Issue 30
ELY
CATHEDRAL
news
ELY SINFONIA CONCERT
The Music of the Nations
Saturday 1st March – 7.30 pm
Holy Week at Ely
Holy Week is the focal point of the
Christian Year, when we enter in
imagination and in spirit into the events
of the last week of Jesus’ life. This year
the week is being led by Canon Brian
Watchorn, formerly Dean of Pembroke
College, Cambridge, and an external
member of the Cathedral Chapter. Each
evening there will be a special service:
the diary on p.4 gives the full details,
which are also available in a leaflet
obtainable in the Cathedral, and on
the website. Canon Watchorn writes –
‘The Gospels, it’s been said, are Passion
stories with extended introductions.
The narrative of Jesus going to his death
certainly occupies the major part of each
of the four Gospels. They centre on the
cross and its outcome; all else can be
seen as preparatory.
The Gospels were also read out rather
than read privately. This is most apparent
in the earliest of the Gospels, St Mark,
where the repetitions and summaries
and the frequent use of the word ‘again’
are designed to remind the listener of
what has gone before.
The reading of the Passion narrative
from St Luke will form a main focus
March 2008
Highlights
of our keeping of Holy Week in the
Cathedral this year. This reading will
take place in various contexts – the
Eucharist, Compline, the Good Friday
liturgy, Evensong, with, I trust, the help
of short addresses. But the important
thing will be not to sit on the sidelines
but to use these contexts to enter into
the narrative, to allow ourselves to be
part of what we hear.
We are so surrounded by wall to wall
television and radio that it is easy to let
everything waft past us. Holy Week with
its drama, its music, its concentration on
the reading aloud of the narrative of the
Passion offers us the opportunity to be
drawn into the greatest story ever told.
So when the Gospel writers tell us of
Jesus’ words that to be a disciple of his
we must take up our cross and follow
him, this is a call to imaginative action.
We are not literally to pick up a cross
like Simon of Cyrene. But we are called
not to be mere bystanders but to be
drawn into the drama. St Luke indeed
reinforces this by adding the word ‘daily’.
Holy Week gives us just that opportunity.
‘If anyone would come after me let him
deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me.’ ’ Brian Watchorn
DEAN MERIVALE
Evensong to mark the 200th Anniversary
of his birth
Sunday 8 March – 5.30 pm
IONA HEALING SERVICE
Sunday 9 March – 6.30 pm
THREE CHOIRS EVENSONG
Wednesday 12 March – 5.30 pm
EIN DEUTCHES REQUIEM
Concert with Ely Choral Society
Saturday 15 March – 7.30 pm
HOLY WEEK & EASTER
Sunday 16 – Sunday 23 March
Details on this page including ‘Come and
Sing STAINER’S CRUCIFIXION’
Da r k I l lu m i n e
In the run-up to Easter from
3rd March – 10th April, a new
exhibition will be on show in the
Stained Glass Museum. Dark Illumine
is an exhibition of contemporary
stained glass by two artists who have
taken ‘Paradise lost’ by John Milton
as its starting point. The artists
examine our intimate and
inseparable, but often disturbing
relationship with nature and the
eternal. The exhibition is free.
Regular services
Celebrate the Resurrection at
the atmospheric Dawn Vigil
& First Eucharist of Easter
5.30 am on March 23rd
followed by a Celebration
Breakfast in The Almonry
8.15 am Holy Communion BCP
10.30 am Sung Orchestral Eucharist – Dvorak Mass in D
4.00 pm Festal Evensong
Breakfast tickets from the Chapter House, £8.50
Sundays:
8.15 am: Holy Communion (BCP)
10.30 am: Sung Eucharist
4.00 pm: Evensong
Daily Services:
7.40 am: Morning Prayer
8.00 am: Holy Communion
12 noon: Midday Prayers – Quiet Hour
5.30 pm: Evensong
Thought for March
This year the church celebrates Easter
very early indeed on March 23rd - the
earliest possible date is March 22nd! An
anonymous writer went straight to the
heart of the Easter message when they
wrote ‘the Resurrection did not result
in a committee with a chairman but in a
fellowship with an experience’.
