Such A Splendid Evening Now Gone. By Uncle Monty.

Such A Splendid Evening Now Gone.
Story By Uncle Monty.
Photos & Graphics

By Alex Albion.
...

Out under the dark overcast sky it was raining like furious

catz and dogz. Yet such, did not deter any of the hundreds

of Catholic devout and faithful folkz from making their steady

and determined way to St. Patrick’s at London’s Soho Square

to be present at the evening “Concert in Thanksgiving” on what

was then The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. No, indeed!!
...
It was also primarily a thanksgiving concert to give many thankz

to those many who have generously and unselfishly already given

£2.4 million toward the £3 million appeal to refurbish St. Patrick’s

and to excavate its basement to make a new community centre be-

neath the old and historic church. Such a church centre will provide

the much-needed new space to engage further parish activities and

to help feed more of the homeless and poor that St. Patrick’s has

always endeavoured successfully to serve without fear or favour.
...
St. Patrick's will shortly close down for a year or so to allow

for the physical excavation to actually take place. But another

£600.000 is needed to be raised to complete the appeal in order

that such will cover the final cost of such a major undertaking.

When the basement becomes the new community centre, it will

also provided extra space to feed extra homeless folkz and for

doing the daily religious work of the church under the skillful

and experienced hands of its parish priest the Rev’d Father

Alexander Sherbrooke. I was also at the splendid concert to

make a little speech in open praise on the wonderful works of

feeding the homeless and caring for the poor that is is the

heart and soul behind much of St. Patrick’s well-known

and diverse Catholic ministry.

...
The Men of St. Patrick's Singers.

...
Where ever you sat or stood inside St. Patrick’s you couldn’t help
hearing the splendid singing and delightful music at the "Concert

in Thanksgiving," unless you were sadly stone deaf or totally

disinterested in such beauty to one's ear and mind.
...
Soprano Breda McKinney, shown at the above caption photo,

set the superb quality and tonality of the whole splendid

evening now gone by her lovely presentations of ‘Vidit smim

dolcem natum,' .'Magnificat,' and Cuccini’s Ave Maria.

http://www.bredamckinney.co.uk/

.

Along with Katie Musselbrook and Hannah Bannister,

who so professionally and deeply sang ‘Laudamus Te.’ Those

three fine sopranoes belonged to the 12-member female and

male St. Patrick’s Singers. They were a joy to hear!!!

...

They are not to be confused with the St. Patrick’s Gospel

Choir, who were also there at the one and half hour concert.

And, who with loud shrill, and also somewhat disconcertingly

at times for me, sang 'Thou O Lord, Glorious,' and 'Mary did

you know?' I personally much prefer the solemn, classical, and

graceful to the high-tempo and ear-spilling American gospel-

style of religious singing. All hell and brimstone does nothing

for me, especially when my ears ache and I need then to put

my fingers in my old and fragile ears ... to block out the noise!
...
However, I was pleased with gifted organist Stefan Bednarczyk,

who played with much polish like he did with Herbert Howells’

Psalm Prelude No. 1 .and Priere a Notre Dame from

Boellmann’s Suite Gothique on his demanding and

sturdy electronic organ at St. Patrick's.
...
Sopranoes Katie Musselbrook and Hannah Bannister.

...

Let me now write a few nice words about the priestly man

I know at St. Patrick's. He is Father Alexander Sherbrooke,

who has been the driving force in shaping the charcater
and direction of St. Patrick’s for more than 7 years now.

As a much respected and beloved parish priest, he is a man

whose background is quite fascinating to say the least.

From England’s Dorset he hails, along with 20 years in the

Catholic priesthood, Father Alexander is a towering figure

not only physically speaking, but also in his spirituality,

religiosity, and personal integrity. We also "sing from the

same songbook or hymn," he tells me ... when we agree

with each other's point of view which we so oftentimes do!

Being at St. Patrick's, many visitors assume he must be

Irish. When he tells them he is not, he adds jovially that

on entering the Kingdom of God, he'll then be Irish!!

...

I first got to know him almost 5 years ago. What I have

learned about him impresses me no end. After studying

in Rome, he spent much time working closely with

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), and while there

in India he also met Diana, Princess of Wales. She, Diana,

seemed to like Father Alexander and he was later asked

by her to do the burial of the dead baby of Diana’s closest

friend Rosa Monckton at Kensington Palace. He did so.

Diana, and the baby buried in her garden Mail Online.

.

As for Diana, I almost believe that had she been Catholic,

instead of the quintessential Royal Anglican that she was,

I think they would have possibly made her some kind

of saint!! Or at least "Blessed." I really do.

...

