A Corporate Act of Prayer - Prayer Book Society · Issue No. 31 ] Lent 2013 ISSN: 1479-215X THE PBS...
Transcript of A Corporate Act of Prayer - Prayer Book Society · Issue No. 31 ] Lent 2013 ISSN: 1479-215X THE PBS...
A Corporate Act of Prayer
Members of the Society are encouraged to join together in saying the following Collect
at the same time in their own homes, at 10.00 p.m. each Sunday evening.
THE COLLECT OF THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITYO LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend
thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy
succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
© The Prayer Book Society 2013
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Issue No. 31 · Lent 2013ISSN: 1479-215X
THE PBS JOURNAL
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Publication date: Friday, 21st June 2013
Spiritual Formation through the Book of Common Prayer 4
The Peace which the world cannot give 11Prayer Book Society Church 13The 1928 Prayer Book Controversy Revisited 14The Right Man for the Job 16Royal Arms in Parish Churches 18iPray 19Correspondence 20Book Reviews 21News from the Branches 23Forthcoming Events 27Branch Contacts 30
CONTENTS
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Filling vacancies in Prayer Book
parishesThere can be little doubt that the most effective way
of ensuring the continuation of worship from the
Book of Common Prayer in a parish is to make sure
that, when filling a vacancy for a new parson,
someone with strong personal sympathy to the
Prayer Book is appointed. To this end, and thanks to
the efforts of our Churches and Clergy Co-ordinator,
John Service, we now have a list of over 70 non-
retired clergy, sympathetic to the Book of Common
Prayer, who have asked to be kept informed of
vacancies in potentially suitable parishes. In
addition, we are able to provide information about
the legal rights of PCCs in relation to appointments.
If you are a member of the congregation at a church
which has a significant commitment to the Book of
Common Prayer for a large proportion of its
services, please do let John Service know as soon as
a clerical vacancy arises. Information from our
members about impending parish vacancies is
vitally important, alongside the details we receive
from a variety of other sources. All information
received will, of course, be handled with discretion.
John Service can be contacted by e-mail at
[email protected], or via the PBS office at
Copyhold Farm.
Have your sins been rubbed out?If you are not sure, you might
want to consider purchasing
one of our new Prayer Book
Society erasers. Shaped like a
miniature red Prayer Book, and
bearing the slogan ‘For undoing
those things which we ought
not to have done’, these are
now available from PBS Trading
for 50p each (plus postage and
packing).
3
President’s Collect CompetitionCongratulations to the Revd Philip Corbett, Priest
Librarian and Chaplain of Pusey House in Oxford,
who has won the President’s Collect Competiton
with the following entry:
Grant unto this nation O Lord thy succour
and continual mercy; that we may remain
faithful and true to Thine anointed servant
Elizabeth our Queen and Governor. As Thou
hast granted years of Jubilee for thanksgiving
we offer Thee thanks and praise for her, asking
that thou wouldst bless her and this and every
nation in her care with the abundance of Thy
love. We make our prayer through Our Lord
Jesus Christ, the king of kings and lord of
lords who reigneth with Thee and the Holy
Ghost, one God now and forever. Amen
My text is from the Preface of the Alternative
Service Book 1980: ‘Christians are formed
by the way in which they pray, and the
way they choose to pray expresses what they are.’
I have always felt that remark was profoundly
true. We become what we pray and we pray from
that place of becoming. So it seems appropriate to
ask at this service to launch the choir’s CD
reflecting Cranmer’s genius: What kind of
Christians are formed by the Prayer Book? What do
we become if the Prayer Book is central to our
praying? I would like to suggest four particular
aspects of the Prayer Book which are formative for
those who use it.
The first is the quest for what I can only call pax
et bonum, which I would translate as ‘peace and
“The Good” ’, or perhaps ‘peace and well-being’,
or even ‘peace and human flourishing’. The Prayer
Book was formed in the crucible of civil and
spiritual conflict. There is a knowledge in its texts
of tragedy and waste, of lives ruined and hopes
unfulfilled. Tonight we sang the 137th Psalm, a
reflection on the restless anxiety of exile. Given the
context in which the Prayer Book was formed
there is an understandable longing for peace that
runs through the texts: ‘Give peace in our time, O
Lord’, ‘The peace of God which passeth all
understanding’, ‘leading a quiet and peaceable
life’, ‘O God who art the author of peace and lover
of concord’, ‘now lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace’, ‘give unto thy servants that peace which
the world cannot give’.
To pray with the Prayer Book suggests that the
most desirable thing in life is not excitement, or
originality, or novelty—but stability, concord and
unity. There is realism about the potential for terror
in the world. Boredom is not to be feared. It might
even be preferable to the jumpy, febrile
assertiveness which characterises so much of
contemporary life. In fact we can contrast the
Prayer Book’s sober desire for peace and well-
being with the more aspirational flavour of much
contemporary liturgy, the relentless idealism, the
endless desire for the new. Yet the unspectacular
realism of the Prayer Book is salutary. Here is both
a positive view of human society and its
institutions alongside a sceptical estimate of
human pretensions to virtue.
While thinking of peace and well-being it is
worth noting that there is nothing over-
ecclesiastical in the Prayer Book. The concern is for
nation and community, for peace and civic life, for
rain, for the armed forces, for protection in
sickness and temptation and for making a good
death. Boundaries matter, politeness matters,
goodwill matters. Morality is not private but
public, and spirituality is linked to active good
works, not to vacuous or charismatic interiority.
The stress on good works as the proof of saving
faith is amply demonstrated in the Collects. The
Collect which Cranmer composed for the 25th
Sunday after Trinity urges God to ‘Stir up the wills
of thy faithful people . . .’. Our wills need to be
stirred by divine grace because our wills are not
necessarily inclined to pax et bonum any more than
our hearts can be assumed to be in the right place.
The Prayer Book gives us permission to find the
world a troubling, dangerous and contradictory
place. But it also prepares us to find within this
complex environment a spiritual poise and peace
in alignment with God’s will.
Second, people formed by the Prayer Book will
be encouraged to see themselves as part of a bigger
whole. The Church of England is unique among
reformed churches in keeping a form for Morning
and Evening Prayer which is derived from the
Roman breviary. The Psalms, which form the core
of the daily Office, open our eyes on the natural
world, on times and seasons, the rhythms of the
day and the year. They also give us words to plead
for justice and to lament suffering and sin. The
Psalter ensures that we have spiritual moorings in
the Jewish and early Christian worlds and that we
are spiritually located, as our forebears were,
within the natural world of God’s creation. They
encourage us to live in harmony with nature, and
in moderation and simplicity.
Look at the 104th Psalm, ‘He laid the
foundations of the earth: that it should never move
at any time.’ The stability of the natural world is the
backdrop of life. Nature is the canvas on which we
see the good providence of God.
Spiritual Formation through the Book
of Common Prayer Angela Tilby
4
6
He bringeth forth grass for the cattle: and
green herb for the service of men;
That he may bring food out of the earth, and
wine that maketh glad the heart of man: and
oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and
bread to strengthen man’s heart.
God’s providence is not only for human beings.
God cares about the wild asses, the fowls of the air
and the fish of the sea. There are other things going
on beside us. We receive our portion of bread and
wine and oil along with the grass that feeds the
cattle, and as the lions roar after their prey. There is
a natural life as well as a supernatural life. We are
meant to be cheerful as well as earnest; to be
happy as well as serious. We ask for good things ‘as
well for the body as for the soul’.
Contemporary liturgy has quite a lot to say
about nature. There is a concern for the planet and
an awareness of our bad stewardship of the earth
and its gifts. But we do not always find this
reverent observation, this recognition of our place
in a world that in many ways is both graced and
baffling. The Prayer Book’s attitude to nature is a
strange instance in which the older text seems
more in tune with contemporary scientific
thinking about where we really are than more
recent texts which are so much more self-
conscious.
