraments have comforted andsustained me through a long life lived in tumultuoustimes, and it is this Church—Catholic and Reformed,tolerant, inclusive, flawed but beautiful andpeculiarly English—in which I shall die.’ P. D. James

in ‘Why I am Still an Anglican’. She also loved England and its landscapes and

especially coast line but she did have a sense of aculture in peril.

‘I must resist paranoia but it is sometimes difficultnot to believe that there are people with a moresinister purpose than the neglect of two of thenation’s most seminal books.’ She meant theAuthorized Version of the Bible and Cranmer’s PrayerBook. ‘If you want to destroy a country’s traditionsand soften it up for a culture that you find personallymore to your liking, there is no better way to beginthan by an attack on its language and literature.’

Contemplating the portraits of the ‘splendidwomen who were the first to graduate’ fromSomerville College, Oxford, she said, ‘…if they cameback today they would be horrified to see what kindof society we live in. I believe that politicalcorrectness can be a form of linguistic fascism and itsends shivers down the spine of my generation whowent to war against fascism. The only way to react isto get up in the morning and start the day by sayingfour or five vastly politically incorrect things beforebreakfast.’ Some of her apprehensions about thethreat of sterility in our culture are explored in herhaunting dystopia, Children of Men.

Forthright, without pretension or sentimentality,she had suffered and worked hard but there was noself-pity and she preserved a fine sense of irony.

She was drawn to the inscription on the tomb ofSamuel Rutter, Bishop of Sodor and Man, which shediscovered in the ruins of the cathedral in Castleton:‘In this house which I share with my brothers theworms in hope of the resurrection to life lie I, Sam by divine grace Bishop of this island. Stay readerlook and laugh at the Bishop’s Palace. Died 30th MayAnno 1662.’

Like everyone in this church and people whoknew her longer and better than I did, I miss her verymuch. But it is of course her family to whom she wasdevoted who experience the deepest sense of loss.Our tears are natural like the tears shed by JesusChrist over the death of his friend Lazarus, but thereis nothing bitter or unwholesome here. The family isher greatest work of art which lives on.

We all have to get a living and cope with theordinary demands of feeding and clothing ourselves

P. D. James: life, death and thememory of God

Richard Chartres

and our families. There is a necessary labour whichserves our biological needs but beyond that we areinvited to work in a way which enriches the worldand leaves a legacy; to work in a way which expressesthe deepest and best in us. Tragically there are manypeople who discover only too late that we are allcalled to this higher work beyond the ordinarylabour of life.

One of the choruses in the Dream of Gerontius, a work which Phyllis loved, reaches for the reality ofGod in crying out—‘O generous love’. It is a noteechoed in George Herbert’s poem ‘Love bade mewelcome’. Phyllis understood the world of menace,complex motivations and murderous instincts butshe also lived without too much preaching on ahigher plane of unsentimental gift-giving with thegrace which can enrich and transform people. She was a true believer in the Christian faith whichhas gift and grace at its heart. God so loved the worldthat he gave his Son. The Son gave himself back to theFather and the Holy Spirit is at work inviting us intothe great exchange of love which is the deepestprinciple of the universe. The end, appropriately fora writer like Phyllis, pictured by Dante is when all thescattered leaves of the universe are bound together inone volume, by love.

The natural cycle leads inevitably to decay, but thedominant note of any Christian memorial service,after the sorrow and after the memories, is hope.

It is almost as perplexing to identify the ‘real me’in life as it is in death. The atoms that make up ourbodies are changing all the time, through wear andtear, eating and drinking. We are atomically distinctfrom what we were when we were young. Whatunites Phyllis James who first saw light in Oxfordwith Baroness James of Holland Park? Whatconstitutes her identity? The complex pattern ofmemories, aspirations and actions which make up acharacter were carried for a time by the atoms of herbody, but we believe they are also stored up in theCloud of God’s being.

In faithful relationships, when people livetogether, they grow around one another and the onebecomes a part of the other. In the process we aregiven the freedom to be ourselves and, as humanbeings, we have been given the potential to be drawnfreely into an ever-closer relationship with the divinenature.

Everything which has turned to love in our liveswill be stored up in the memory of God. First thereis the struggle for freedom and independence andthen the self-giving and the acceptance of mutualindwelling. There was, towards the end of Phyllis’slife, a sense of completion and an immense ripeness.

What, in the end, makes our lives seem valuableafter the storm and stress have passed away and thereis a great calm? The questions most frequently askedat such a time concern us all. How loving have Ibeen? How faithful in personal relationships? Have Ifound joy within myself, or am I still looking for itin externals outside myself?

T. S. Eliot, one of Phyllis’s favourite poets, says:

‘the communication Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond thelanguage of the living.’‘Their bodies are buried in peace but theirname liveth for evermore.’

In this Easter season Death is revealed, not as a fullstop but as the way into another dimension of Life.As Eliot puts it:

‘What we call the beginning is often the endAnd to make an end is to make a beginning.The end is where we start from.’

Rest eternal grant unto her, O Lord, and let lightperpetual shine upon her.

This sermon was delivered by the Rt Revd Richard Chartres,Bishop of London, at an invitation-only Memorial Service for P. D. James (Baroness James of Holland Park) at the TempleChurch in London.

Presents for Christenings & Confirmations, for Grandchildren & Godchildren

www.ChristianGiftshop.co.uk01473 785868

ChristianGiftshop.co.uk online boutique,Ipswich, Suffolk.

8

Through the week leadingup to the anniversary ofThomas Cranmer’s death,

the children of Junior King’sSchool spent time exploring theman, the events of his life and theTudor world in which he lived.

Activities included a Tudor dayfor the younger children, wherethey learnt ‘horrible history’ facts,dressed up, used quill pens andsuchlike. Older children at theschool had the opportunity tolearn about Cranmer himself,about his life, and about thepolitical and religious situation helived through and how his lifecame to an end. Empathetic pieceswere written in the form of diaryentries, letters (including the onebelow, by a Year 7 class) andpoetry.

At the end of the week theschool held a BCP Matins in theneighbouring St Nicholas’ Church,with guest speaker PrudenceDailey, Chairman of the PrayerBook Society. Children contributedto the service through anthemssung by the school choir, thereading of the lessons, pupilssharing work done during theweek and a violin piece performedto the school.

After the service, Prudencehelped plant an oak tree in thegrounds of the school to comm-emorate the service and Cranmerhimself.

Rob Tugwell is Chaplain at Junior King’sSchool.

Commemorating ThomasCranmer at Junior King’sSchool, Canterbury

Rob Tugwell

9

The Tower, LondonWritten this nineteenth day of March in the year of Our Lord 1556To my dear wife Margarete,

I hope you will be safely over the sea by the time you receive this letter as Ihave learned today that my life is soon to be ended. I was held in the dreadedchamber, Little Ease, and suffered great torments until I submitted to the willof the Pope.

Four times I tore the letter up but, in the end, I could bear my trials no longerand I put my quill to the parchment. Sadly, I now learn that Queen Mary doesnot believe my change of heart to be sincere and I am soon to die at the stake atOxford.

