Appointments

[Guest Patrick Coleman]

Speaking as someone who spent 40 yars in the Civil Service, I doubt whether the Church of Wales can come up with anything that is any worse than some of the time and money wasting training that I have experienced! Nearly all imported from the .....

 

Malcolm

 

The Civil Service, Education and other public services tend to copy failed US business theory and strategy about 10 years after they have been proved futile; the Church waits another 10 years and does the same...

[MusingMuso]

The Civil Service, Education and other public services tend to copy failed US business theory and strategy about 10 years after they have been proved futile; the Church waits another 10 years and does the same...

 

===========================

 

 

The Harvard Business School remains one of the truly great institutions in terms of business theory and strategy. It is rather further up the pecking order than the LSE.

 

That said, great business people tend to be born rather than made, as Sir Richard Branson and Bill Gates amnply demonstrate.

 

The Civil Service, Education and other public services are more influenced by Whitehall mandarins and those who build empires; creating and effecting legislation which makes them appear indespensible.

 

Without land and property, the churches would have been bankrupt decades ago. American churches are much more successful and financially independent, by and large.

 

Sorry to set the record straight.

 

MM

[AJJ]

Similar sentiments from one who spent 21 years in state eduaction...

 

Don't get me going too................

 

A

[Guest Patrick Coleman]

Without land and property, the churches would have been bankrupt decades ago. American churches are much more successful and financially independent, by and large.

 

Sorry to set the record straight.

 

MM

 

With decent management, the churches would not be currently facing near bankruptcy. Sorry to be realistic...

[wolsey]

Incidentally...his parents are both FRCOs - Father (Norman) is at St George's Cathedral and a superb player, Southwark and Mother (Marilyn) a well known organist/teacher in South London.

This got me thinking (having an hour or so to spare in lazy August). There are quite a few organists - amateur and professional - whose offspring have also taken up the instrument; France saw Albert Alain and Albert Dupré. Some have achieved great eminence, while others practise their art out of the limelight.

 

Can anyone add to this 21st century list? Apologies in advance for errors.

 

Sarah Baldock (Stephen)

Jennifer Bate (H A)

Stephen and Nicholas Cleobury (John)

Timothy Harper (Norman and Marilyn)

Andrew Lumsden (David)

Andrew Nethsingha (Lucian)

Benjamin Nicholas (Michael)

Andrew Parnell (Frederick)

Adrian Partington (Kendrick)

Nicholas Robinson (Christopher)

Jonathan Vaughn (Rodney)

[MusingMuso]

With decent management, the churches would not be currently facing near bankruptcy. Sorry to be realistic...

 

 

===========================

 

If churches are empty, made redundant, then knocked down and the land sold, they obviously do not go bankrupt. However, it's a kind of asset stripping which has been going on all, or most of my life. That may benefit the church-commissioners in their duty to pay stipends, pensions and all the other things associated with managing a large organisation such as the C of E,

but it is a boost to income which is distinctly finite, and the era of closing churches and selling the land, (perhaps leasing the land in some cases), must be drawing to an end, judging by the vast number of churches closed in the past 40 years.

 

I do not know the ins and outs of church investments, or indeed the sources of all church revenue, but it doesn't matter. It would, I think, be safe to suggest that the return on investments will be well down, (think BP) and income from land (especially commercial land) much reduced or at best static, with inflation riding relatively high and increasing the cost base. If the asset base is shrinking and revenues are down, the C of E is heading south financially. Add to this the drop in revenues once generated by weddings and funerals, and it gets worse.

 

Whether we like it or not, the churches are businesses. They have a product and hope to sell it by generating a market. That is costly and time consuming, and if the customers don't come through the doors, you're going out of business, even if you think you have best product the world has ever seen.

 

Good management you say?

 

Good management would call all churches to account, (quite literally), and there would be a cull on quite a grand scale, with the cathedrals becoming theme parks and concert halls. (That sounds vaguely familiar).

 

On the other hand, you could have a different style of management, which sought to package the product more effectively and go for the hard sell approach. (That also sounds familiar).

 

Perhaps the best style of management is that which asks what has gone wrong, and then tries to put it right.

 

I'm sure much the same applies to other denominations, because dwindling numbers seem to have blighted just about every church I know. People are disinterested in church and church matters, and there may be very good reasons for it.

 

MM

[Guest Patrick Coleman]

Good management you say?