Third, the Prayer Book will form people who
see their daily work as a vocation, whatever that
work might be. The Prayer Book is not just written
for the clergy. There is a contrast here with much
contemporary liturgy in which it is assumed that
everyone is called along a path of discipleship in
which recognised ministry of some kind is a
distinct possibility. The Prayer Book grounds
vocation not in churchy activities or in any general
feelings about self-fulfilment, but in the day-to-
day necessity of earning a living. Ordinary, secular
work is not a lesser path. It is a way of holiness to
be accepted willingly, a discipline which is graced.
To stay for a moment with the 104th Psalm:
Man goeth forth to his work, and to his
labour until the evening.
O Lord, how manifold are thy works: in
wisdom thou hast made them all; the earth is
full of thy riches.
Vocation is a necessity—most of us need to earn
our living—but it also unfolds as part of our duty
to be good citizens and good neighbours. The
Catechism asks, ‘What is thy duty towards thy
neighbour?’ And the response is:
My duty towards my neighbour is to love
him as myself and to do to all men as I would
they should do unto me: To love, honour and
succour my father and my mother: to honour
and obey the Queen and all that are put in
authority under her: to submit myself to all my
governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and
masters: to order myself lowly and reverently
to all my betters: to hurt nobody by word nor
deed: to be true and just in all my dealing: to
bear no malice or hatred in my heart: to keep
my hands from picking and stealing, and my
tongue from evil speaking, lying and
slandering: to keep my body in temperance,
soberness and chastity: not to covet nor desire
other men’s goods, but to learn and labour
truly to get mine own living, and to do my
duty in that state of life, unto which it shall
please God to call me.
—Here is a riff on the Ten Commandments!
I can’t help wondering whether we would have
seen so much dishonesty in public life if bankers
and Members of Parliament had been exposed to
the Catechism’s warnings about keeping their
hands from picking and stealing!
The Prayer Book forms people who know that
the human heart is complicated. You won’t find
here a simple affective piety; for that you need a
Wesley not a Cranmer. I like to think that there is
something of Thomas Cranmer’s character in the
Prayer Book. He knew from his own experience
how easily the human heart betrays itself, and is
betrayed, by inconstant desire and fickleness of
purpose. So just as you will not find a simple
affective piety so you will not find a simplistic
view of what it is to be saved. Assurance is a matter
of theology, not emotion. The Prayer Book does
not encourage introspection. It does not urge us to
discover our own uniqueness or to develop our
individual spirituality.
Prayer Book spirituality starts with repentance,
‘keeping short accounts with God’ as the Puritans
would put it. But there is no room for poking
about in the innermost recesses of consciousness.
After all it is God ‘to whom all hearts are open, all
desires known and from whom no secrets are hid’.
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And I think that is enough. We judge ourselves by
external criteria, not by what we think about
ourselves. We have the Ten Commandments as the
standard; we know that the Gospel offers grace to
repentant sinners, and that is really all we need.
To summarise—the human heart is complicated
and unfathomable. But it is so, and therefore it can
only be known in its depths to Almighty God.
There is no room in the world of the Prayer Book
for endless affirmation of our dignity. We can rest
in the love of God. In fact we are commanded to
do so, to trust and obey.
Again, there is a contrast with modern liturgy
here, which is always anxious to affirm our worth
before God, our vocation to be living in his
kingdom, as though that were something we could
do by force of will and boundless optimism. The
Prayer Book does not flatter or cajole. Being saved
is always more important than becoming good.
So there is a profound rejection of fantasy in the
spirituality of the Prayer Book tradition.
How to summarise? Those formed by the Prayer
Book tradition will be serious Christians but they
will not go looking for spiritual heroics. There is
no glamorising of experience. There is instead
evangelical faith, Catholic resonance and a serious
call to a life marked by honest, faithful and
charitable relationships.
I will never forget how the critic and
broadcaster Marghanita Laski, much parodied by
right-wing sections of the press because she was
Jewish, an atheist and socialist and—most culpable
of all—lived in Hampstead, always insisted that she
would have nothing other than the rite of the Book
of Common Prayer at her funeral. Why? Well,
partly because she valued England very much and
thought it was simply the proper English way of
marking the end of life. But I think also because
she saw a universalism here; a recognition that we
are all caught up in the quest for pax et bonum; that
some necessary solace, wonder and detachment
comes from the contemplation of the natural
world, and that the human heart is where we are
both most hateful and most loveable. I think she
was right.
The Revd Canon Angela Tilby is Diocesan Canon at Christ
Church Cathedral, Oxford.
This article was a sermon preached at St Michael at the
North Gate Church, Oxford, for the launch of the choral CD
Cranmer’s Legacy, with music based on texts from the Book
of Common Prayer. The CD was produced with assistance from
the Prayer Book Society, and is available from PBS Trading
(price £12.95).
9
John Service is in need of some ongoing assistance
with internet-based research, and we are appealing
for volunteers to help with this.
The tasks are as follows:
Researching details of Corporate Member
churches
We list details of churches that are Corporate
Members of the Society on our website, but we
still have something of a backlog of churches that
are not listed, and new Corporate Members are
joining all the time. We need someone to look up
the websites of these churches and other online
sources, and compile a short paragraph of
information, similar to what is currently shown
for the listed churches, and forward it to us for
uploading. In cases where there is nothing to be
found online, it would be helpful if the volunteer
could e-mail the relevant contact person (where
an e-mail address is provided) and request the
relevant information.
‘Drilling down’ into clergy vacancy
advertisements appearing in the Church Times, in
order to identify those which could be of interest
to the Society
The Society regularly contacts clergy on our e-
mail list, alerting them to vacancies in Prayer
Book-sympathetic parishes. Clergy vacancy
advertisements appear every week in the Church
Times, and the wording of some of these gives
‘hints’ that there may be significant BCP usage.
We need someone to scan the vacancy
advertisements each week, identify those which
may possibly be of interest (John can give
suggestions as to what to look for), and then see
if any more information about the pattern of
services can be ascertained online, on the parish
website or on www.achurchnearyou.com. You
will need a subscription to the Church Times
(online or print), which will be paid for by the
Society.
Researching diocesan websites to identify clergy
vacancy advertisements which could be of
interest
Allied to the above, clergy vacancy
advertisements also appear on diocesan websites,
often with more information than is shown in a
short advertisement in the Church Times. We need a
volunteer to scan the vacancy pages of diocesan
websites regularly and identify those with
significant Prayer Book use. (There are 44 dioceses
in England, but this task could be speeded up
considerably by saving a link directly to the
vacancies page on each website.)
There is work here for several people, so any offer
of help will be gratefully received. Each of the above
tasks could potentially be divided up between
several volunteers, if it proved to be too much work
for one person.
If you think you may be able to help with any of
these activities, or would like to find out more,
please contact John Service [email protected]
Could you help with online research?
10
11
We bless thee for our creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life; but above all
for thine inestimable love in the redemption of
the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the
means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
Iwas eleven when my family became Anglicans
and I first encountered the Book of Common
Prayer. Brought up as a Congregationalist it
was a novelty to encounter liturgy, of which there
were only vestiges in our Congregational Chapel.
One of those vestiges was the frequent use of the
General Thanksgiving, a small part of which I have
used as my text tonight. As an eight- or nine-year-
old I enjoyed getting my tongue around words like
‘inestimable’ and ‘unfeignedly’. Little did I realise
then that I was using a prayer written by Bishop
Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich after the
restoration of both monarchy and episcopacy in
1660 and a contributor by means of that prayer to
the Book of Common Prayer as revised and
published in 1662. Even less did I know that I
would one day succeed him. Few things would
have seemed more unlikely to a Cornish
Congregationalist child.