You should know that I plan to burn my right hand first, for it was that partof me which sinned in signing the cursed document. It is right that it should bepunished.

Edward Whitchurch, my dearest friend, will take good care of you but neverforget this. Our Queen is a God-fearing woman but she has a cold heart. Bewareof her always and trust in the mercy of the Lord.

I long to see you and our children in God’s kingdom.Remember me always. I bid you farewell.

Your loving husband,Thomas

Prudence Dailey with Junior King’s pupils and Chaplain Rob Tugwellobserved by Canon Fredrik Arvidsson, Senior Chaplain

10

This year’s Cranmer AwardsFinals took place in theimposing surroundings of

the Old Palace in Worcester, on Saturday, 28th February. TheOld Palace, which dates from theeleventh century, was once hometo the Bishops of Worcester. It isadjacent to Worcester Cathedral,whose bells punctuated lunch asthey rang out for St Oswald’s Day.

As usual, the junior (ages 11-14) and senior (15-18) finalstook place simultaneously indifferent parts of the building,and were followed by lunch(during which the judges delib-erated). The standard as ever wasimpressive (and all the more so since finalists arerequired to declaim their chosen passages frommemory).

The prizes were presented by Dame Linda Dobbs,a former High Court judge who was the first non-white person to be appointed to the senior judiciaryof England and Wales. While congratulating thecandidates, Dame Linda remarked that the words ofthe Book of Common Prayer, which had becomefamiliar to her at school, had stayed in her memory;and that the competitors were likely to find that they

similarly remembered them.The afternoon concluded with a reprise of their

recitations by the senior and junior first prizewinners, demonstrating them to be worthy victors.

Some of the competitors are helped by teachersand others to prepare for the Awards, and the PrayerBook Society is very grateful for their dedication andtheir efforts. Not all the finalists receive such help,however, and in conversation afterwards the seniorfirst prize winner mentioned that she had preparedherself, by listening to the Prayer Book being read in

church: we very much wish thatmore young people had thisopportunity!

As ever, thanks are owed to allthose who contributed tomaking the Awards a success,including all those whoorganise the local Branch heatsleading up to the Finals; to Merriel Halsall-Williams, theNational Administrator of theCranmer Awards; and toNicholas Hurst, Chairman ofthe Cranmer Awards Comm-ittee, assisted by Ian Woodhead.

Prudence Dailey

Photography: Helen Brown

Cranmer Awards Finals 2015

Audience at the Cranmer Awards

Judges at the Cranmer Awards

The overall winners were:JuniorsFirst Prize: Isobel Keane (Diocese of Norwich)Second Prize: Genevieve Baker (Diocese of Bath & Wells)Third Prize: Yiannis Goeldner-Thompson (Diocese of Oxford)Highly Commended: Yasmin Nachif (Worcester);

Cordelia Harpin (Lichfield)SeniorsFirst Prize: Emily Rimmer (Diocese of Sodor & Man)Second Prize: Mary Richardson (Diocese of Lichfield)Third Prize: Emeka Nduka-Eze (Diocese of Winchester)Highly Commended: Joe Brazier (Lichfield);

Richard Decker (Rochester);Hugh Tappin (Oxford)

Amelia Kaur from WorcesterDiocese

The winners with Dame Linda Dobbs

Joe Brazier from Lichfield Diocese

Emeka Nduka-Eze from Winchester Diocese

All the winners at the Cranmer Awards

Emily Rimmer, Senior Prizewinner

11

12

St George is not a feast kept in the BCP. Since thesecond Prayer Book of 1552, only the Apostlesamongst the saints are given that recognition.

So we have to look to the 1928 book to find aparticular mention of St George and it is the readingsfrom that lectionary which we use this evening.

In common with many other saints, we know littleabout St George, except that he was not English, but Turkish, was born in the first century and becamea Roman soldier, but refused to take part in thepersecution of Christians at the time. He was himselftortured and executed in Palestine, becoming anearly Christian martyr on, we think, this date of 23rdApril.

But it is of course the subsequent legend of St George slaying a dragon and rescuing an innocentmaiden that he is most known for. This was amedieval addition to the legend and it is the image ofthis which abounds the world over.

One of these is in the Lutheran Cathedral inStockholm, where there is a fifteenth-century statueof St George and the dragon so big that it would fillthe chancel here. The statue is of St George amidhorseback with sword (not lance, mind you) heldhigh about to slay the fiery dragon at his feet, the maiden looking on with hands held together inprayerful supplication. It’s all good theatre, of course,as it had to be in the Middle Ages when stories hadto be told in pictures and physical representation. The story speaks to us of the triumph of good (St George) over evil (the dragon) and the rescuingof humanity (the maiden) and there are more thanfaint echoes of the Book of Revelation about it all.

St George was adopted as the patron saint ofEngland first by Edward III and then promoted mostespecially by Richard the Lionheart. Both kings wereengaged in lengthy wars against either the French orthe Muslims (or both, in the case of Richard) andboth were in need of inspiration for their armies.What better than the soldier saint, St George, who was popular in the Middle East, particularlyamongst Orthodox Christians, and perhaps a moremuscular saint for the time, particularly for theCrusades, than the more pious Edward the Confessor,England’s traditional saint. Richard the Lionheart hadthe emblem of St George—a red cross on a whitebackground—emblazoned on his army’s uniforms.

Despite all this and unlike national saints’ days insome other countries, St George’s Day is not muchremembered or kept in this country today. A bit likethe BCP in fact. Indeed, as you all know, the Churchhas been on a journey for the past century torestructure its worship. The BCP, with its unwaveringemphasis on Grace, Sin, Forgiveness, Redemption,has been seen to be too limiting in its approach andits language considered too much of a deterrent tovernacular expression and authenticity today.

Changes in liturgy have abounded these past 50years. The liturgical movement took off in the 1960s.First we had Series 1 for the celebration of HolyCommunion, which was not much different to1928, but then the more radical Series 2 and 3,eventually arriving at the short-lived and unlovedAlternative Service Book before Common Worshipbecame the norm in the past fifteen years.

But now all of that is breaking down as theworship of the Church becomes less structured,more informal, indeed more casual, certainly moreCongregationalist.

It has proven no panacea, because still the numberof people attending church declines. Indeed, somewould say, perhaps many of you this evening, that these changes have only advanced decline, ratherthan arrested it.

As for the Offices, Matins is almost extinct outsideof Cathedral churches, Evensong is vestigial and BCPHoly Communion is largely confined, except inchurches like this, to 8.00 a.m. on Sunday or a mid-week communion, as a rather quaint concession toolder people who can’t be taught any better.

I was watching the Ealing comedy film The TitfieldThunderbolt the other day. It tells the story of a groupof villagers who are determined to save their railwayline from closure. The film was made in the earlyfifties, even before Dr Beeching had set about hiswork. One of the leaders in a bid to save the railwayis the County Parson. In one scene where he and agroup of volunteers have been working on theirplans all day, he suddenly tells everyone to stopworking and exclaims, ‘Time for Evensong,everyone’. I wondered how many people todaywould actually understand what he was talkingabout, let alone have it as part of their daily rhythmof life?