In Christ God has given himself to the
world so that every one of us can have
our own Easter experience, our own
meeting with the living Lord. In his
autobiography O God what next? Bishop
Hugh Montefiore described his first
experience of God as a sixteen year
old: ‘I was sixteen at the time, and it
happened to me about 5 pm one dark
wintry afternoon. I was sitting alone in
my study at school. What happened
then determined the whole future
pattern of my life. I was, as I remember,
indulging in a rather pleasant
adolescent gloom. I suddenly became
aware of a figure in white whom I saw
clearly in my mind’s eye… I heard the
words “Follow me”. Instinctively, I knew
this was Jesus, heaven knows how, for I
knew nothing about him. I found that
I had become a Christian as a result of
a totally unexpected and most unusual
spiritual experience… I was aware of
the living Christ, and because of that, I
was aware of God in a new way… there
was nothing fantastic at all about what
had happened to me: all I knew was
that God had communicated with me
through what I had experienced, and
that was that.’
The Easter Gospels tell us that Mary
Magdalen, Simon Peter and the disciple
whom Jesus loved met the risen Christ
and, like Hugh Montefiore, their
experience turned their lives in a new
direction. And isn’t that true for all of
us? Doesn’t God so often take us by
surprise and show us possibilities and
hopes we would otherwise never have
contemplated?
David Pritchard
Dean Merivale
Anniversary
Welcome to
the Cathedral
There is an interesting memorial in the
S.E transept to Charles Merivale, Dean
from 1869 to 1894. It describes him as
‘wise, tender and magnanimous’ and
‘rich in learning’. These are qualities
that a cathedral might expect from its
Dean, but it also says he was ‘caustic
in wit’, so it may-be that his colleagues
found him a bit difficult! His real claim
to fame, however, is that he was one of
the two minds behind that great English
tradition, the Oxford and Cambridge
Boat Race. He had been at school at
Harrow with Charles Wordsworth who
later became a bishop. They went from
Harrow to Cambridge and Oxford
respectively. Whilst at University, they
came up with the Boat Race idea, and
the rest is history! 8th March 2008
marks the bi-centenary of the birth
of Charles Merivale, and there will be
a weekend of celebrations here in Ely,
including a celebratory Evensong on
March 8th, complete with a rowing eight!
When you have visited a Church or
Cathedral what kind of welcome have
you received? At Ely Cathedral you will
be greeted by a smile and a word of
welcome. This will be from a member
of the Ministry of Welcome team who
are normally on duty from 10 am until
4 pm each day (afternoon only
on Sundays.
Costume Drama
Our Medieval Evening was a sell-out
success and we are planning a repeat
performance next year – but at a
warmer time of year! Thank you to all
who supported this event. We made
£1,000 for our work with schools.
Several of the people who came to
the Medieval Evening wore medieval
costume and there is no doubt that this
added to the atmosphere and to their
sense of involvement. In the same way,
through the experience of dressing
as a monk, pilgrim or Victorian child,
children visiting the Cathedral deepen
their understanding and increase their
sense of connection with people in
the past.
We have received a grant to support
our Anglo-Saxon Days and want to use
it to make authentic costumes for the
characters in Etheldreda’s story. Patterns
and guidance will be available. (I’m told
that Anglo-Saxon costumes are very
simple to make!) But we are in need of
seamstresses. If you feel you are able to
help, please contact Jan or Marianne at
the Cathedral Centre. – Jan Munt
‘Help, I wouldn’t know what to say!’
Sometimes a greeting is enough, at
other times visitors like to talk a little
longer. ‘What if I’m asked a question and
don’t know the answer ?’ Help is always at
hand and welcomers work in pairs so
that need not be a worry. We would like
to welcome you to the team which is an
ecumenical team embracing members
of a number of churches and from
different parts of Cambridgeshire and
the Diocese.