I begin here because we are recalling with
thanksgiving the 350th anniversary of the Book of
Common Prayer published in 1662. It was not, of
course, the first Book of Common Prayer in
English. The inclusion of Reynolds’ General
Thanksgiving illustrates that. It was a Prayer Book
already revised. Reynolds had considerable
sympathies with the Puritan Movement. He played
a key part in the negotiations between
episcopalians and presbyterians at the end of the
Protectorate. Through his influence a good many
people who had previously followed a
presbyterian form of church government
conformed to the re-established episcopal Church
of England. The Book of Common Prayer of 1662
is rather more protestant than someone like
Archbishop Laud would have ever thought suitable
in the 1630s. It was a negotiated book. It was the
product of ecclesiastical and national politics and
not merely the devotional life of its age.
What we celebrate today is a Prayer Book which
even 350 years ago had well over a century of
tradition behind it. It had been the subject of
violent disagreement within the Church and
nation during a period of convulsion and civil war.
For some the formal liturgies to be found in the
Prayer Book were in themselves the sign of
papistry (to use the word current then) and
superstition. For others, the defence of one nation
in common prayer under God was the defence of
the character of England itself. The beauty of
liturgical language didn’t come into it. There were
much harsher realities around.
The first stages of the English Reformation
didn’t produce a liturgy in English at all. The Latin
Mass continued. It wasn’t until 1544 when
England was at war with France that the King
requested that prayers in English should be used
throughout the country. The impulse towards a
liturgy in English was unmistakably connected
with national unity when the country was under
threat.
The General Thanksgiving was not the only
prayer to be added to the Book of Common Prayer
in 1662. There were a good many others—prayers
to be offered in a time of dearth and famine, a
prayer to be used when faced by war and tumults
as well as a prayer when any common plague or
sickness prevailed. There were also prayers for fair
weather, for peace and deliverance from enemies,
and for restoring public peace at home. The 1662
Prayer Book was produced in a nervous nation.
After all, England had executed its King only
thirteen years earlier. There was a preoccupation
with the threats which England faced. So the BCP
can read as a rather sombre book.
The prayerful longing of the Book of Common
Prayer is for one nation which is ‘godly and quietly
governed’ and in which the ‘punishment of
wickedness and vice’ is decisive. The Book of
Common Prayer was crafted in two centuries of
unquietness and fear.
But our English liturgy made some changes
which were highly significant, though often
forgotten. Between the first Prayer Book of 1549
The Peace which the worldcannot give
Graham James
12
and the second Prayer Book of 1552 the
Purification of Women, the service after childbirth,
became the Churching of Women. A note of
greater thanksgiving for the safe delivery of a child
was sounded along with concern for the
continuing health of the mother. The traditional
view that women needed to be purified for
uncleanness after childbirth diminished
considerably. This amended service put the woman
at the centre of the liturgy. It led to a distinctive
Anglican female piety which continued until the
last century. It began to die out well before
liturgical revision in recent decades took place. In
many ways we are the poorer for it. We did not
treasure our Prayer Book’s spirituality even when it
faced no competition from liturgical revisers.
That’s a matter for deep regret. We are only now
realising what we allowed ourselves to lose.
The Book of Common Prayer was intended to
be a prayer book for clergy and lay people alike. I
believe there is a largely unacknowledged reason
for this. The monastic Offices were known and
appreciated by the devout. The Dissolution of the
Monasteries led to the loss of a good deal of social
welfare but also popular religion too. The
monasteries nurtured far more lay piety than we
sometimes credit them for. Archbishop Cranmer
took the Offices of Matins, Lauds and Prime and
created from them Morning Prayer. He took
Vespers and Compline in the monastic tradition
and created Evening Prayer. These were now daily
Offices to be used by all the people of God, clergy
and lay. The words which introduced them until
the Reformation were ‘O Lord open my lips.’
Cranmer changed this to ‘O Lord open thou our
lips.’ These twice-daily acts of corporate worship
and praise, observed every day in this Cathedral for
centuries, became congregational. Cranmer
wanted our parish churches to be inhabited twice
a day by congregations praising and worshipping
God. He wanted parish churches to be
powerhouses of daily prayer, to replace the
monasteries of the past with new communities of
Christians, ordained and lay, whose worship and
prayer were woven into the texture of their daily
lives. That’s what common prayer meant to him.
That’s what being a Prayer Book church is truly
about.
The Book of Common Prayer was intended to
be a book of worship, a book of private devotion,
a book of spiritual learning, and a book
articulating the doctrine of the Christian Faith as
the Church of England understood it. It was all
expressed before God in prayer. Often people have
admired the language of the Prayer Book for the
dignity of its expressions and the quality of its
cadences. It is all true. It was a great century for
beauty in the use of the English language. But as
Alan Bennett once wrote, ‘Cranmer did not die for
English prose.’
What Cranmer did shape, however, was the
devotion of countless members of the Church of
England over succeeding centuries. These were the
people who came to know the words of his prayers
so well that they needed no book to follow. We are
liable to be the last such people unless we treasure
the Book of Common Prayer much more. I had not
been ordained very long when I went to sit at the
bedside of a dying woman in the parish in
Peterborough where I served my curacy. Edith was
a daily communicant, formed in the highest
Anglo-Catholic tradition, the sort that the
Protestant Cranmer would never have imagined
might re-emerge in the Church of England. The
parish where Edith grew up used the English
Missal but stuck to the Prayer Book for the Offices.
She frequently attended Morning Prayer and
Evening Prayer as well as the daily Mass in our
parish. As I sat by her bed one evening I prayed
aloud the collects from Evening Prayer, partly
because I wondered what else to do. She had
seemed to be asleep. As I repeated the prayers she
joined in—‘Give unto thy servants that peace
which the world cannot give; that both our hearts
may be set to obey thy commandments, and also
that by thee we being defended from the fear of
our enemies may pass our time in rest and
quietness.’ The collect for peace may have been
once very much a prayer for the nation. Gradually
it shaped an individual spirituality too and linked
them both. That evening in 1975 a young curate
on a council estate in Peterborough learned how
sustaining and renewing that collect could be. I
found new meaning in that prayer as a dying
woman prayed it, perhaps praying familiar words
with an intensity and understanding as never
before herself. That’s what the Book of Common
Prayer gave us. It has shaped Christians in life and
in death. We have many reasons to give thanks.
Sermon preached by The Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of
Norwich, in Norwich Cathedral, for Choral Evensong and
Celebration of the 350th anniversary of the Book of Common
Prayer (1662)
Prayer Book Society Church
St Thomas à Becket is part of the
United Benefice which comprises
the parish of St Anne, the parish of St
Michael, and the parish of St Thomas at
Cliffe with All Saints in Lewes. It is a
Corporate Member of the Prayer Book
Society. St Thomas’s hosts daily services:
Morning Prayer at 7.00 a.m. and Evening
Prayer at 6.00 p.m. During the week the
1928 lectionary is used, but at the Sunday
celebration of Holy Communion the
1662 Prayer Book lectionary is the order
of the day. Founded in the twelfth century,
the church was rebuilt in the fourteenth
and restored in the nineteenth century; it
has a delightful cloister which connects
the church with the church hall. St
Thomas’s has an excellent website,
www.st-thomas-lewes.org.uk. The website
opens a window onto a vibrant
community with a lively engagement
with the wider parish. The Priest is the
Revd George Linnegar, whose telephone
number is 01273 478145.