St George’s Day and the Book ofCommon Prayer

Stephen Anderson

Our job, as worshippers in this place and as thePBS, is to keep the idea of the BCP alive—part of thepractice of our Church and its members, not just itsmemory. We do this because we believe that the BCPis Anglicanism’s gift to the universal Church and ablessing to those who use it, whose time will comeagain. I suspect people will tire of the practice ofreligion that is the same as everyday life. People wantto be lifted up in their worship, taken out ofthemselves, raised to connect with the numinous.There is no evidence that the prosaic services oftoday are helpful in taking us out of ourselves to lookbeyond ourselves. Instead they leave us located in thelanguage and practice of the here and now, ratherthan taking us to the majesty and mystery of Eternity.

The BCP, of course, is able to do this supremelywell. Its rhythmic and memorable language helps usto worship in the beauty of holiness. It addresses Godwith dignity, awe and respect, not with familiarity,casualness and mateyness. It is scripture in liturgy innearly every construct and sentence. It is a book forthe big occasion and also for private devotions. It is abook where we are challenged as well as comforted,disturbed as well as assured. It enables us to enterinto the mystery of God without trying to possess itor control it or even fully comprehend it. It givesmeaning beyond compare to our worship and asense that we have offered the best we can toAlmighty God.

Its theology is fundamentally sacramental andincarnational. It affirms that God will use whateverHe has made as the vehicle for the spiritual anddivine. Spoken words, physical touch, water, bread

and wine are all channels of God’s grace andinspiration.

Sacramental religion promotes a sacramental viewof life, drawing us out of ourselves to the worldaround us. All created things are there to be outwardand visible signs of inward and spiritual grace. Thereis nothing created which is not good and nothinggood which is not called to be holy. It is the meansby which God will draw all things back to Himself as He reconciles the world into becoming His Kingdomhere on earth.

In the meantime, we have to live our lives as bestwe can. The BCP nourishes us by word andsacrament. It is a book which will endure and survivethe current reluctance—if we ensure that it does so.

St George stood out for good, and our NewTestament reading urges us to be strong in the Lord.In the working out of good and evil, the BCP helpsus to be on the side of good. So our task is to keepthe BCP alive as practice and ensure that futuregenerations can find it as profitable to their salvationas others have done for over 300 years.

And so ‘Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord,and in the power of his might… Put on the wholearmour of God that ye may be able to stand againstthe wiles of the devil.’

The BCP is, I believe, worthy to be the uniformwith which to cloak that armour.

A sermon preached by Fr Stephen Anderson, Chairman of theEly Branch, at St Clement’s Church, Cambridge on St George’sDay.

Fr Stephen Anderson

13

Young people and PrayerBook Churches:

We need your help!Does your church (or another church you know of)regularly have Prayer Book Services with young peopleand/or young families present?

If so, please let us know! We are developing our contactswith a number of churches with the Book of CommonPrayer at the heart of their worship, and we are surethere are a good number of such churches that are notyet on our ‘radar’. In particular, we are keen to find outabout those with young people in the congregation.

If you know of a church you think may fit thatdescription, please contact John Service, Churches andClergy Co-ordinator, by e-mail at john.service@pbs.org.uk

or via the PBS office at Copyhold Farm. We can thenfollow up the contact (and need not mention yourname unless you wish it).

Set back from the tree-shaded road throughGoring Heath, South Oxfordshire, and west ofReading, stands an elegant yet simple set of

buildings: the Allnutt Almshouses. The originalalmshouses, built in the Queen Anne style in redbrick with silver-greys mixed in, form three sides ofa courtyard, but the centrepiece is the chapel. From the outside, the chapel has a Dutch gable frontwith large windows, complementing the smallerones in the cottages on either side, giving the wholesite a simple beauty.

Internally, the chapel, dedicated to St Bartholomew, is starkly elegant. The pews are ofoak, as are the wainscot panels and the pulpit. On thewalls are panels in black and gold, setting out theLord’s Prayer and the Commandments. For me, the most striking part of the chapel is the windowbehind the altar. Slightly bowed, and of clear leadedglass, it looks out onto the orchard in all its seasons.No stained glass needed here. High on the east wallare busts of the founder, Henry Allnutt, barrister of

Middle Temple and Lord Mayor of London, and hisfriend and executor, Richard Clement, who finishedthe building in 1726 and made sure that funds wereavailable for the almshouses to flourish.

The first chaplain was appointed in 1742 andthere has been an incumbent since then. Today, the chapel not only serves the residents but also thewider public, especially those who prefer the Bookof Common Prayer, which is exclusively used in thechapel.

St Bartholomew’s is not stuck in the past, however.In 1952, Major Alfred Allnatt, a descendent of thefounder, gave funds to refurbish the chapel andalmshouses, and in 2006 a new font, Communionkneeler and altar frontal were all dedicated by theBishop of Dorchester.

The chapel is open in the daytime and visitors arealways welcome to this unique building.Service times: 1st Sunday of the month, 11.00 a.m. HolyCommunion (sung) 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Sundays of the month, 9.00 a.m.Holy Communion (said), 11.00 a.m. Matins

Hazel Driver worships at the Almshouse Chapel.

St Bartholomew’s Chapel, Goring Heath

Hazel Driver

14

Almshouse Chapel, Goring Heath

15

At Evensong on 14th March at St Peter’s,Bexhill-on-Sea Bishop Nicholas Reade blessed100 new copies of the Book of Common

Prayer. The 1662 Prayer Book is used every single dayof the year at St Peter’s for the Evening Office and forSunday Evensong, with our excellent choir leadingthe worship. There are also regular weeklycelebrations of Holy Communion using the PrayerBook Rite. Many thanks for the generous grant fromthe PBS towards the cost of the new prayer books.

The Edith Matthias Prayer Book Trust Fund (oftenreferred to simply as ‘The Matthias Fund’) wasestablished as a millennium gift to the Prayer BookSociety by the late Miss Matthias. The Fund makesgrants to help parish churches (and similar bodies,such as college chapels) to purchase new copies of

the Book of Common Prayer for congregational use.Application forms can be requested from the PBSoffice or downloaded from the website (go towww.pbs.org.uk and click on ‘Competitions &Bursaries’).

Fr David Reynish is the parish priest of St Peter’s,Bexhill-on-Sea.

The Edith Matthias FundDavid Reynish

Dear Sir / Madam,I much appreciated Mr Inkley’s article ‘Morning

Prayer with shortened Holy Communion following’in the Lent 2015 edition of the PBS Journal. The servicehe described has already been authorised by theChurch of England. It is a classic example of a‘Service of the Word with Holy Communion’,authorised, regulated and permitted by parisheswhich have adopted New Patterns for Worship (1989).

The service contains a Bible reading, a creed, a collect and a confession with absolution; an authorised Eucharistic Prayer is included, as is theLord’s Prayer. All the ingredients of an authorisedservice are present. A parish’s PCC does need toformally adopt New Patterns for Worship. No furtherlegislation is required; permission is already grantedby Canons B2-B5.

Obviously I may be wrong as I am neither a canonlawyer nor a liturgist; I’d be happy to bow to higherauthority on the matter! I belong to a parish whichhas used New Patterns for Worship for many years.Worship leaders are accustomed to creating fresh andprayerful liturgy using the resources at our disposal.