 

MM

 

I do say. My original premise was that for many years the churches have been wedded to inappropriate management theories which were already discredited and out-of-date. I am not convinced that the US patterns which you seem to praise would help even if we were to use to up-to-date ones, because to my little mind any management success which exists in the US is down to sheer scale and exploitation of a resource base that goes a long way beyond even the huge natural resources available within the US (look at their sinful balance of payments...)

 

I also believe that applying management theory to the Gospel (for that is why the Church exists) is to perpetuate a category mistake. People enter into a relationship with God through Jesus; they want somewhere they can meet; they want to make that place fit for worship. The strategies which have been (and still are) used are based on selling a product (a belief system or a worship experience) which is secondary to the real purpose of the Church. Why do we witness such massive growth in churches in Mozambique (chosen because I have first-hand experience of that place) when there are so few resources? At least part of the answer is that there are so few distractions from the core purpose of the Church. Please do not make the common error of thinking that I downplay the importance of fine buildings and worship - I am simply saying that they only work when they serve the purpose for which they exist rather than becoming the purpose in themselves.

 

Why is this worth arguing out on an organbuilder's forum? Because I think the organ world is also casting about looking for its real purpose and identity and is in danger of losing both by following up dead end theories. Organ building in the UK flourished when organs were experienced as a need in churches small and large and in concert venues before the advent of broadcasting. Builders were flexible enough to supply cheaper off-the-shelf solutions. This role has now largely been occupied by the electronic manufacturers, and the only firms that flourish have focused on high-rent, high-profile work that pays very well. This leaves those of us who want a pipe organ, yet have few resources, with even fewer choices as to a way ahead. I don't think this strategy will lead to a bright future for British organ building, and I don't think a similar strategy will yield a bright future for the Church either.

[Contrabombarde]

I also believe that applying management theory to the Gospel (for that is why the Church exists) is to perpetuate a category mistake. People enter into a relationship with God through Jesus; they want somewhere they can meet; they want to make that place fit for worship. The strategies which have been (and still are) used are based on selling a product (a belief system or a worship experience) which is secondary to the real purpose of the Church. Why do we witness such massive growth in churches in Mozambique (chosen because I have first-hand experience of that place) when there are so few resources? At least part of the answer is that there are so few distractions from the core purpose of the Church. Please do not make the common error of thinking that I downplay the importance of fine buildings and worship - I am simply saying that they only work when they serve the purpose for which they exist rather than becoming the purpose in themselves.

 

And a sonorous Amen to that!

 

Back in the 1940s, writing from prison Bonhoeffer mused whether the Church would do best to shed all her assets and as it were, start afresh with nothing. When my former church in Birmingham lost her roof in the 2005 tornado, we moved into the school hall, prompting the Diocesan officer to suggest that maybe we should make that a permament arrangement, since in his experience every church building that had had to close, due say to arson, had experienced significant growth once the congregation lost the building they were familiar with and moved into a "neutral" building that was less threatening to, and felt more "owned" by, the local community. And having spent the past three years working in a war-torn part of central Africa and having missionary friends in Mozambique it's clear that you don't need buildings to have phenomenal church growth.

 

Of course, if you experience church growth, there comes a point when you start to need to go beyond hiring a hall one morning a week, and you fundraise and you buy a building, then furnish it, and become established, and in so doing start to become inflexible by virtue of the building's limitations. The town of Shrewsbury is a classic example - several very fine and quite enormous town centre churches (with fine organs!), and an incredible sense of participating in a tradition of continuous worship for nearly a thousand years if you attend an Abbey Sunday service. Yet in building a Norman abbey that is robust enough to survive another thousand years, but unable to adapt to the demographics of the age, it does store up problems in that congregations inevitably find their mission risks becoming more to preserve these magnificent buildings for the next generation than what it should be - using the buildings as a resource to further spread the Gospel.

 

Thus to address Patrick's concern about British organ building losing its way, perhaps, dare I suggest (knowing that there are plenty of theological heavyweights lurking on the Forum), the rehabilitation of fine old organs in new premises where they will be loved, used and maintained, potentially has elements of Biblical restoration. That's to say, if we want a pipe organ but lack the resources to commission a fine instrument from new (and perhaps even if we have those resources), is there more we can or should do to fine new homes and give new life to otherwise redundant organs?

 

In so doing we could be acting out a metaphor for the new spiritual life that our churches are in the business of encouraging.