Ideally members offer two 2-hour sessions
a month (or more, of course!). During
the year we have a re-commissioning
service, a lunch, other social events and
training. Would you be interested?
For more information please contact
Joan Cameron 01353 614467 or Sally
Rowland 01353 664359.
Circles of Support
Circles of Support is a movement set up
to train and support groups of four or
five people who together constitute
a ‘circle of support and accountability’
for those released from prison. The
movement came to Britain in 2000
through the Quakers. Successful
pilot schemes have been run, with
government support, which have
dramatically cut re-offending rates. The
Ely Diocese Criminal Justice Group
is seeking to set up such groups in
Cambridgeshire. If you are interested,
there is a Consultation Workshop, run
by the National Support Officer, at
Bishop Woodford House on Thursday
April 17th from 6.15 pm – 10 pm. The fee
of £20 includes supper. Those interested
should contact Rev Martin Kettle:
[email protected] or Hilary Lavis:
[email protected] to book or
for more information.
Iona Healing Service
Processional Candlesticks
On Sunday March 9th we will be holding
an Iona Healing service in the South
Transept of the Cathedral from 6.30pm
– 7.30pm. The liturgy is taken from the
Iona Community, which has developed,
over the years, a gentle, supportive
approach to the healing ministry. The
service will be led by Revd. Pam Thorn
who chairs the Ely Diocesan Healing
Group. Jan Payne, director of ECOS, will
lead the music. This is an opportunity
to think more deeply about the healing
ministry and to receive prayer for
yourself or on behalf of someone else. If
you wish to play and instrument or sing
in the music group please come for the
rehearsal at 5.30pm. – Alan Hargrave
The Dean dedicates new processional
candlesticks in memory of Arthur
Davies. They are the gift of June Nash,
and were made by Ken Howard.
Calling All Singers
The boys and girls choirs had very
successful voice trials last month and it
should not be necessary for us to run
another recruitment campaign for some
time. There are, however, a number of
other musical opportunities associated
with the cathedral for members of the
congregation to consider. The men’s
choir is always looking for more adult
singers (especially altos!) to join the
list of deputies. Interested singers
with very good sight-singing skills
can contact me, telephone 660336, at
any time. The Ely Cathedral Octagon
Singers (ECOS), directed by Jan Payne,
telephone 01223 576345, also welcomes
new singers (of both sexes) by audition.
Our mixed children’s choir, The Ely Imps
will be accepting more singers once the
concert on May 3rd is out of the way.
Interested parents should contact the
Administrator, Anne Mizen telephone
664470.
I wonder from time to time if there
are members of the congregation who
have intermediate (or advanced) skills
as instrumentalists. It’s a long time since
any kind of research was done about
this, so I am using this column to invite
anybody who falls into this category to
let me know by contacting the Music
secretary, Daphne Lumley. You can
either e-mail her as follows:
[email protected]
or ring Daphne during office hours
on 660309. – Paul Trepte
ELY CATHEDRAL
WEDNESDAY, 19th MARCH
All Singers Are Warmly Invited
To Come And Join With The
Cathedral Choirs To Sing
STAINER’S
CRUCIFIXION
On the Wednesday of Holy Week.
Soloists: Nicholas Madden (Tenor) &
Robin Moore (Bass)
Organist: Jonathan Lilley
Conductor: Paul Trepte
Bring your own copy (essential!).
Rehearse in the Cathedral at 6.30 pm
prompt for the performance at 8 pm.
The Other Man
Ely Cathedral is once again to be used
as a film location next month. The Other
Man is a film based on the short story by
Bernard Schlink and is being directed
by the award winning British film maker,
Sir Richard Eyre.