Yours sincerely,Michael Speight (Blackburn Branch member;

St Cuthbert’s, Preston, Lancashire)

Correspondence

Inscription on the Prayer Book Cross, San Francisco

The Book ofCommon PrayerCross The Society’s overseas secretary, Sally Tipping, has

passed on a photograph of the Book of CommonPrayer Cross in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco

by Mr James Clayson. It marks the place where SirFrancis Drake’s chaplain used the 1559 Prayer Book forthe first time in North America. The Prayer Book of 1559was the third revision for the Anglican Church, and wasbrought about by the accession to the throne ofElizabeth I and the restoration of the Anglican Churchafter the six-year rule of the Catholic Queen Mary. It wasin use much longer than either of its predecessors—nearly 100 years, until the Long Parliament of 1645outlawed it as part of the Puritan Revolution. It served not only the England of Elizabeth I but herStuart successors as well. This was the first Prayer Bookused in America, brought there by the Jamestownsettlers and others in the early 1600s.

16

17

How I met the Prayer BookSociety

John Dearing

Ican trace my present involvement with the PBSback to an accident that befell me while onholiday in 1980, momentarily dislocating my

knee cap and causing me to suffer ligament injury. I was in the process of moving to Reading at the timeand one Sunday I came over in the afternoon toinspect some remedial work that had been done onthe house with a view to attending an eveningservice afterwards. I set off with the intention ofmaking for Greyfriars, which was then and still is theleading ‘evangelical’ church in the town. Since it hasnow gone rather charismatic and very un-BCP I canonly be grateful that my knee began to ache as Idescended the hill to the town centre. This drove meto seek repose at the nearer church of St Mary’s,Castle Street, a proprietary chapel, where I found asmall congregation of around twenty worshipping toBCP Evensong, or rather Evening Prayer. The folkthere made me very welcome and I have been thereever since.

With the exception of a monthly family serviceusing a CPAS booklet, the services at St Mary’s werepure BCP and my initial instinct was to work forchange to something like the mixture I had becomeaccustomed to in Maidenhead. Some furtherexperiments were undertaken but these came to anabrupt halt in 1984 when the Revd Allan Bowhillbecame the incumbent. Allan was a ConservativeEvangelical who declined to use anything other thanthe BCP and the AV and, as an ex-policeman,took a strong line with those who steppedout of line! So for me it was a case of ‘if youcan’t beat ’em, join ’em’ and in any case Iknew very well that the BCP was far superior.I again joined the Chapel Council andeventually served as Warden to both AllanBowhill and his successor, Dr David Samuel,who held similar views in regard to liturgy.

I became aware of the Prayer BookSociety in the late eighties and joined it priorto the 1991 Branch AGM. After two years Ibecame Branch Chairman but stepped downtwo years later. This occurred when St Mary’s,Castle Street withdrew its membership of theChurch of England, following a meeting Ihad chaired. I felt that it would be better for

the Branch to be led by someone who was ‘C of Eproper’ and John Service admirably stepped into myshoes and quickly grew out of them! I suppose onecould say that this epoch in my life represented a re-emergence of the nonconformist strain traced in myforbears, although I remain a baptised and confirmedAnglican, just one who regards himself as out ofcommunion with the Church of England episcopi—admitting perhaps a few honourable exceptions.

So following the vacillations of my youth the lastthirty years have been spent well and truly in thePrayer Book and for that I am truly grateful and feelI can echo the words of W. H. Auden in his ‘Doggerelby a Senior Citizen’:

The Book of Common Prayer we knew Was that of 1662:Though with-it sermons may be well,Liturgical reforms are hell.

I think, though, I’d prefer it without the with-itsermons!

John Dearing has been Secretary of the Oxford Branch since2000. This article is an extract from ‘Life inside and out of theBook of Common Prayer’, an address given to the Oxford Branchin 2014.

We are creatures of habit; many of us will sitin the same place in church week afterweek (and for many loyal C of E members

that means ‘near the back’). Mediaeval wills sometimes ask for burial by my

seat—of course, at that time they didn’t say ‘pew’.The Latin word normally used is scabellum, thoughby the end of the fifteenth century an increasingnumber of wills were being written in English, and the most common noun I’ve come across inthose is ‘stool’. In her will of 1509, Alice Attmere,who lived in the central Norwich parish of St JohnTimberhill, wanted to be buried in the church ‘by my stolys end’. People would leave money to the‘stolying of a church’. In 1459 the parishioners ofthe Suffolk parish of Sudbury All Saints were about torebuild the north aisle of their church, and that yearThomas Schorthose left £2 to the building work andalso 20 marks (£13 6s. 8d.—worth over 1,000 timesthat at today’s values) to provide stools in the northaisle of the church, to be made according to the formand fashion like those already in the south aisle. The church of Bedingham (Norfolk) received amodest rebuild at the start of the sixteenth century,and at the back of the nave you can still see a pewbearing the name of the donor, Simon Wase, who died in 1530.

So, many churches were fitted with seating by thetime of the Reformation, though few as splendid asthose at Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin (1: Norfolk).These were, of course, open benches. After theReformation, although whole benches were againused, a new fashion started up, providing the pewswith end doors, as at Lydbury North (2: Salop) orWorlingworth (3: Suffolk). From this it was but ashort move to the box pew. These of course providedprotection against draughts, very necessary in thedays of unheated churches. Box pews weresometimes fitted with fireplaces, like Bylaugh (4: Norfolk), dating here from 1809.

Sometimes the backs of the pews were raised, analternative being the provision of rails with curtains.Occasionally churches have tall canopied pews, likeStokesay (5: Salop). The pews frequently wereallocated to—and rented by—particular pewholders. We’ve all seen the brass card holders forcards with people’s names. It’s not just an Englishthing; you can find it in churches in France.

Manorial pews are a common feature. Thus atHoldgate (6: Salop), the manorial pew is opposite

PewsSimon Cotton

18

1

2

3

4

19

the pulpit and a spectacular example of this sort ofthing is the manorial pew at west end of the churchat Stapleford (7: Leics.)

Though the ages of the Georges, the longeighteenth century, have come to be synonymouswith churches full of box pews, often matched to athree-decker pulpit, like Warham St Mary Magdalene(8: Norfolk), this was not invariable. A spectacularexample of a church reseated with benches in 1756is provided by Shobdon (9: Herefs.), with itsbrilliant white interior and décor suggestive of anarchitect set loose with an icing syringe.

Very occasionally you will meet a church withthree ranks of seating, examples being Clodock (10: Herefs.) and Worthen (11: Salop). At the latter,

the central seats are simple benches, presumably formanual workers who did not ‘qualify’ for box pews.Mixed seating is often encountered, as at Wilby (12: Norfolk), which has box pews at the front andbenches at the back, all dating to c.1637.

At Kings Norton (13: Leics.), the western part ofthe church is filled with box pews, facing the pulpit,which remains in the original—but nowexceptionally rare—position along the central axis,facing west. The pulpit is flanked by small gates,giving entrance into the liturgical chancel, where thestalls are set up college-wise, facing north-south.