The East Window of St Thomas à Becket,
Lewes
13
Blackburn Diocese’s 350th celebrations on 19th
May 2012 have been recorded for posterity on a
double CD. This was the exact anniversary of the
passing of the Act of Uniformity in 1662. To add
to the sense of occasion all the words and music
used in the celebration of Holy Communion
were contemporary to the second half of the
seventeenth century. The celebrant was the Bishop
of Blackburn and the preacher Lord Hope, the
previous Archbishop of York. The service of Sung
Evensong, also recorded, included the propers for
Ascension Day. The total playing time is 125
minutes.
This CD is available from PBS Trading (stock
code c113).
14
The 1928 Prayer Book Controversy Revisited
Robert Beaken
No liturgy is perfect, and by the early
twentieth century many in the Church of
England had come to believe that the
1662 Prayer Book needed revising. To take an
obvious example, it made no provision for Harvest
Thanksgiving. Prayer Book revision, though, was
easier said than done. During the second half of
the nineteenth century, Anglo-Catholics had
increasingly enriched the 1662 Communion rite
with additional material, and this led to friction
with evangelicals. Further controversy erupted in
the early twentieth century when several
Modernists advocated the revision of the liturgy in
a liberal direction, for example by abolishing the
Athanasian Creed.
Part of the difficulty was that the Church of
England had replaced several pre-Reformation
rites with a single Book of Common Prayer; and
the concept of common prayer, expressed in one
service book used by Anglicans of all
churchmanships, had become part of Anglican
self-identity. In 1906, a Royal Commission on
Ritual had recommended that the Convocations
should revise the law relating to worship ‘as may
tend to secure the greater elasticity which a
reasonable recognition of the comprehensiveness
of the Church of England and of its present needs
seems to demand’. The task proved larger than
expected, and by 1922 it had become evident that
what was needed was not a tinkering with the
1662 book, but instead a newly revised Prayer
Book. This turned out to be highly controversial.
The Anglo-Catholics sought a liturgy which gave
full expression to their beliefs about the Eucharist.
The evangelicals saw this as an attack on the
Reformation and opposed it bitterly.
By 1927 the Church Assembly was finally ready
to submit a Measure to Parliament sanctioning a
Revised Prayer Book. Many of the changes in the
new book were entirely unexceptional, but two
areas proved contentious. An alternative
Communion rite contained a longer canon,
intended to meet Anglo-Catholic complaints that
the 1662 consecration ended abruptly after the
words of institution. The 1927 canon, however,
proved unacceptable to many Anglo-Catholics
because it contained an epiclesis, or invocation of
the Holy Spirit (‘with thy Holy and Life-giving
Spirit vouchsafe to bless and sanctify both us and
these thy gifts of Bread and Wine, that they may be
unto us the Body and Blood of thy Son’), in the
Eastern Orthodox position after the words of
institution (‘Take, eat, this is my Body’ etc.), rather
than in the Western Catholic position prior to
them. The significance was that in the Western
Catholic tradition, to which many Anglo-Catholics
looked for an example, the moment of
consecration was believed to occur during the
words of institution, for which the epiclesis had
been said preparatorily. This contrasted with the
Eastern Orthodox liturgy, where the process was
reversed and the words of institution prepared the
way for the moment of consecration during the
epiclesis. Much sweat and ink were spilt over this
difference, except by the evangelicals, who did not
really believe in a moment of consecration and
consequently were satisified by the 1662 rite.
A second sticking point was permanent
Reservation of the Sacrament. The 1927 Revised
Prayer Book contained a rubric permitting
Reservation for communion of the sick, subject to
episcopal licence. This provision irritated Anglo-
Catholics, who wished for pastoral reasons
occasionally to communicate the whole as well as
the sick, and sometimes to have Benediction. It
also displeased many evangelicals, who feared that
Reservation would lead to an idolatrous view of
the Sacrament. Thus, in a nutshell, the 1927
Revised Prayer Book was unacceptable to Anglo-
Catholics because it was not catholic enough, and
unacceptable to evangelicals because it was too
catholic. The Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals
marshalled their respective forces, publicly
criticised the proposed new book, and wrote to
their MPs. Evangelicals also enlisted support
outside the Church of England from English
Nonconformists and Scottish and Welsh
Protestants. The 1927 Prayer Book was
overwhelmingly approved by the Church Assembly
and was passed by a majority of 155 in the House
of Lords. To the surprise of many, it was rejected by
the House of Commons on 15th December 1927,
by 238 votes to 205, largely because of evangelical
pressure, but also because its supporters spoke
badly during the debate.
The bishops believed that this outcome was
because of ‘misunderstandings’ and responded by
modifying the Revised Prayer Book in 1928 in the
hope of making it more acceptable to evangelicals
and MPs. The epiclesis was retained in the Eastern
Orthodox position after the words of institution.
Reservation was still permitted, but as the
exception rather than the rule. These changes failed
to appease evangelicals and were resented by
Anglo-Catholics, who thought the result a much
worse Prayer Book. On 13th June 1928 the
Commons again rejected the modified Prayer
Book, this time by 268 votes to 222. Archbishop
Davidson was profoundly shaken and announced
his resignation. He was succeeded by Archbishop
Lang in December 1928.
Lang was immediately confronted by a skein of
interwoven problems. To begin with, the
controversy about the Revised Prayer Books had
seen much dirty linen washed in public.
Disagreements about churchmanship had been
exacerbated. Many Anglicans felt hurt by the
Commons’ rejection of twenty years of liturgical
revision. Michael Ramsey, then an ordinand and
later Archbishop of Canterbury, found the rejection
of the Revised Prayer Books a searing experience
which he remembered all his life. There was also
the lurking fear of Anglo-Catholic secessions,
which, according to Davidson, would lose the
Church ‘men of the intensest devotion, greatest
pastoral effectiveness, and deep piety’.
Much of Lang’s primacy (1928–42) involved
containing the fall-out from the crisis and holding
the Church of England together. Himself an Anglo-
Catholic, he treated all Anglicans equally and
sought a balance of appointments, reflecting the
range of churchmanships. In the diocese of
Canterbury, Lang gave sensible instructions about
Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament and
permitted it when there was a pastoral need. His
attempts to secure further reform of the liturgy
were largely stymied by the bishops, most of
whom were uninterested in questions of liturgy.
Lang appointed a commission to examine the
relationship of the Church to the state, which
published its report in the week that George V died
and was thus rather overshadowed. By the time the
Second World War broke out, the controversy over
the 1928 Prayer Book seemed very old hat.
And what of the 1928 Prayer Book? Parts of it
soon became well known and much used in the
Church of England, for example the marriage and
burial services. The 1928 Communion rite was not
especially good, and, apart from in a few high-
church liberal parishes, never really took off.
Evangelicals mostly continued to use 1662
‘straight’, whilst Anglo-Catholics tweaked the 1662
rite (the so-called ‘Interim Rite’) or used the English
Missal.
For all its faults, though, the 1928 Prayer Book
remains worth dipping into. It provides collects,
epistles and gospels for a variety of minor holy
days and a selection of very fine prayers in
traditional English. Bishop Hensley Henson, for
example, wrote a very good prayer for the peoples
of the British Empire, which can easily be adapted
into a prayer for the Commonwealth, or for
brotherly love and compassion throughout the
world.
My final reflection about the 1928 Prayer Book,
though, must be a rather poignant one. I believe
that the Revised Prayer Book was a missed
opportunity. Had Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals
listened to one another, and been more flexible in
their understanding of common prayer, they might
have devised a very useful and worthwhile Revised
Prayer Book, perhaps, for example, containing two
Communion rites to accommodate different
spiritualities. In the light of the twentieth-century
Church of England’s later liturgical changes, the
1928 Prayer Book doesn’t seem quite so terrible
after all.
The Revd Dr Robert Beaken’s book, Cosmo Lang,
Archbishop in War and Crisis, is reviewed on p.22.