Unlike our previous two films, the story
is set in the present day and based around
Ely, Cambridge, London & Milan. One
of the characters in the story, played by
Romala Garai, works in the bookshop at
the Cathedral. The film also stars Liam
Neeson, Antonio Banderas and Laura
Linney. Filming takes place on Tuesday
11th March and, as their shoot only involves
the west end area and the bookshop, the
Cathedral will remain open, although
visitors and members of the public will be
only be allowed access to the building via
the South door. The Refectory, Bookshop
& Stained Glass Museum will be closed
for the day and Evensong will take place
in the Lady Chapel.
There is no charge. Retiring collection.
No need to respond. Just turn up!
E i n d e u t sches
Requiem
Andrew Parnell returns to Ely
Cathedral with Ely Choral Society
and the Hertfordshire Chamber
Orchestra on Saturday 15th March
to perform Ein deutsches Requiem
by Johannes Brahms. The soloists
are the Swiss soprano Dominique
Thiébaud and the English baritone
Andrew Mayor.
Tickets from £18 – £8 are available
from the Cathedral Box Office
online or by telephone 01353
660 349. Pre-concert suppers are
available in The Almonry Restaurant.
Love from Ivor
Saturday 12 th Apri L , 7.30 pm
Interpreting Ely Cathedral
A major new book about the Cathedral,
Interpreting Ely Cathedral, by the Revd Dr
Lynne Broughton, will be launched at a
Reception in the Lady Chapel on Monday
28 April at 7.30 pm. Dr Broughton explores
the medieval symbolism of the building.
‘She shows in detail how it unites beauty,
meaning and history, and she draws us into
her own interpretation of this amazing
building and the people who have shaped
it, worshipped in it and been part of its
history.’ Prof David Ford. For an invitation,
please write to the Chapter Clerk at the
Chapter House, The College, Ely, CB7 4DL.
A gala concert celebrating the music
of Ivor Novello, and featuring Gillian
Humphreys, Nicky Spence, the Pendyrus
Male Choir, Anthony Valentine and Aden
Gillett. The evening culminates in the
Coronation Finale from King’s Rhapsody
with Ely Cathedral’s head chorister
William Oliver as the Boy King.
The concert supports the work of Concordia
Foundation, to foster young musicians and
‘Build Bridges through Music and the Arts’.
Tickets: £20 (inc. wine), £15
Box Office: 01353 660349,
[email protected]
Calendar
APRIL
march
Friday 4th
19.30 Royal Artillery Band Concert
Saturday 1st
19.30 Ely Sinfonia Concert – Music of the Nations
Saturday 5th
14.00 Lady Chapel Concert – Discantus
Tickets for concerts and other events may be bought
from the Cathedral Box Office on 01353 660349 or
directly from the desk at the South Door.
Tuesday 4th
21.00 Lent Compline
Thursday 10th
19.30 Topping’s Book Event – Louis de Berniers
In Brief
Friday 7th
19.30 Kings School Concert
Saturday 12th
19.30 Ivor Novello Concert – Pendyrus Male
Voice Choir
Community of St Etheldreda
The next meeting of the Community of
Etheldreda will be on Tuesday, March
18, 7.30 pm, Powcher’s Hall. Everyone is
welcome to attend. The community of
Etheldreda seeks to follow a simple rule
based on the Rule of Benedict.
Saturday 8th
17.30 Evensong celebrating the 200th
Anniversary of Dean Merivale,
followed by Dinner in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 9th
18.30 Iona Healing Service
Tuesday 11th
21.00 Lent Compline
Wednesday 12th
17.30 Three Cathedral Choirs Evensong
Friday 14th
13.10 Lunchtime Concert – Concertante
Saturday 15th
19.30 Ely Choral Society – Brahms Requiem
Sunday 16th – Palm Sunday
08.15 Holy Communion
10.30 Sung Eucharist & Procession
16.00 Evensong
Monday 17th – Monday in Holy Week
19.30 Eucharist & Address
Tuesday 18th – Tuesday in Holy Week
21.00 Compline & Address
Wednesday 19th – Wednesday in Holy Week
19.30 Come and Sing Stainer’s Crucifixion
Thursday 20th – Maundy Thursday
10.30 Sung Eucharist with Blessing of Oils & Renewal of Vows
19.30 Eucharist of the Last Supper
– St Mary’s Church
21.00 Tenebrae & Watch
Friday 21st – Good Friday
10.30 Procession of Witness
12.00 The Liturgy of the Cross
16.00 Children’s Service
17.30 Evensong & Address
19.30 The Way of the Cross
Tuesday 15th
19.30 The Saints of Ely – Son et Lumière with
Ely Cathedral Choir.