5

6

7

8

20

This all reflects the original liturgical arrangements.The congregation remained in the liturgical nave forMorning and Evening Prayer but on SacramentSundays passed into the chancel seating for HolyCommunion. This seating plan dates from c.1760,the church being rebuilt under a faculty of 1757.

You can have delightful minor surprises too. The little greenstone church of Hannah (14: Lincs.)was rebuilt in 1753, and comes with contemporarybox pews, altar rails and two-decker pulpit. An eighteenth-century genius for tidiness saw a tinyfont installed in the corner of one of the pews (15).

One last thought. The sexes were often segregatedin churches, both before the Reformation and afterit, north side against south side, a system that stillpersists today in the Basque country.

Dr Simon Cotton teaches chemistry at Birmingham Universityand is a published author in many fields including church

architecture and art.

9

10

1115

14

13

12

21

A thought on the Evening CollectAndrew Hawes

‘Lighten our darkness, Lord, we pray, and inthy great mercy defend us from all perilsand dangers of this night, for the love of thy

only Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.’ Light is the source of all vision, the creation of

light is the first act of our creator, he is pure light and‘in him is no darkness at all’. This light, which is oneessence of God, is present in all things and iscommunicated by God the Holy Spirit, ‘who searcheseverything—even the depths of man’s heart’. Thislight of the Holy Spirit is encountered in the depthof our being and if we desire true vision we mustmake the time to encounter this depth. This means

always making a fresh commitment to be quiet andstill, conscious of coming into and being open to thelight of the Holy Spirit. Where there is no quietreflection, there is no prayer or communion withGod, and that is when an individual begins to perishfrom the inside out. This life-giving light, whichtransfigures creation, radiates through our senses inall that is good and beautiful, in music, in the workof the artist, in the garden and landscape, in myriadways the light breaks upon us.

The Revd Canon Andrew Hawes is Editor of the PrayerBook Society Journal.

22

Book ReviewsEliza Filby,

God & Mrs Thatcher, Biteback Publishing Ltd,

hardback, 432 pages, ISBN 978-1849547857

When the author visited me and stayed for acouple of hours talking about the battlesin Parliament over the General Synod’s

plans to outlaw the Book of Common Prayer, I littlerealised that a substantial hardback book of well over400 pages was in that author’s mind. Dr Eliza Filbyhas not just written about the Prayer Book but haszeroed in on the most religious-minded PrimeMinister since William Gladstone. The older amongstus will remember Mrs Thatcher, on becomingPremier, quoting a prayer of St Francis of Assisi onthe steps of 10 Downing Street. Did the convictionpolitics of the Iron Lady satisfy a thirst for certaintyin an age of doubt?

Margaret Roberts was raised as a Methodist by ano-nonsense father in Grantham. She absorbed theredemptive power of Puritan family values—in hardwork, self-reliance, thrift, discipline and patriotism.People, she felt, must stand on their own two feet.

By the early fifties she was experiencing a moreelegant middle-class way of life and in December1952 she married Denis Thatcher in Wesley’s Chapelin the City of London. The wedding ceremony wasfull of the bride’s favourite music and so on, though(according to Denis Thatcher) the bride’s father,Alfred Roberts, thought the event ‘halfway to Rome’.The reception was held in Carlton Gardens at thehome of Conservative MP and architect AlfredBossom, whose surname Prime Minister WinstonChurchill thought was neither one thing nor theother. Before too long Margaret and Denis Thatcherembraced Anglicanism and the Church of England.During her premiership, for example, her weekendsat Chequers included worship at the nearby Anglicanchurch of St Peter & St Paul, Ellesborough and in laterlife at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea where LadyThatcher’s ashes and those of Sir Denis were buried.

The 1970s and 80s were years when the Churchwas at its ‘wettest’. It sought to be rid of the Book ofCommon Prayer and to install bishops who werevery far from traditional. Archbishop Runcie was notthrilled by our conflict with Argentina over theFalkland Islands. I would not go so far as Bernard, thefictional Prime Minister’s Private Secretary in the

TV comedy Yes, Prime Minister, who explained that thecandidates for appointment to vacant bishopricswere cards to be played as on offer for the PM toselect. They could be somewhat limited. ‘With theChurch,’ Bernard grins, ‘you’re usually given thechoice of a knave or a queen.’

Dr Filby recalls in her book the parts played byLord Sudeley, Lord Cranborne (now Marquess ofSalisbury), Frank Field MP, Enoch Powell MP andothers in defending the BCP in Parliament togetherwith the Private Members’ Bills promoted in bothHouses to challenge the synodical steamroller.

The Thatcher era was one in which the thenBishop of Southwark Mervyn Stockwood wasenchanted by a Romanian brand of Communism,David Jenkins was an outspoken and outrageousBishop of Durham and Archbishop Robert Runciewas meringue to her roast lamb.

The publication in the early sixties of Honest to Godwas bad enough but The Myth of God Incarnate waswholly outrageous. The Alternative Service Bookfollowed in the wake of a ridiculing of the traditionalPrayer Book. It was understandable that Mrs Thatcherdecided to confront Arthur Scargill’s NUM. Enoughwas enough.

There is not space in this review to detail theChurch/State relationship of the seventies andeighties but Dr Filby tackles it very fully andinterestingly. The author of this book is neither pro-Labour nor pro-Conservative but a thoroughly‘switched on’ and objective historian.

Anthony Kilmister

23

A High Anglican Identity Selected Writings of the Revd Anthony Christian,

a non-conforming Anglican priest

Edited by Dr Linda Christian. Paperback. FromDr Linda Christian, The Oaks, High Street, PevenseyBN24 5LE. Guide price £5, additional contributionsaccepted. All proceeds to the St Nicholas ChurchRestoration Fund.

This is a beautifully produced little bookthrough which one may move enjoyably andrapidly. It consists of a collection of writings of

a rural parish priest edited and elucidated by hiswidow. The high Anglican credentials of the RevdTony Christian (who was Vicar of St NicholasPevensey) shine through its pages and giveexpression to the views of that part of the Church ofEngland which it has, in recent years, beenunfashionable to promote. Yet, herein lies theresiduum of much of the tradition, liturgicalexcellence and orthodoxy of the Church. This bookmay stir consciences. What shines through is thesupremacy of the importance of the parish priest firstand foremost as a priest, not as a social worker, albeitthat might come subordinately.

This book comprises four sermons, six letterswritten over the years 1990-2009, two essays (onAtonement and The Resurrection) a section on theBook of Common Prayer and Thomas Cranmer andfinally a section on policy-making in the currentChurch of England. Prayer Book enthusiasts will bedelighted by some of the phraseology applied toalready-discussed themes: ‘Available for use does notmean in use’; ‘wanton abandonment of a preciousendowment akin to the Church demolishingCathedrals in favour of civic centres’; ‘the modernview is that clergy are to be instructed by the laityand not the other way round’. Of Cranmer heremarks that he would not thank us for a purelyascetic appreciation of his work and also how muchof it is a serious source of religious nourishment. The gem for me, however, which epitomises thebook, begins, ‘Have you ever wondered what itwould be like to live in Christian England again?’ All but the most ardent modernisers will take muchfrom this book. It has a foreword by Bishop NicholasReade to whom I am grateful for his suggestion to itseditor that I should review it.