15
16
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like you all to
imagine that you are the Search Committee
for a most important job: preparing the
Book of Common Prayer for the Church of
England. We have interviewed several candidates—
and now it is time for us to sum up impressions of
our last interviewee: his name is Thomas Cranmer.
I have to say that there seems to be one major
question mark against our man: clearly he is not an
Anglican. Questioning revealed that he is a rather
alarmingly international-minded Reformed
Protestant, with a great admiration for the
Reformed Churches of Strasbourg and Zurich. I
suspect that he wants England to lead the
Reformation, perhaps even stage a General Council
to rival the Pope’s Council of Trent (though that
does seem to me to be over-ambitious; I don’t
think that that is going to come off). When I tried
to explain to him what a ‘via media’ was between
Rome and the Reformation, he rather snappily
retorted that you can’t have a middle way between
Antichrist and the Truth. And his clear lack of
enthusiasm for cathedrals and their choral music
does give one a little pause, doesn’t it? His plans to
introduce metrical psalms as the main music in
church, and get rid of pipe-organs from churches,
won’t please everyone.
But there it is: no candidate is going to be
perfect. Let’s consider what the qualifications are.
No question: Cranmer is a most respectable
scholar. Nothing startlingly original in his research
stands out from the Cambridge part of his CV, but
he undoubtedly has a much bigger personal
library than either Oxford or Cambridge
University libraries, and he is not afraid to use it.
He has a clear enthusiasm for liturgical studies,
although, as one of you has rightly observed, it
does rather concentrate on the liturgy of the
Western Church: no hint of an interest in
Orthodoxy, though somehow he seems to know a
little about the ancient Mozarabic rite of Spain!
And for a Reformed Protestant, Cranmer seems
remarkably jackdaw-like in his approach to liturgy.
I was rather surprised when he started enthusing
about the new breviary that Cardinal Quiñones
prepared for the Pope in 1536. But as he remarked
to us, why should the Devil have all the best tunes?
It just needs a bit of adaptation, he said breezily.
You know what happened when I asked him to
translate the Latin of the opening sentence in
Quiñones’s preface: ‘There was never anything by
man so well devised which could not later be
rendered more perfect by the added insight of many.’ He
turned it right round! ‘There was never anything
by men so well devised or so surely established
which in age and continuance of time has not been
corrupted.’
You might almost call it a sort of ruthlessness—
perhaps adaptability is the better word. We put a
problem to him: what happens if people won’t
come to a new English Communion Service week
by week, because it is introduced by fierce
warnings that before you can be a communicant,
you have to be reconciled to your neighbour? A lot
of folk might not come because they didn’t feel at
all reconciled, and don’t want to eat and drink to
their own condemnation. Not a problem, said
Cranmer. I would take Matins and Evensong, two
services which I have created mainly for the clergy
to use, drawing on the old monastic Offices of the
Western Church, and if laypeople won’t come to
Holy Communion every Sunday, I will encourage
the laity to come to these Offices alongside the
clergy instead. It will take just a bit of rewriting to
make it sound more as if it is for the whole
community—for instance, I’ll change ‘O Lord,
open Thou my lips’ to ‘O Lord, open Thou OUR
lips’—and I would tell the curate to ring the bell,
so that the people may come. And so they will,
over centuries, I would think, he remarked
cheerfully.
And above all, Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we
all picked up on Cranmer’s remarkably sensitive
use of English prose. Not poetry: that exercise in
turning the old Latin hymn ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’
into a metrical English hymn for the ordination
services (the Ordinal) was not a success, and I
think that we might have to turn later to Dr Cosin
to produce something better—‘Come Holy Ghost,
Our Souls Inspire’, perhaps. But the special gift in
The Right Man for the JobDiarmaid MacCulloch
17
Cranmer seems to be formal prose: nothing flashy
or showy, but words you can use again and again,
until they are worn as smooth as a pebble on a
beach. He is, I have to say, a little cavalier in
borrowing other people’s English words and
saying them over and over to himself, until he has
discovered just where you stumble when you say
them—then he tweaks the sentence just a little and
makes it his own. A good thing we Tudors don’t
have copyright laws.
And it is a major plus that his plans seem to
suggest that his liturgy will be full of opportunities
for everyone to join in and make their responses:
so they will remember those solemn words and let
them shape their language. Cranmer seems to be
very good at creating muscular, slightly old-
fashioned prose. We all know the problem with
our Tudor English: there may be much praise of it,
but a lot of it is pompous, long-winded and full of
new Greek and Latin words that humanist scholars
have introduced (just to show off, in my opinion).
In all the words which Cranmer proposes to use, I
hear very few of these over-elaborate words. In his
plan for an Ordinal, I did rather stumble when he
used the phrase ‘the immarcescible crown of
glory’, and I won’t do a show of hands to see how
many people know what ‘immarcescible’ means.
Might it be that, down the line, say in 113 years
from this year of grace 1549, that could be calmed
down to ‘never-fading crown of glory’? Perhaps he
did the Ordinal in a bit of a hurry.
Altogether, we have a great linguistic stylist on
our shortlist, who could teach our nation how to
speak its language for centuries. His services will
be the most widely performed play in the whole
realm, with the whole people as cast. It will be
even more influential than all those variants on Mr
Tyndale’s version of the Bible that are proliferating,
for these Prayer Book words are words which
everyone says in public, not just hears, or
encounters in their private reading. And if only for
that wonderful and rare gift, I suggest that we
choose Thomas Cranmer for the task in hand.
Diarmaid MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the
Church in the University of Oxford.
This talk was given at ‘A Celebration of 350 years of the
Book of Common Prayer in British Life and Culture’ at the
Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield, in November 2012.
Bishops and Deans
We reported last year that our President, Lord
Cormack, had written to all Cathedral Deans and
Diocesan Bishops in England, inviting them to
become honorary members of the Society, and
that the response had been very positive. The list
of all those Diocesan Bishops and Deans who are
either full or honorary members of the Society is
shown below:
Diocesan Bishops
The Bishop of Carlisle
The Bishop of Chelmsford
The Bishop of Chester
The Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Coventry
The Bishop of Derby
The Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
The Bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Guildford
The Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Liverpool
The Bishop of London
The Bishop of Manchester
The Bishop of Newcastle
The Bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Peterborough
The Bishop of Ripon & Leeds
The Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of St Albans
The Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich
The Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Sodor & Man
The Bishop of Southwark
The Bishop of Truro
The Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Worcester
Deans
The Dean of Carlisle
The Dean of Durham
The Dean of Guildford
The Dean of Hereford
The Dean of Manchester
The Dean of Peterborough
The Dean of Sheffield
The Dean of Southwell
The Dean of Winchester
18
Upon going into one of our parish
churches 200 years ago and looking
towards the altar, the first thing one
would have probably noticed would have been the
large and colourfully painted royal coat of arms
above the entrance to the chancel.
It might have been the royal arms of the current
sovereign or, if it was still in good condition, it
might have dated from an earlier reign. But, by
order of Queen Elizabeth I in 1561, the royal arms
had to be prominently displayed in
all English churches to emphasise
that the sovereign was not only the
Head of State, but also, as a result of
the Reformation, the Church of
England’s Supreme Governor.
And these beautifully painted
royal coats of arms also fulfilled
another purpose because, before
England became a Protestant
country with the Reformation, its
churches had been ablaze with
colour—coloured frescoes on the
wall, coloured statues of saints and,
dominating all, at the entrance to
the chancel, the painted crucifixion
scene on the rood screen. So, in the
reformed English Church, the
colourful coats of arms went some
way to compensate for the loss of
that pre-Reformation colour.
