It has been a long wait, but it’s been worth it!  Since the summer of 2022 both Dominicans and Anglicans have  had to make do without an organ, as those hot summer months sounded the death knell for an organ that had already been expiring  (not so quietly) for quite a long time.  Improvisation was called for, and the varied musical talents of St. Alban’s came to the fore.  David Cowley and Chantal Stewart stepped into the breach with mellow tenor voice and guitars; our keyboard (“what do we need that for ?) was at last put to good use and ecumenical contacts across the Rhine brought us Wolfgang Weber, who valiantly tackled the unfamiliar Anglican liturgy.  Small groups of singers sang four-part works unaccompanied, and the congregation was encouraged to make a Goodly Noise.

In the interim a small choir organ appeared with one manuel of Elizabethan proportions, but our organist Katherine Parsons came into her own again with organ works from the appropriate period. She has much more scope now with the new organ, which she was able to play for the first time on Sunday 2nd Advent. We join with our hosts, the Dominicans, in giving thanks for all those whose donations have helped to pay for the instrument, and in celebrating the additional musical dimension it adds to our Sunday worship.

A very happy New Year to all visitors to this website and an open invitation to join us at St. Alban’s for Sunday worship at 10.30am every Sunday.

To praise-to bless-to preach: the motto of the Dominican order.

Katherine Parsons, our organist