Sunday 20th
10.30 Farewell to Canon Peter and Dr Helen
Sills – Eucharist followed by lunch.
14.00 St Georges Day Scouts Service
Friday 25th
18.30 Cathedral Open Evening
Sunday 27th
13.30 Wood Green Animal Shelter Service
Monday 28th
19.30 Book Launch – Interpreting Ely
Cathedral by Lynne Broughton
MAY
Thursday 1st – Ascension Day
12.10 Holy Communion
19.30 Eucharist
Friday 2nd
13.10 Lunchtime concert
– Hamburg Chamber Choir
Saturday 3rd
19.30 May Day Concert featuring
Julian Bliss
Tuesday 6th
19.30 Cathedral Annual Congregational
Meeting
Sunday 10th – Pentecost
10.30 Sung Eucharist
16.00 Festal Evensong
18.30 Pentecost Praise
Saturday 22nd – Easter Eve
19.30 Vigil & Confirmation
Friday 16th
18.30 Gener8 Childrens Event
Sunday 23rd – Easter Sunday
05.30 Dawn Vigil & First Eucharist of Easter
followed by a Celebration Breakfast
08.15 Holy Communion BCP
10.30 Sung Orchestral Eucharist
– Dvorak Mass in D
16.00 Festal Evensong
Saturday 24th
15.00 Afternoon Concert – University of
London Chamber Choir
Friday 28th
13.10 Lunchtime Concert – The Lincoln Singers
Thursday 29th
13.10 Lunchtime Concert – Ian de Massini
Saturday 29th
13.10 Lunchtime Concert – Suffolk Singers
Saturday 31st
Open University Graduations Ceremonies
St Etheldreda Fair on Palace Green
Sunday 25th – St Mark
10.30 Sung Eucharist
16.00 Evensong
These details were correct when printed.
The calendar is updated on the Cathedral
website www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org
Souvenir Guide
Easter sees the publication of a new
Souvenir Guide Book for the Cathedral,
published by Scala Books, and written by Canon Peter Sills. The Chapter
would like to acknowledge the generous
support of Mr Mervyn Hill towards the
costs of production.
Lucy’s Pushchair
Last year members of the congregation
raised over £1000 to buy Lucy, aged two
and who suffers from a form of epilepsy
that has left her paralysed, a special
pushchair. Hazel Brown, Lucy’s Nan, has
sent us a note from Lucy: ‘Thank you for
helping fund my new pushchair. Its very
comfortable and gives me lots of support. Love and Kisses, Lucy. PS An extra
kiss for the Girls of the Choir who raised
£500.’ Hazel also passes on the thanks of
all the family, who are very grateful for
all the help received.
Christmas Collections – A record amount
was raised over Christmas for the
Cathedral’s chosen charities. Each of the
four: Amnesty International, Crisis Open
Christmas, Hackney Cold Weather
Homeless Shelter Scheme, and The
Mission to Seafarers, received a cheque
for £2025.
April Deadline
The deadline for the April edition is
Friday 20th March. Copy should be emailed to:
receptionist @ cathedral.ely.anglican.org
Ely Cathedral, The Chapter House,
The College, Ely, CB7 4DL
Tel: 01353 667735
Fax: 01353 665658
[email protected]
www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org