Many churches across the
country still have their royal coats of
arms. Most of them date from
Georgian times and there were
several reasons for this. The
Georgian Church of England, which
Dr Johnson loved, was, of course,
very Protestant in character, and in
the aftermath of the Jacobite risings
it was also politically important for
the first three Georges to have their
sovereignty asserted strongly. Many
of the older coats of arms would, in
any case, have needed replacement through wear
and tear. And in the turbulent days of the
Commonwealth, monarchist symbols had been
largely rooted out and the royal arms generally
went the way of the old rood screens. In this
respect, the very isolated little country church in
Cotes-by-Stow, near Lincoln, is a wonderful
example of continuity through times of
revolutionary change. Not only did the pre-
Reformation rood screen remain in place but the
Royal Arms in Parish ChurchesPeter Criddle
The Chancel Arch in Edenham Parish Church, Lincs
19
royal coat of arms of King Charles I, a particular
anathema for the Puritans, has also been preserved.
Examples of the royal arms of the Church of
England’s Roman Catholic Supreme Governor,
James II, are also rarely to be found, both because
of the shortness of the reign and the Protestant
fervour built up in the Glorious Revolution of
1688.
In the heyday of the Georgian Church, the royal
arms came to be made of metal for greater
permanence. But, in the changed climate of the
Victorian Church, it came to seem inappropriate
that such a secular image of the royal arms should
have so predominant a position in our churches,
so the shields were generally removed from their
situation on the chancel arch and either disposed
of or sidelined. New coats of arms were
occasionally made, but where royal arms survived,
they very often became faded or fell into disrepair.
And it was then left to the regular use of the
prescribed prayers in the Book of Common Prayer
to emphasise the Church’s loyalty to the sovereign.
With the revival of interest in the traditions of
our Church, royal arms, where they still exist, are
once again being appreciated. But it can be a very
expensive operation to have a shield that is in poor
condition restored. Information about qualified
restorers can be obtained from The Conservation
Register, c/o Icon, The Institute of Conservation,
Unit 1.5 Lafone House, The Leathermarket, Weston
Street, London SE1 3ER and grant aid may be
available in some cases through the Church
Buildings Council.
Peter Criddle is a PBS member in Lincoln Diocese.
iPray, a mobile phone and tablet application that
provides users of the traditional Book of Common
Prayer with a convenient and intuitive way to read
the daily prayers and Scripture of the Church’s
liturgical calendar, is now available for iPad and
Android users.
Due to high demand and the success of the
iPhone version that launched last April, requests
were made to create iPray for the iPad and Android
market. While there are no major functional
differences, the new iPad app will provide users
with a scrolling calendar on the top of the screen
along with improved graphics.
‘We are excited to bring iPray into the Android
market and increase on-the-go access to the Book
of Common Prayer with the iPad version,’ said
Revd Patrick Bright, Rector at All Souls’ Episcopal
Church in Oklahoma City. ‘We have had
overwhelmingly positive reviews of the app and
hope to continue making improvements to
increase the ease in which people can access the
appointed lessons of Scripture, psalms and prayers
for a particular day.’
The app costs $1.99 for both iPhone and
Android users, and was developed by Phase2
Interactive of Oklahoma City. The app is available
through the iTunes Store and Android Market.
iPray is modelled after the Church of England’s
1662 Book of Common Prayer and based on the
ancient practice of the Church as refined by the
English Reformation.
iPray presents the Scripture readings and the
appropriate daily prayers referenced in the Book of
Common Prayer in one easy-to-use format
according to the traditional liturgical calendar of
seasons, feast days and commemorations of the
saints. In the course of praying these daily Offices
through the medium of this app, one enters into
the honoured tradition of the sanctification of
time in prayer and the spiritual digestion of God’s
word written.
iPray Anthony Triana
CorrespondenceDear Sir,
‘In the beginning was the Word’. Hopefully I am not
alone in finding the article by Alexandra Daborn
(from The English Speaking Board in the Michaelmas
edition, pp.10–11) informative, helpful and
confirming. The joyous relaxed smile of the reader is
a fitting visual image of many blessings this subject
and those related to in the text have bestowed.
Speedy technology and the use of the microphone to
amplify have their places; I am no Luddite but the
former may de-personalise and the latter prove a
dreadful negative, with eye contact, breath control,
projective skills, range of voice and use of pause
forgotten or never learned. I well recall the service of
carols and readings in which the reader was
inaudible beyond the first rank of pews and the
delivery could best be described as a slurred muddle
reminiscent of a platform announcement.
My father was the church organist, often
commenting on being caught between Scylla and
Charybdis: intellectually undemanding, dreadful,
repetitious ditties undermining reverence or dry,
mumbled liturgy, only being occasionally uplifted
when hot-air harangue was replaced by clear reading
and informative interpretation.
There is a link between pulpit and stage in that
knowledge and a leap of imagination are required;
young people especially have a spiritual insight
uninhibited by self-consciousness. Alexandra
Daborn’s article is rich in excellent points and
interest and was a joy to read, especially for those
who, like myself, may have felt that they were
fighting a rearguard action against collective
mediocrity of watered-down faith and woolly-
minded apologists alike.
Yours sincerely,
Howard Air
Kennington, Kent
Dear Sir,
Mr John Scott thanks God for our cathedral choirs
(Michaelmas edition, p.18) and how I agree.
However, in the tiny village of Coleman’s Hatch in
Sussex, not only does the church use the Book of
Common Prayer but also, once a month at Sung
Evensong, the choir sings an anthem, beautifully I
may say, and each month the anthem is different. Can
any village match that?
Yours faithfully,
Godfrey Dann
East Grinstead
20
21
Fr Simon Holden CR, Ways of Loving, Mirfield
Publications, booklet, 39 pages (nine colour), £5
It is a rare thing to find a book about the Christian
Faith that distils the dynamics of Christian living to
simple sentences and clear illustrations. It is rooted in
prayer and pastoral ministry and its fruit is Wisdom.
This means that both a lifelong Christian and a
person beginning to search the Christian way will
find this fruit easy to digest and full of goodness.
The essence of the Christian Life, writes Fr
Holden, is to learn how ‘to receive and give love’. In
eight short chapters, reminiscent in length to the
‘chapters’ of the medieval mystics, Fr Holden leads us
through this reciprocal dynamic of love in creation,
incarnation, the life of the Church, in the liturgy and
in prayer. In addition he reflects on love in
relationships and the difficulties we encounter in
loving. The last chapter contemplates the
transformation of love beyond physical death.
Angela Ashwin in her Foreword advises the reader
to read the book slowly and prayerfully. It is a book,
she suggests, that will ‘restore our confidence in
God’. It lends itself to a kind of Lectio Divina; it has a
beautiful clear font in a sensible size and each
chapter is illustrated with prints of art works ranging
from Orthodox icons to a photograph of a pair of
open hands. It would be a good Lent book and also a
suitable present for anyone looking to renew or
explore their spiritual life.
Siân John
Andrew Burnham and Aidan Nicholls (editors), Customary of the Ordinariate Our Lady of Walsingham,
Canterbury Press, Norwich, hardback, £45
It was a surprise to receive a copy of this book for
review in the PBS Journal, indeed some reading the
name here may have already turned the page. For
those sticking with it, it may be useful to explain
what it is, especially since the book’s obfuscatory
introduction will not give much help to the lay
Anglican. This is the book of daily Offices especially
designed for those congregations who have left the
Church of England and joined the Roman Catholic
Church. Why is it worth a mention in these pages
which, after all, do not normally review other
denominations’ liturgical books?
