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These are three churches where I have held the post of Organist and Director of Music. They are shown by most recent
first. For my current appointment see the All Saints', West Bromwich page.
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| St. Mary's Hay on Wye |
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A long-standing priest friend came to Hay-on-Wye as the Parish Priest a few years ago. I helped out with some services
occasionally on the horrible Hill Norman and Beard that was in the case you can see in the picture on the Churches page. It
was eventually decided to rip it out and replace it with a redundant, second-hand instrument which was rebuilt there (with
a few modifications). I subsequently became the organist. During that time, and up until the present day, the church has grown
from a handfull singing a few choruses every Sunday to a regular congregation of fifty to sixty with a solid Catholic
tradition and worship, and a growing robed choir. The music has come on a bit too! It goes to show that going back to the
proper roots of Catholic worship (plainsong, etc.) might be more popular than a lot (mainly clergy) would have us (not me)
believe. Sorry if that sounds pompous.
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St. Matthias, Malvern Link, is in a group of three churches in the parish of Malvern Link. I first came here on
Candlemas 1997 to the 10am Parish Mass. Having just moved to Herefordshire I was struggling to find a church with a
bit of proper religion and, after attending a singalong-with-flutes type service at Malvern Priory the week before, and having
the cheek to ask the rather boring priest there where I could find a decent church, I was directed here. It took a while
to get used to the modern-language rite but I persevered and was the organist there for about four years. The tradition maintains
to this day, and may it continue.
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| St. Michael the Archangel, Abertillery |
As you can probably tell by now I rather favour the Catholic Flagships
of the Anglican Church. The Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel, Abertillery (correct spelling - Abertyleri) was where
it all started at the age of fifteen. There's a very good accoustic in this building. Curiously the church faces South
rather than East. This is because the building previously on the site was much smaller and the church was built on a
river-bank. When the current building was erected, in what might be called the Gothic Revival, it was too big so had to be
turned around to fit. Needless to say one doesn't face East for the Creed! It still maintains its catholic tradition
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| St. Michael the Archangel |
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| View from the West End |
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