Neil Inkley

24

BlackburnThe Blackburn Diocese held its30th Annual Festival at theCathedral on 25th April, St Mark’s Day. There were 90communicants at the Eucharistcelebrated by the Ven. JohnHawley, Bishop of Blackburn. The preacher was the Revd DrMike Kirby, whose sermonincluded an analytical evaluationof the use of St Mark’s Gospel inthe Book of Common Prayer. Afterlunch, our speaker was PamRhodes, presenter of BBC TV’s Songsof Praise. Her subject was Hymnsand Hearts, which proved to be amasterpiece in turning a talk intoan interactive occasion. BBC RadioLancashire interviewed Pam andNeil Inkley (Branch Secretary) andrecorded the conclusion of theservice, all of which was put outtwice in the Sunday broadcasts thatweekend. Evensong concluded theday. Both services were superbly

sung by Octavius under thedirection of David Scott-Thomas.In spite of some enforced absencesthere were six robed clergy at eachservice, including the Bishop ofBurnley at Evensong.

ExeterBy kind invitation of the Revd RodCorke and Branch membersMorton and Joan Dunn, ChoralEvensong and the AccessionService took place at St MaryMagdalene Church, Taunton onSunday, 8th February. Hymns ‘O Praise ye the Lord’, ‘All myhope on God is founded’, ‘Nowthank we all our God’ and theanthem ‘My Lord and Saviour ismy Song’ were all sung beautifullyby the choir. A fitting sermon forthe occasion was preached by theRevd Canon Eric Woods DL, Vicarof Sherborne and a former PBSTrustee. Canon Woods remindedus of The Queen’s strong faith and

unstinting duty to the nationthroughout her reign andillustrated this with promises TheQueen herself had made whenaddressing the nation andCommonwealth.

London and SouthwarkOn 2nd February people fromacross the dioceses of London andSouthwark gathered at St Stephen’s,Lewisham for a service of ChoralEvensong for the Feast of Candle-mas. The service was conducted bythe parish priest Fr Philip Corbett(a former Trustee of the PrayerBook Society). The choir sangmusic by Byrd and Gibbons. AfterEvensong the gatheredcongregation was addressed byMiss Prudence Dailey, Chairman ofthe Prayer Book Society. MissDailey encouraged those gatheredto love the beauty of the Book ofCommon Prayer because of what itsaid about our lives as Christians.

News from the Branches

The service at St Stephen’s, Lewisham

OxfordThe Branch’s annual comm-emoration of the martyrdom ofArchbishop Thomas Cranmer tookplace on Saturday, 21st March,being the 459th anniversary of hisdeath. A service of Matins was heldin the church of St Michael-at-the-North-Gate, Oxford, by kindpermission of the Rector, the VeryRevd Bob Wilkes, who welcomedthe congregation. The service wasconducted by Branch President theRevd Dr Roger Beckwith and thepreacher was the Revd PeterMolloy, a Canadian visitor, whobrought greetings from theCanadian Prayer Book Society.

After the service, according tocustom, a wreath was laid at theMartyrs’ Memorial in St Giles byBranch Chairman Geoffrey Horne.The memorial commemorates thethree Oxford martyrs, Ridley,Latimer and Cranmer. On the waythither the congregation paused atthe site of the martyrdom in BroadStreet, where Dr Beckwith read ashort account of the event by aneye-witness.

Following the formal cere-monies, nineteen members andguests partook of the annualcommemorative lunch at the MitreInn. As usual this was a pleasantsocial occasion at the end of asolemn event.

SalisburyThe event this year took place on12th March at Sherborne Abbeyfor a special said Holy Comm-union where the service wascelebrated by the Vicar ofSherborne, the Revd Canon EricWoods DL. Nearly 80 membersand local friends took Comm-union. The service was followed byan excellent three-course lunch atthe Digby Memorial Church Hallnear the abbey. Lunch for 60members, provided by a firm ofTrowbridge caterers who haveserved the Branch loyally in thepast, was enthusiastically received.It is hoped to make this HolyCommunion service and lunch anannual spring event.

Some 55 members attended theSalisbury Branch AGM which washeld at Dinton Village Hall onSaturday, 25th April 2015. The HonDiana Makgill CVO, Branch

President, made a presentation tothe retiring Chairman, Mr BarrieWaterfall, thanking him fordevoting so much time to the job,made evident in the success ofsuch events as the garden partyand the services at SalisburyCathedral and Sherborne Abbey,where attendance was in excess of70.

Mr Ian Woodhead then made apresentation to two retiringcommittee members, Mrs JaneSmith and Mr Derek Barnes, whobetween them had given twentyyears of unstinting service to the

The Revd Dr Roger Beckwith, theRevd Peter Molloy and GeoffreyHorne outside the church of St-

Michael-at-the-North-Gate, Oxford

The procession to the Cranmer memorial, Oxford

Mrs Alison Bennett running thebookstall at a Salisbury Branch

meeting

25

Branch and the Society. MrWoodhead said it was to peoplelike this that the Society owes somuch.

Following the formal part ofthe meeting the Revd Canon EricWoods DL, Vicar of Sherborne,then gave a talk in his inimitablefashion entitled ‘Who’s comingfrom where? Different per-spectives on the EnglishReformation’.

After a lively question time teawas taken, followed by Evensongconducted by Canon Woods at StMary’s Parish Church, Dinton.

TruroThe Truro Branch AGM was heldon Sunday, 10th May at Lis Escop,Feock, by kind permission of theBishop of Truro. The meeting oftwenty-three members waschaired by the Revd Canon PatRobson. All the officers were re-elected to stand for the comingyear and members voted to remit£1,000 to HQ. After the businesspart of the day was over, anexhilarating talk entitled ‘TheBook of Common Prayer and theAnglican Character’ was given bythe Dean of Truro, the RevdRoger Bush, and after somevery searching quest-ions from the members ascrumptious tea was servedin the Bishop’s diningroom. The weather being alittle on the chilly side,walking in the garden wasabandoned. The afternoonconcluded with Evensongconducted by the RevdJeremy Thorold, Bishop’sChaplain.

26

Mr Neil Skelton purchasing a disc from Mrs Alison Bennett at the Salisbury Branch bookstall

27

Bath and WellsWednesday, 22nd July, HolyCommunion at 11.30 a.m. for theFeast of St Mary Magdalene at theChurch of St Mary Magdalene,Langridge, near Bath, sung by theHarmonia Singers. After lunch, theRevd Dr George Westhaver,Principal of Pusey House, will talkabout the life and work of JohnKeble.

The Musica Deo Sacra Festival atTewkesbury will start on Tuesday, 28th July with Festal Eucharist(1928) at 11.00 a.m. in the abbeyand then a talk in Abbey House byCanon Paul Williams on thetradition of Marian devotion.Other events in the festival willinclude an afternoon lecture inCheltenham College Chapel onSaturday, 1st August by Prof.Diarmaid MacCulloch on popularreactions to the Reformation.