The answer lies in the prominent role the book
gives to the Book of Common Prayer. ‘It is right and
just,’ says the introduction, ‘indeed meet and right, in
the words of the Prayer Book—that this Customary is
published in the 350th anniversary year of the Book
of Common Prayer.’ You will find here traditional
language worship from Matins and Evening Prayer—
almost, though never of course quite, the real thing:
the Litany, Collects and Coverdale Psalter through to
Night Prayer based on 1928 Compline. (The Mass is
absent.) It is an eclectic assemblage, as the list of
acknowledgements covering nearly three and a half
pages shows. Converts will find much to love and
admire here, and the passage of traditionally minded
ones across the great divide will have been greatly
eased—they may indeed find more Prayer Book
worship than when they were within the Anglican
Church. There are also post-biblical readings from,
among others, Caroline divines and leaders of the
Oxford Movement as well as some modern prayers as
good as or better than those in the traditional pages
of Common Worship. The book, considering the niche
market at which it is aimed, is a lavish production;
those looking towards seeing the Book of Common
Prayer produced with greater clarity will find much
to emulate in the layout. Of course, many Prayer
Book Society members will look grimly upon the
whole concept.
The Prayer Book Society’s views are found in the
relevant Articles of Religion.
Peter Bolton
Paul Thomas, Using the Book of Common Prayer: A Simple
Guide, Church House Publishing, paperback, 144
pages, £12.99
This book has been needed for at least thirty years.
The advent of the Alternative Service Book 1980 marked
the triumph of revision over tradition and since then
most men and women entering ordained ministry
have been quite ignorant of the Book of Common
Prayer and how to lead its worship. The same is true,
to a lesser extent, for Licensed Readers. As Paul
Thomas comments in his preface, ‘The 350th
anniversary . . . presents us with an opportunity to
engage afresh with a founding “historic formulary”
of the Church of England, and to find in it new
insights and inspiration.’ The key phrase is ‘new
insights and inspiration’ and there is little doubt that
last year’s anniversary had opened up the Prayer Book
for the first time to many people in ministry.
This book assumes a complete ignorance of the
Book of Common Prayer, its history, contents and
liturgical and pastoral application. Members of this
Book Reviews
22
Society should not be surprised that such ignorance
exists and ought to be grateful to Paul Thomas for
addressing it so sensitively and fully.
The book is in two equal sections. The first is a
history of the Book of Common Prayer. The second
describes its contents and how to use it in today’s
parochial setting. The historical introduction is not
short on facts, the narrative is light of touch and its
judgements are sound. Paul Thomas ‘knows his
stuff’! It is no mean achievement to cover the
religious turmoil of two centuries and explain how
this one small book is central to the story. The
account, like the Prayer Book itself, maintains a
balance between High Church and Low Church
perspectives.
The second half, on the pastoral and liturgical
practice, is extremely clear and practical. It includes
inset boxes of questions and answers to address those
often asked by those seeking to use the Prayer Book
for the first time. What readings to use? Should the
commandments always be said at Holy Communion?
The answers are common sense and should allay fear
and anxieties. Paul Thomas also points his readers in
some useful directions—not least towards the Series
One services for Marriage and Funerals which
authorise the 1928 versions of the Prayer Book
Services.
It is here that some lovers of the Prayer Book
might dispute Paul Thomas’s advice. Some might feel
that he has, in the pastoral Offices, sold the 1662
Book of Common Prayer far too short. They are
justified in their feelings about this. In his defence it
has to be said that to reintroduce the Book of
Common Prayer in a purist way is not Paul Thomas’s
aim. His aim is to encourage those clergy and readers
who have never or seldom considered offering the
Prayer Book for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals to
seriously consider doing so. Time will tell on this
one.
This book ought to be on the desk of every clergy
house in England and certainly ought to be required
reading for those new to ministry. It has seized the
moment well and lovers of the Prayer Book ought to
be grateful to Paul Thomas for his work.
Thomas Andrew
This book is available through PBS Trading.
Robert Beaken, Cosmo Lang: Archbishop in War and Crisis,
I.B. Tauris, hardback, 300 pages, £25
This book is a serious work of history and engages
areas where popular historians have plied their trade
in supplements and television series. Dr Beaken walks
where angels fear to tread in challenging widely held
views about the ministry of Cosmo Lang, not least
during the Abdication Crisis and the Second World
War.
It was my intention to invite someone else to
review this book, but I started to read it and couldn’t
put it down! It has the advantage that someone like
myself, who is largely ignorant of some of the
subject matter, is deftly guided through the
complexities and characters involved. Dr Beaken
gives the strong impression that he is sure of his
material and his judgements are always well argued
and balanced. This is something I would expect of a
country parson in the Prayer Book tradition.
The key to Dr Beaken’s method is very close
attention to the sources, some of which have recently
become available. He has gathered some lost or
discarded pieces of the jigsaw and has gone some
way to restore a well-rounded picture of the
Archbishop who seems to have been an early and
unfortunate victim of mass media. His radio
broadcast after the Abdication is a case in point; some
of his remarks were taken out of context to make
him appear judgemental and vindictive. That does
seem contrary to the man described in this book.
It would appear that this major work has had a
long gestation. The appendixes record the author’s
sources and these include interviews with those who
knew Lang or were closely acquainted with those
who did. The first of these is dated 19th October
2001. The second is with The Queen Mother on 4th
December 2001. The book also covers much of the
inner wrangling of the Church of the time, including
its wrestling match with Parliament over Prayer Book
revision. (See Dr Beaken’s article on pp. 14-15). I
found this a valuable, informative and enjoyable read.
As a country parson myself I am full of admiration
for all Robert Beaken has achieved. I am sure it will
not go unrecognised in the world of academic
historians.
Andrew Hawes
Andrew Hawes (The Editor)
23
Derby
A very unusual event involving at
least some PBS members took place
on 21st September 2012. The small
church of St Saviour, Foremark, in
the benefice of Repton, Foremark,
Ingleby and Newton Solney, in
South Derbyshire, is almost unique,
in that the present building was
consecrated in 1662, at the end of
the Protectorate. Hence its 350th
anniversary of consecration
coincided with the 350th birthday
of the Book of Common Prayer. The
Vicar and PCC therefore felt that a
joint celebration would be in order.
The PBS was consulted and our
Chairman, Miss Prudence Dailey,
agreed to be present at a Service of
Thanksgiving on the date of the
church’s consecration.
The night was one of storm and
tempest and the road to the church
was rocky, but there was a capacity
congregation who enjoyed
Evensong. The officiant was the
Vicar of Repton, the Revd Martin
Flowerdew, with the psalm and
anthem beautifully sung by the
local Repton Singers. The sermon
was preached by the Bishop of
Derby, the Rt Revd Alastair Redfern.
Unfortunately Miss Dailey was
defeated by the weather and heavy
traffic and missed not only the
service but also the splendid
refreshments provided at nearby
Foremark Hall, Repton’s
preparatory school.
It is not possible to find out how
many present were PBS members,
but the pleasure engendered by the
evening might indicate that, with
goodwill, a resurgence of the local
PBS Branch could be possible. Let us
hope so.
Leicester
Mr Chris Stephens, a member of the
PBS, organised a very successful
exhibition to celebrate the 350th
anniversary in All Saints Highcross
Street in Leicester, a church in the
care of the Churches Conservation
Trust. The exhibition included a
Prayer Book in Hindi, a BCP Altar
Missal and three ‘ladies’ purse’
editions. Well over 150 people
attended over four days. The
exhibition remained in place over
the Christmas period.
London & Southwark
We were the first Branch to
introduce the phone conference as a
social and theological novelty—
unless you know otherwise, and
please say so if you do.
We seem to be the first again,
this time to set up a Twitter account.
Many Society members,
whichever Branch, are not on e-
mail, let alone on Twitter. A few in
this position express proud
contempt: ‘I don’t know what
Twitter is, and I don’t want to
know.’ Yet according to
commentators who write about the
necessity of learning e-mail, anyone
who doesn’t learn it will eventually
find themselves cut off from life in
the outside world beyond our
Society. An example is the local
authority which refuses to send an
elderly person a form to fill in,
except by e-mail.