He is also an Old Etonian having gone to Eton but without the

slightest sense of him being toff. Off to Australia he went, too, to

attend the World Youth Day at Sydney last year and since his

days as a young seminarian he has made periodic pilgrimages to

Medjugorje. But best of all, his active parish ministry among

the London homeless and the poor speaks wonderful volumes

no matter what ... I have after all been both a recipient and

a witness to such good deeds from St. Patrick's.
...
Father Alexander Sherbrooke with some

of his devout parishioners at St. Patrick's.

...
What also speak volumes for him has been his ability to help

raise almost £2 ½ Million for St. Partick’s present appeal that

needs to raise another half milion or so to complete the £3 million

(originally £4 Million) appeal that he started from scratch.

http://www.stpatricksoho.org/fund/4million.php

...

Only a priest of his standing could even come close to

that with his loyal congregation standing firmly behind

him without a doubt. With our mutual friend Bishop

Bernard Longley of Westminster having now been called by the

Holy Father to be the next and ninth Archbishop of Birmingham,
I would love, like many others, to see Father Alexander take the

place of Bernard Longley to become the next Auxiliary Bishop of

Westminster. But then who am I, as an avid and avowed Anglican,

to even suggest such a thing? Right! I speak then just as a personal

friend of Father Alexander and not as an official spokesperson for

him or for the Holy Catholic Church. Indeed not!!

So please excuse me then ...

...

When he asked me to give a little speech at the “Concert in

Thanksgiving” I could hardly say "no," of course, to him. After all,

this was the same man who had helped to feed me, along with his

wonderful St. Patrick's volunteers, when I was hungry and then

also homeless and a stranger back in London after more that 38

years away in America and China after losing everything in my cat-

astrophic house fire and without a penny of insurance! My fault!

...
I was also given spiritual food at St. Patrick's. It is easy to feed
the belly, but without caring to give food to the mind and soul

of the homeless person. Under Father Alexander, I got all

three in one!! Bless his name, I say!

...

And while at the concert, it was nice to also see again Tim

and Maria Church, whose daughter Francesca Church did

the lovely artwork for the concert programme cover that

showed her artistic talents and her Catholic devotion in

"The Mysteries of Light" she so artistically rendered. It was

good also to chat again with the young Vincent Gardiner, who

I first met some two years ago when he graduated from St.

Patrick's School of Evangelisation (SPES) in the presence of

then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-

O'Conner, who has since retired. Vincent seems so at home

with his faith-based Catholicism that one might almost think

he wants to be priest. If so, so be it! John Bason, Chairman of

St. Patrick's Fundraising Board, who sat right behind me, was

such a pleasure to personally meet. He opened the concert

with his concise welcome, which was good for us and John.

He also told me that my own little speech was "heartfelt"

and I was surprised at the handclapping by all the folkz

at the concert when I had finished my unscripted speech.

Then, I met soprano Breda McKinney, who kindly agreed

to let me photograph her so that she would make the

caption photo to this little blog story of mine - "Such A

Splendid Evening Now Gone." She was part of that

evening splendour, I might add. I must admit, too, that

I have a soft spot for all sopranoes that I hear and meet.

And, many from around the world I have heard

and met I am pleased to say! Bravo!!

...

At last the drenching rain outside had stopped for awhile

as I left the concert and walked to get to my No. 1 bus on

London's busy Tottenham Court Road to get back to my

home base. The bus was packed even at almost 10:00pm

and passengers looked so sad and so empty to me. There

was a blankness in the tired faces I saw and a refusal to

speak a word to others on the bus. Yet, like robots they

screamed into their hideous cellphones like talking mon-

keys in a closed zoo. But for me, I could still hear those

sopranoes at St. Patrick's as I stood squashed between

loads of immigrants and babbling foreigners as they beg-

an to stampede themselves on the already overcrowded

bus. I then lamented to myself, "such a splendid even-

ing now gone," as I resisted the London bus mob.

...
Faithfully, Uncle Monty.
+Edward The Confessor, 2oo9.

.

:: INVISIBLE LIVES AND RAINY DAY ::

How many do we not know?

Those who are among us,

just off the radar.

Amongst these are the abused,

rough diamonds, stars who,

because of you and me

May never be.

So: open your eyes and I then hope

and pray that through argument

and reason

And the abandonment of emotional

treason that you enable me to open mine.

.

How many shall we see?

When the blindfold is lifted, shifted,

discarded and so to conclude

Hand in hand coming full circle,

I see, with you as my witness ...

A thousand and one invisible

lives in every cloud.

STEPHEN FARRELL-WOOD

of The Big Issue.
...
Modelling On The Back Street Was She!

...

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