[Malcolm Kemp]

Patrick - as usual - is quite right. Ultimately the church is not there to be run as a business; it is there to care about people, meet them where (whoever and whatever) they are, love them and lead them to the experience of God. There is no doubt that beautiful buildings, beautiful music and beautiful liturgy can help enormously but they also need the experience of loving, caring people - lay and ordained.

 

The Diocese in which I live - in the wealthy, commuter land of south east England - very openly claims to be virtually bankrupt and cutting back at an alarming rate on full time, paid clergy. The Deanery in which I live, and its neighbouring Deanery, a few years ago, conducted a very time consuming and expensive review which has left us all in a worse state than we were before they started. There are many reasons why, locally, we are in such a mess and these are some of them :

* 35 years of diocesan bishops putting clergy into jobs for which they were totally unsuited

* clergy imposing on congregations levels of churchmanship which were inappropriate for that church and parish

* lack of forward planning by PCCs

* putting business needs before people needs

* having the church run by people experienced in finance but not in pastoral issues.

* lack of mission and outreach in many places

 

A few years ago I attended a parish meeting at a very famous local church whose parish was being enlarged and which was having residential housing in its parish for the first time in 40 years. There was a lot of enthusiastic and well intentioned talk about producing leaflets to give people when they came into the church. When I suggested to the meeting that perhaps there was a need to go out to the people first, in order to encourage them to come in, people seemed to think I was mad and talking nonsense.

 

Please don't get me going on this one or I shall run the risk of getting very angry and very rude.

 

Malcolm

[DHM]

Just saw this on another list:

 

"The Dean is delighted to announce (subject to the completion of legal formalities) the appointment of Christopher Johns as the Director of Music of Leicester Cathedral to succeed Jonathan Gregory who leaves the cathedral in September 2010.

 

Christopher is currently Choral Director in the Diocese of Leeds (based at Leeds Cathedral), Conductor of Tees Valley Youth Orchestra, and Deputy Chorus Master of Leeds Philharmonic Society.

 

Christopher began his musical career as a chorister at Derby Cathedral. He was a Choral Exhibitioner at Jesus College, Cambridge (where he read Modern and Mediaeval Languages and then completed an M.Phil in Linguistics) and then spent five years living in Germany, first as Assistant Choirmaster at Osnabrück Cathedral and then as a student of Church Music in Düsseldorf. He returned to the UK in 2003 to study for a Ph.D. in Linguistics at Durham (where he was Cathedral Organ Scholar and Conductor of the University Orchestra).

 

Since 2006 he has been part of the team leading the Schools' Singing Programme in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds, and has had particular responsibility for Bradford Boys' Choir, recruited from a range of primary and secondary schools across Bradford. He also plays for many of the choral services at Leeds Cathedral. He remains active as a singer, both as a soloist and as a member of St Peter's Singers, a mixed choir based at Leeds Parish Church.

 

Chris will be working part time with the cathedral team (led by Simon Headley as Acting Director) through the autumn as he hands over his Yorkshire responsibilities, and joins us full time in January 2011. Those of us who have met Chris know that he is a person of musical energy and Christian commitment. We look forward very much to welcoming him back to the Midlands .

 

Vivienne Faull

August 2010"

[MusingMuso]

I do say. My original premise was that for many years the churches have been wedded to inappropriate management theories which were already discredited and out-of-date. I am not convinced that the US patterns which you seem to praise would help even if we were to use to up-to-date ones, because to my little mind any management success which exists in the US is down to sheer scale and exploitation of a resource base that goes a long way beyond even the huge natural resources available within the US (look at their sinful balance of payments...) Etc.......

 

 

==================================

 

 

I blame the RC church and the Medici family myself, but whether we like it or not, the churches ARE massive investors and major financial players. In 2007, the C of E had major cash investments of around £5 billion; with diverse interests in oil exploration, mining, retail consortiums and the supermarkets. The Church Commissioners have also been alarmingly involved in hedge funds and short-selling; thus inviting criticism from both of the senior Archbishops in the process!

 

I’m not quite sure what Patrick means by “inappropriate management theories which were already discredited and out-of-date,” because many of the investment practices are distinctly “modern,” in the sense that the machinery of global investment (rather than national or regional investment), is the product of banking de-regulation and the dramatically increased diversity of international financial services, which the banks started to offer after circa.1980 or so. It marked the start of global speculation rather than global investment, and it has casued havoc.

 

Patrick also stated, “I am not convinced that the US patterns which you seem to praise would help.”