Our AGM will be held onTuesday, 29th September tocoincide with a social event forMichaelmas at Hauser and Wirth,Bruton. Tea will coincide with atalk by Fr Robert Webb on hisexperiences as a peripateticchaplain.

On Sunday, 15th November wevisit the Temple Church in Londonfor Choral Matins at 11.15 a.m.After lunch, the Revd RobinGriffith-Jones, Master of theTemple, will give a guided tour ofthe church.ExeterSaturday, 20th June, Branch AGMat the Wickham Hall, AshburtonRd, Bovey Tracey at 2.00 p.m. The speaker will be the Rt RevdRobert Atwell, Bishop of Exeter,who will be speaking on ‘Thecontinuing value of the Book ofCommon Prayer in the Church’.Miss Prudence Dailey, PBS Chair-

man, will also be attending and isto give a short talk. Afternoon Teawill be served in the hall, followedby Choral Evensong sung by thechoir of St Michael’s Church,Mount Dinham, Exeter, at St John’sChurch (opposite the hall) bykind permission of the Revd GregStanton. PBS Bookstall available.Everyone welcome.

Saturday, 11th July, ChoralEvensong at St James’ Church,Avonwick, South Brent at 3.00p.m., conducted by BranchChairman the Revd Preb PaulHancock. Afternoon Tea willfollow at Black Hall, Avonwick bykind invitation of Mrs MarigoldSeager-Berry. Everyone welcome.

SalisburySaturday, 20th June, 2.15 p.m. atthe village hall, Toller Porcorum,speaker Caroline Chartres, SeniorCommissioning Editor for Bloom-sbury Books. Tea to be followed byEvensong at St Basil’s Church,Toller Fratrum.

Saturday, 15th August, 2.30p.m., Summer Garden Party atClouds Lodge, East Knoyle,followed by Evensong at St Mary’s,East Knoyle.

Saturday, 3rd October, 2.15 p.m.at the village hall, Silton, speakerthe Revd Dr Daniel Newman. Teafollowed by Evensong at StNicholas, Silton.

Saturday, 28th November,11.15 a.m., Advent Service at St Catherine’s, Netherhampton,near Salisbury, conducted by thevicar, the Revd Mark Woods.Lunch at the Rose and CrownHotel, Harnham.

28

ADVERTISING IN THE JOURNALMay I take this opportunity to thank all those readers who have respondedto the adverts in our Journal over the past two years?

This makes my job that much easier when I approach the advertiser for asecond time asking him or her to continue with us for another year. If youhave got a return on your investment you know that you have made acorrect choice. This is reflected in comments made to me by advertisers.

If readers have relatives and friends who run businesses, especially those inthe holiday trade, and who you would think would profit by advertisingwith us, please contact me through my e-mail address,ian.woodhead@pbs.org.uk, or on 01380 870384.

Ian WoodheadAdvertising and Marketing

Forthcoming Events

Are you proud of your countryand her glorious history?

Then why not become a member ofThe Royal Society of St George.

Membership provides an opportunityto take part in our determination to

honour England and Englishness, andto celebrate our nation and its

achievements.

The Aims of Our Society:- To respect the Monarchy; Duty to our Sovereign and our Country- The cause of England and EnglishnessIn accordance with our Constitution, the Objects of the Society are:1. To foster the love of England and to strengthen England and the Commonwealth by spreading the knowledge

of English history, traditions and ideals.2. To keep fresh the memory of those, in all walks of life, who have served England or the Commonwealth in the

past in order to inspire leadership in the future.3. To combat all activities likely to undermine the strength of England or the Commonwealth.4. To further English interests everywhere to ensure that St. George’s Day is properly celebrated and to provide

focal points the world over where English men and woman may gather together.

For more information or a brochure on the Society, please contact us at Head Office: Address: The Royal Society of St George, Enterprise House, 10 Church Hill, Loughton, Essex IG10 1LA, England Telephone: 020 3225 5011 - Fax: 020 8508 4356 - Email: info@royalsocietyofstgeorge.com - Website: www.royalsocietyofstgeorge.com Facebook page–www.facebook.com/RoyalSocietyofStGeorge -Twitter account- @RSStGeorge - LinkedIn– The Royal Society of St George Official Group

Subscriptions: Full UK Individual Membership: £25.00 p.a - Full UK Joint Membership: £35.00 p.a – Other memberships are available.For your subscription you will receive a membership pack with a unique RSStG badge, membership card, car sticker, welcome letter from our Chairman,information on the Society, including members’ benefits, St George’s Day petition form and two previous issues of our Journal. Thereafter you will receive 3 copiesof our Journal per year, updates via e-mail and you can become involved in the many events and activities that are held around the country.

Membership Application FormName:……………………....................................…………..............................................................…….Email:…………….…........................…………….........

Address:……………………………….........................................................................................................................……………………………….......................

..........................................................................................................................................Postcode:………...............…………………Tel no:…................…..........

Where did you hear about the Society:…………………………...................................…………………...

I / We wish to further the Aims and Objectives of the Society (as printed in the ‘St George For England’ Journal) and now apply for membership of

The Royal Society of St. George. Signature:……..………………..…………………………..…... Date:...........……………………

Our Society is non-political, non-racist, non-sectarian and membership is open to all those who agree with our aims and objectives.

29

Branch Contacts• BATH & WELLS:

Mr Ian Girvan, 59 Kempthorne Lane,Bath BA2 5DX Tel: 01225 830663 iangirvan@me.com

• BIRMINGHAM:Mrs Joy Burns, 46 Underwood Road,Handsworth Wood, BirminghamB20 1JSTel: 0121 686 5565jaybee46@btinternet.com

• BLACKBURN:Mr Neil Inkley, 6 Knot Lane, Walton-le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire PR5 4BQTel: 01772 821676Fax: 01772 259340

• BRISTOL:Mr Roger Tucker, 18 SpringfieldGrove, Westbury Park, Bristol BS67XQ Tel: 0117 9248629 email: rogertucker@live.co.ukMembership Secretary: Mrs JoyceMorris, 29 St John’s Road, Clifton,Bristol BS8 2HD

• CANTERBURY:Mr Derek Tee, 111 Rough CommonRoad, Canterbury, CT2 9DAPh: 01227 463903 derektee@canterbury50.fsnet.co.uk

• CARLISLE:Secretary: Mrs Joy Budden, ArthuretHouse, Longtown CA6 5SJTel: 01228 792263jobudsignofthefish@yahoo.co.uk Membership Secretary: Mrs KateEast, 10 Fernwood Drive, KendalLA9 5BUTel: 01539 725055

• CHELMSFORD:Mrs Susan Brazier, 16 LongshotsClose, Broomfield, Chelmsford, CM17DX

• CHESTER:Mr J. Baldwin, Rosalie Farm, ChurchMinshull, Nantwich, Cheshire CW56EFTel: 01270 528487mdsc187@aol.com

• CHICHESTER:Mrs Valerie Dane, 225 ChichesterRoad, Bognor Regis PO21 5AQTel: 01243 827330valerie.225@btinternet.comChairman: The Revd Dr MichaelBrydon, The Rectory, Church Lane,Catsfield, Battle TN33 9DRmbrydon86@btinternet.com