 

Actually,I don’t recall praising them at all. I was merely pointing out that the Harvard Business School is among the best in the world, and covers the study and application of all economic and business models; for better or for worse. You’d be alarmed if you knew just how little people know about finance; even when they head international corporations; the Stock Markets the best roulette wheels ever devised. It’s all far removed from wheat and pork-bellies, and therein lays the problem, because no-one properly understands it.

 

On an organ-forum we may seem to be way of track, but actually we’re not, because there is an interesting link between financial theory and organ-building. A former Head of Economics at Chicago University, originally from Hungary, once wrote that his grandfather had been an organ-builder in the pre-communist era. In an article about economics, he told of the love the local people had for him and the great regard in which he was held by his workmen. When the communists took over, (an interesting economic theory of course), the poor man was imprisoned for being a “capitalist,” and his tools were confiscated and handed over to “the people.”

 

The jist of his argument, (in what is quite a large paper), is that global speculation relies on money being seen as a commodity, to be traded as if it were a real product. He argued, (very sensibly I thought), that money could never safely be detached from the reality of resources, industry and the lives of ordinary people, and that to do so, was extremely dangerous.

Of course, the same sort of thing applies to religions. It is easy to detach them from the reality of everyday existence, and to apply them in ways never intended. What you get from that is a clash of cultures and belief systems, which serve no-one.

 

“Render to Ceaser” and all that. I would suggest that it is better to leave the money business to those who have at least a little knowledge of it, and forget about changes in management style, because that can only ever change the rules and those who manage them. It will not change a thing, because we are where we are financially, with God and mammon operating in an uneasy symbiosis..

 

If the churches are empty, it is probably because believers, bless their cotton socks, have forgotten how to wash feet and care for the old, the sick, the lonely and the vulnerable.

 

And what a curious thing it is, that all the major religions are quite close in this most important aspect of faith, and close to many of the things Bonhoeffer wrote about in his “Letters and papers from prison.”

 

The "cost of discipleship" is not one which can easily be quantified; let alone speculated upon.

 

MM

[MusingMuso]

Previous post modified.

 

MM

[MusingMuso]

And a sonorous Amen to that!

 

Back in the 1940s, writing from prison Bonhoeffer mused whether the Church would do best to shed all her assets and as it were, start afresh with nothing. When my former church in Birmingham lost her roof in the 2005 tornado, we moved into the school hall, prompting the Diocesan officer to suggest that maybe we should make that a permament arrangement, since in his experience every church building that had had to close, due say to arson, had experienced significant growth once the congregation lost the building they were familiar with and moved into a "neutral" building that was less threatening to, and felt more "owned" by, the local community. And having spent the past three years working in a war-torn part of central Africa and having missionary friends in Mozambique it's clear that you don't need buildings to have phenomenal church growth.

 

Of course, if you experience church growth, there comes a point when you start to need to go beyond hiring a hall one morning a week, and you fundraise and you buy a building, then furnish it, and become established, and in so doing start to become inflexible by virtue of the building's limitations. The town of Shrewsbury is a classic example - several very fine and quite enormous town centre churches (with fine organs!), and an incredible sense of participating in a tradition of continuous worship for nearly a thousand years if you attend an Abbey Sunday service. Yet in building a Norman abbey that is robust enough to survive another thousand years, but unable to adapt to the demographics of the age, it does store up problems in that congregations inevitably find their mission risks becoming more to preserve these magnificent buildings for the next generation than what it should be - using the buildings as a resource to further spread the Gospel.

 

Thus to address Patrick's concern about British organ building losing its way, perhaps, dare I suggest (knowing that there are plenty of theological heavyweights lurking on the Forum), the rehabilitation of fine old organs in new premises where they will be loved, used and maintained, potentially has elements of Biblical restoration. That's to say, if we want a pipe organ but lack the resources to commission a fine instrument from new (and perhaps even if we have those resources), is there more we can or should do to fine new homes and give new life to otherwise redundant organs?

 

In so doing we could be acting out a metaphor for the new spiritual life that our churches are in the business of encouraging.

 

=========================

 

 

I was in Birmingham at 3am this morning.....terrible place!....I always get lost.

 

I can't help but think that Holland is light years ahead. Churches are not "Sacred Places" at all. They are big rooms, often used for a variety of purposes, and very much a part of community life, as they once were in medieval England. I don't think that even the most enthusiastic atheist or humanist would ever propose demolising these buildings, simply because they can be used for all sorts of weird worship things.

 

I've wandered into churches in Holland and seen art exhibitions, photographic exhibitions, people practising for concerts: even one church being set out with tables and chairs for a banquet.

 

Of course, not all churches are beautiful, well lit and warm, but there are lots that could serve a multi-function purpose as they do in Holland, and the churches of Shrewsbury are probably ideal in this respect.

 

If people go into churches and use them, for whatever reason, they will grow to love them and care for them.

 

Unfortunately, my one outstanding memory of Shrewsbury was getting caught up in the floods perhaps a decade or more ago.

 

I came across a drowning youngish couple at about 2am; both perched on top of the front seats of a convertible BMW with the top down. The water was lapping around their waists, but strangely, "he" was wearing a white tux and a bow tie, and "she" was wearing a black lace creation and a feather hat!

 

Puzzled by this, I didn't feel that I wanted to impose or require an explanation for the way they were dressed, and instead, dragged they and their car to dry land with a very strong rope. I was driving a big Scania, and quite happy to plough through the water with a car in tow.

 

Everything made perfect sense, when having reached safety, the young man in the white tux said, "I suppose it serves us right mate. We were on the way home from a 'Titanic' party!"

 

You couldn't make that up, could you? Wonderful!

 

MM

[peeweeel]

=========================

 

 

 

 

I've wandered into churches in Holland and seen art exhibitions, photographic exhibitions, people practising for concerts: even one church being set out with tables and chairs for a banquet.

 

MM

 

All things (including the banquets) that we have done in Lichfield Cathedral for many years but we still need £millions more to keep the building in a fit condition.

[MusingMuso]

All things (including the banquets) that we have done in Lichfield Cathedral for many years but we still need £millions more to keep the building in a fit condition.

 

=============================

 

That's the problem when a lovely cathedral, (which Lichfield is), just ranks outside the top half dozen such as York, Winchester, Lincoln (etc), and where the city is quite average.

 

I suppose the dream ticket would be the sort of wealthy benefactors such buildings once had, but these people are rare these days.

 

I'm afraid we may never see the return of the likes of Lord Grimshaw, who re-built the burned out shell of Selby Abbey from out of his own pocket!

 

There's a lot to be said for heritage funding and government care of historic buildings, but there's not much chance of that in the present circumstances.

 

MM

[Contrabombarde]

My sincere condolenses to you MM for getting lost in Birmingham. Happens to me all the time despite living there ten years.

 

I digress, and it's off topic, but maybe not so much.

 

When the roof came off our church, we breathed a quiet sigh of relief. For years the congregation had been stuck with a ruinously expensive Victorian building of no great architectural pedigree, whilst the dream (shared by the entire PCC and virtually the whole congregation) was to have a more modern, flexible and easily maintained building. Whilst designs had been mooted, the cost of a new building was always prohibitive and we restricted ourselves to repainting the church and wondered when it would fall down.

 

The realisation that the church was going to have to be demolished and replaced led to a short-lived joy however. Unknown to the congregation, a preservation movement was gathering pace (even to the extent of having a website) and the church was given an emergency grade 2 listing (meaning in our case the congregation would have to pay for its upkeep, not the state). The irony was that those campaigning to keep the church open had never once attended a service and had no suggestions about how a small congregation in one of the most deprived parishes in the Diocese could afford several million pounds to repair the building. (Even after reclaiming insurance damage, major structual problems like a collapsing tower meant that the building would cost a fortune to put right.)

 

"The church has masses of money". Clergy pension funds?

"Turn it into a mosque". There is already a very high density of mosques, and the land was originally given to the C of E for the building of a church as a mission to the local community.

"Turn it into a carpet warehouse". And expect it to remain preserved?

 

In the event the listing was lifted, and the building demolished. I gather that plans for a remarkable new building are well under way, that will enable the Church's mission to continue in this area for generations to come. Meanwhile the congregation meets in the nearby school hall, going from strength to strength which makes you wonder why we needed buildings in the first place.

 

However, I'm fairly sure that the style of worship, and budget, and building design preclude the possibility of installing a pipe organ. So, back on topic again, I doubt there will be any appointments advertised for organist and choir director for this church once the new building is completed.

[innate]

When the roof came off our church, we breathed a quiet sigh of relief. For years the congregation had been stuck with a ruinously expensive Victorian building of no great architectural pedigree, whilst the dream (shared by the entire PCC and virtually the whole congregation) was to have a more modern, flexible and easily maintained building.