• COVENTRY:Mr Peter Bolton, 19 Kineton Road,Wellesbourne, Warwickshire CV359NETel: 01789 840814peterandrosalindbolton@hotmail.com

• DERBY:Please contact the office, CopyholdFarm

• DURHAM:Mrs Rosemary Hall, 23 BeattyAvenue, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE2

3QNTel: 0191 285 7534hallrosyhall@aol.com

• ELY:Mr P. K. C. White, The OrchardHouse, 12 Thrift’s Walk, OldChesterton, Cambridge CB4 1NRTel: 01223 324176pkcwhite@waitrose.com

• EXETER:Mrs Esme Heath, Brookfield,Stokenham, Kingsbridge, DevonTQ7 2SLTel: 01548 580615esme.heath@sky.com

• GLOUCESTER:Miss S.M. Emson, 38 GloucesterRoad, Stratton, Cirencester GL7 2JYTel: 01285 654591susanemson@gmail.com

• GUILDFORD:Dr John Verity, 65 Chart Lane,Reigate RH2 7EATel: 01737 210792

• HEREFORD:Mr Stephen Evans, 14 Raven Lane,Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1BWTel: 01584 873436Mobile: 07920 200619

• LEICESTER:Mrs S. Packe-Drury-Lowe, 35 GreenLane, Seagrave, Loughborough LE127LUTel: 01509 815262ritaphillips@gmail.com

• LICHFIELD:Mr D. Doggett, Grassendale, 5 ParkDrive, Oswestry, Shropshire SY111BNTel: 01691 652902

• LINCOLN:Mrs Clio Perraton-Williams, PyrusHouse, 12 Spital Terrace,Gainsborough DN21 2HETel: 01673 818109clio@perraton-williams.com

• LIVERPOOL:Ms Dianne Rothwell, 7 Gorsey Lane,Warrington WA1 3PTelfmag@btinternet.comTel: 01925 632974 (eve)

• LONDON & SOUTHWARK: Mr Paul Meitner, c/o the PBS office,Copyhold Farmpaul.meitner@uk.pwc.comTel: 020 7212 6394

• MANCHESTER:Please contact the office, CopyholdFarm

• NEWCASTLE:Mrs Rosemary Hall, 23 BeattyAvenue, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE23QNTel: 0191 285 7534hallrosyhall@aol.com

• NORWICH:Mrs A. Wilson, The Old Rectory,Burston Road, Dickleburgh, Diss,Norfolk IP21 4NNTel: 01379 740561

• OXFORD:Mr J. B. Dearing, 27 Sherman Road,Reading, Berkshire RG1 2PJTel: 0118 958 0377gpwild@btconnect.com

• PETERBOROUGH:Mrs M. Stewart, The Sycamores, 3Oakham Road, Whissendine, RutlandLE15 7HATel: 01664 474353mary.stewart@decomplexity.com

• PORTSMOUTH: Please seeWinchester & Portsmouth

• ROCHESTER:Mr G. Comer, 102 MarlboroughCrescent, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 2HRTel: 01732 461462joannacomer@btinternet.com

• ST ALBANS:Dr Matthew A Clarke 23B Faraday Road, StevenageSG2 0BHTel: 07866 430604austin81clarke@gmail.com

• ST EDMUNDSBURY & IPSWICH:Mr Anthony C. Desch, 4 Byfield Way,Bury St Edmunds IP33 2SNTel: 01284 755355anthonycdesch@gmail.com

• SALISBURY:Mrs Lucy Pearson, 10 Briar Close,Wyke, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 4SSTel: 01747 825392lucypearson@waitrose.com

• SHEFFIELD:Miss Rosemary Littlewood, RailwayHouse, Hazlehead, Sheffield S36 4HJTel: 01226 764092rowood@waitrose.com

• SODOR & MAN:Mrs Clare Faulds, The Lynague,German, Isle of Man IM5 2AQfaulds.clare@gmail.comTel: 01624 842045

• SOUTHWARK:Please see London & Southwark

• SOUTHWELL & NOTTINGHAM: Mr A.F. Sunman, 1 Lunn Lane, SouthCollingham, Newark NG23 7LPTel: 01636 893975adriansunman@lineone.net

• TRURO:Mr J. St Brioc Hooper, 1 TregarneTerrace, St Austell PL25 4BETel: 01726 76382j.stbrioc@btinternet.com

• WEST YORKSHIRE & THE DALES(BRADFORD)Please contact the office, CopyholdFarm

• WEST YORKSHIRE & THE DALES(RIPON & LEEDS)Mr J. R. Wimpress, Bishopton GroveHouse, Bishopton, Ripon HG4 2QLTel: 01765 600888bgh@ripon.org

• WEST YORKSHIRE & THE DALES(WAKEFIELD)The Revd Philip Reynolds, St Aidan’sVicarage, Radcliffe Street,

Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield HD89AFTel: 01484 863232life.draw@virgin.net

• WINCHESTER & PORTSMOUTH:Mrs Nikki Sales, 19 Heath RoadSouth, Locks Heath, SouthamptonSO31 6SJTel: 01489 570899grass.green@virgin.net

• WORCESTER:Mr John Comins, The Old Rectory,Birlingham, Nr Pershore WR10 3ABTel: 01386 750292john_comins@yahoo.co.uk

• YORK:Mr R. A. Harding, 5 Lime Avenue,Stockton Lane, York YO31 1BTTel: 01904 423347eboraco@talktalk.net

• NORTH WALES:The Revd Neil Fairlamb, 5 Tros-yr-afon, Beaumaris, Anglesey LL58 8BNTel: 01248 811402rheithor@spamarrest.com

• SOUTH WALES:Dr J. H. E. Baker, 56 Bridge Street,Llandaff CF5 2YNTel: 0292 057 8091

• CHANNEL ISLANDS: Please seeWinchester & Portsmouth

• OVERSEAS MEMBERS:Mrs Sally Tipping, Woodland CrossCottage, Woodland Head, Yeoford,Crediton, Devon EX17 5HEsally631@btinternet.com

AFFILIATED BRANCHES• IRELAND: Please contact the office,

Copyhold Farm• SOUTH AFRICA: Please contact the

office, Copyhold Farm

SISTER SOCIETIES• AUSTRALIA:

Miss Margaret Steel, 9/63 O'SullivanRoad, Rose Bay, NSW 2029mste8801@bigpond.net.auMr F. Ford, PO Box 2, Heidelberg,Victoria, 3084, AustraliaMrs Joan Blanchard, 96 DevereuxRoad, Beaumont, South Australia,5066, Australia

• CANADA:The Prayer Book Society of Canada,P.O. Box 38060, 1430 Prince ofWales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C3Y7, Canada www.prayerbook.ca

• SCOTLAND:Mr J. C. Lord, 11 Melrose Gardens,Glasgow G20 6RBTel: 0141 946 5045jcl30@btinternet.com

• UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:The Prayer Book Society, P.O. Box 137Jenkintown, PA 19046-0137, USA www.pbsusa.org

30