<snip>

In the event the listing was lifted, and the building demolished. I gather that plans for a remarkable new building are well under way, that will enable the Church's mission to continue in this area for generations to come. Meanwhile the congregation meets in the nearby school hall, going from strength to strength which makes you wonder why we needed buildings in the first place.

What makes you sure that a new building would be easily maintained? Hasn't the first tranche of the last government's new building programme for schools resulted in buildings that are, according to the staff using them, not fit for purpose? The 1968 Community Centre extension to the 1957 church where I sang as a treble was condemned as unmaintainable a few years ago.

[peeweeel]

=============================

 

That's the problem when a lovely cathedral, (which Lichfield is), just ranks outside the top half dozen such as York, Winchester, Lincoln (etc), and where the city is quite average.

 

I suppose the dream ticket would be the sort of wealthy benefactors such buildings once had, but these people are rare these days.

 

I'm afraid we may never see the return of the likes of Lord Grimshaw, who re-built the burned out shell of Selby Abbey from out of his own pocket!

 

There's a lot to be said for heritage funding and government care of historic buildings, but there's not much chance of that in the present circumstances.

 

MM

 

We have had a few wealthy benefactors recently and some English Heritage funding but one reason for Lichfield's current problems was the collapse of a Heritage Lottery Fund application which HLF could not fund when their allocation was reduced to fund the Olympics. HLF had previously told us to ask for more than our original application. Ironically the major cost at the moment is the repair of the East End stonework and the 16C Herkenrode glass which arrived in 1802 as the result of a generous near gift (£200 for seven large windows).

 

Getting back to appointments! - Ben and Cathy Lamb have moved into Phil Scriven's old house which leaves the Assistant's house available for letting. No Choral Scholars this year (£10,000 saved) and another house to let.

[James Dawson]

In the event the listing was lifted, and the building demolished. I gather that plans for a remarkable new building are well under way, that will enable the Church's mission to continue in this area for generations to come. Meanwhile the congregation meets in the nearby school hall, going from strength to strength which makes you wonder why we needed buildings in the first place.

 

However, I'm fairly sure that the style of worship, and budget, and building design preclude the possibility of installing a pipe organ. So, back on topic again, I doubt there will be any appointments advertised for organist and choir director for this church once the new building is completed.

 

I have heard that Morrisons have bought up a few redundant, or unmanageable Victorian churches in urban areas to build their supermarkets on. They have then built smaller, replacement churches nearby to a very high specification, complete with pipe organs.

 

On the subject of 'successful churches', I cannot help but feel that some Clergy and PCC's would destroy a successful church within five years even if it were handed to them on a plate. The main problem seems to be a tendency to destroy any musical tradition in favour of happy-clappy hymns, and ultra low church ideology.

[edbowie]

Does anyone know where Matthew Martin, Assistant DOM at Westminster Cathedral, is going? His post is advertiosed in this week's 'Church Times'.

[OmegaConsort]

Does anyone know where Matthew Martin, Assistant DOM at Westminster Cathedral, is going? His post is advertiosed in this week's 'Church Times'.

 

Don't know, but did you also see the vacancy at All Saint's Peterborough where the organ looks particularly interesting....."a small but flexible tractor-action organ in excellent acoustic"!!

[sbarber49]

Don't know, but did you also see the vacancy at All Saint's Peterborough where the organ looks particularly interesting....."a small but flexible tractor-action organ in excellent acoustic"!!

Well, it is an interesting organ in an ideal acoustic, but not quite as innovative as that! (I wrote out this advert in longhand, but the Priest-in-charge seems to think the action is rather more agricultural than it actually is!)

 

If anyone wants more info, please PM me. I am currently acting DOM, but I am DOM of another church so I can't be there on Sundays which makes it a bit difficult! (I was in charge for over 14 years in the last millenium.)

[Contrabombarde]

Shrewsbury Abbey is very pleased to welcome Tom Edwards, Head of Music at Lucton School, to be our Director of Music from next month.

[AJJ]

I see Blackburn Cathedral music is up for grabs - the present incumbent seemingly bound for Greenwich!

[mrbouffant]

I see Blackburn Cathedral music is up for grabs - the present incumbent seemingly bound for Greenwich!

35K a year and a free house, but only 1 day off in 7 -- reasonable remuneration for such commitment?...