Twitter is a list of Tweets. A good
way to explain to the uninitiated is
to say that you can arrange to type a
message, sometimes amusing and
informative, as you would an office
memo; to the left of each message is
the Twitter person’s ‘picture’. The
Twitter account holder can display
his messages to the world, or
restrict to a chosen few.
There are many other choices on
Twitter, and space doesn’t allow me
to go on with them.
I suggest you go on a computer,
if you are willing, and search for
prayerbookman, and see what you
think.
News from the Branches
24
We are fortunate to have the
national Deputy Chairman, the
Revd Paul Thomas, as a member of
the London and Southwark Branch.
Even better is his being author of
Using The Book of Common Prayer: A
Simple Guide. By the time you read
this, the book launch will have been
held, but you will have had The
Branch, our newsletter, in time, with
information and directions to get
there.
Finally, our Branch Chairman
Ken Ellis heard that the Branches
Representative Council Chairman
was retiring in October 2012. Ken
decided to stand for election in
York, but was beaten by a surprise
candidate, the Revd Jamie Lee
Potter, a more experienced BR
member. Ken looks forward to
working under him. His first BRC
meeting with the new Chairman is
on 13th April 2013.
Norwich
To celebrate the 350th anniversary
of the Book of Common Prayer,
members of the Branch enjoyed a
service of Choral Evensong in our
Cathedral on 20th May. This proved
to be a memorable occasion with a
good attendance from the Society
and a very encouraging address by
our Bishop which is published
elsewhere in this issue.
Our last Branch meeting of 2012
took about a score of us to
Shropham near Attleborough, the
delightful home of our members
George and Angela Lynne on a
bright afternoon in early August.
George Lynne gave a most
interesting talk on the historic
background of this fascinating
house and of the previous owners.
This was followed by a delicious
afternoon tea prepared by our
hosts. We then visited the church of
St Peter and St Paul Shropham to see
the re-creation of a 1952
Christening and a tableau of
children in church 60 years ago,
with photos and articles set out by
Angela Lynne to commemorate The
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. After this
we joined the congregation for
Choral Evensong at which George
Lynne, a reader, preached a sermon
on the value and merits of the Book
of Common Prayer.
During August and September, to
celebrate the 350th anniversary of
the Prayer Book, Norwich Cathedral
held an exhibition to display its
collection of Prayer Books, and our
Branch maintained a stand there to
show the flag and to try and
increase our membership.
In June and September we
continued our practice of
presenting Books of Common
Prayer to readers at their licensing
and ordinands at their ordination,
as we consider this the optimum
time for them to be received.
Oxford
The Oxford Diocese Branch
crowned an active year with its
annual Advent Service held in the
church of St Michael at the North
Gate in Oxford on Saturday, 8th
December. The service, which is
designed around the Advent and
other Collects from the Prayer
Book, was conducted by the Rector,
the Very Revd Bob Wilkes, with
prayers led by Branch President, the
Revd Dr Roger Beckwith. Two of the
lessons were read by the winners of
the diocesan heats for the Cranmer
Awards, Charles Graham of
Magdalen College School (senior)
and Eloise Jenkins of St Andrew’s
Members of Leicester Branch at the 350th Exhibition
School, Pangbourne (junior). The
swelling organ competed
successfully with the vibrant tones
of Oxford’s main shopping area,
and after the service the
congregation of about thirty
enjoyed excellent refreshments,
including mulled wine, provided by
the Branch Committee.
Peterborough
Church Safari to commemorate the
first use of the 1662 Prayer Book on24th August 1662
On Saturday, 25th August 2012
twenty-five PBS members,
including several members from
neighbouring Branches, met at All
Saints’ Church, Great Harrowden,
to begin a day of celebration of the
350th anniversary of the first use of
the 1662 BCP. A service of Matins
and Litany was ably led by Miss
Esme Godden. Afterwards we had
the opportunity to have a guided
tour of St Hubert’s Roman Catholic
Chapel in the grounds of
Harrowden Hall.
We moved on to Little
Harrowden to partake of a hearty
lunch in The Lamb Inn. Our next
port of call was Hannington where
we were treated to an erudite talk
by Mr John Souter on links between
Hannington Church and the
Gilbertines and the Godwins. This
was followed by a superb (and
enormous!) afternoon tea in the
Village Hall.
The day was completed by a
service of Sung Evensong led by
the Revd James Mogridge, one of
the two clergy members on our
Branch Committee. The singing was
led by the choir of Higham Ferrers
Church. Music had been specially
chosen to be suitable for the
participation of the whole
congregation. Immediately after the
service we were delighted to
welcome the PBS Chairman, Miss
Prudence Dailey, who gave a most
encouraging talk on the work done
by Board members and
administrative staff. We left for
home with a strong feeling that the
Book of Common Prayer would
remain at the heart of Anglican
worship for generations to come.
The Branch Committee wish to
extend thanks to all those whose
tireless efforts resulted in a very
successful day. The day was ably
organised by Mr Mike Rowlandson.
Salisbury
Autumn Meeting
The Church Hall of St James’s
Church, Poole, was the setting for
the Autumn Meeting of the Prayer
Book Society. Canon Christopher
Brown, Branch Chaplain, gave the
opening prayer and Vice-Chairman
John Jago introduced the speaker,
James Bowman. Mr Bowman, a
world-renowned countertenor,
began his singing career as a
chorister at Ely Cathedral and at
Oxford sang in the choirs of both
Christ Church and New College. He
later sang in all the major opera
houses of the world.
Describing himself as a ‘gut-
reaction Anglican’ who dislikes
mateyness and noise in church,
especially at Holy Communion, he
explained how much he missed
church music during his operatic
career. Returning to it later, he
voiced his fears for the future of
Anglican church music. The loss of
Matins and the lack of parental
25
Anglican Association Retreats
with Prayer Book Worship
Anglican Association Northern Retreat
at Parcevall Hall near Skipton
11th–15th March
Julian of Norwich and The Revelations of Divine Love
Conductor Canon Arthur Middleton
Tel. Rosemary Hall 0191 285 7534
e-mail: [email protected]
Anglican Association Southern Retreat at the St Denys Retreat Centre, Warminster
24th–28th June
The Writings of Jeremy Taylor
Conductor Canon Arthur Middleton
Tel. 01985 214824
e-mail: [email protected]
26
desire to enter their boys for
a choir, parish church or
cathedral means that choirs
cannot be recruited and if
our great traditions of music
die—what have we got?
Warm applause and a
brisk question time followed,
and the speaker was thanked
by Mr John Eliot. After the
usual hearty tea, the
congregation attended
Evensong at St James’s with
its choir and Mr David Owen
Norris as organist. Canon
Christopher Brown
conducted the service.
Advent Carol Service
The Salisbury Branch held its
twelfth consecutive Advent
Carol Service on 8th
December. This year, for the
fifth time, it took place at St
Catherine’s Church,
Netherhampton.
The bells pealed out
before the service. The
programme of Advent Carols
and Hymns had been
compiled by Miss Sheila
Houliston and her sister Miss
Eileen Houliston, the lessons
were taken from the King
James Bible and the church
was packed as members and
friends sang heartily. The
service was conducted by the
Revd Mark Wood and the
organist was Mr William
Alexander. Afterwards,
members adjourned for
lunch, ably organised by
committee member Mr
Derek Barnes, to the Rose and
Crown Hotel, Harnham.
The Chairman of the
Branch, Mr Ian Woodhead,
said it was gratifying to see
so many members at this
beloved annual event and the
beautiful weather was
particularly appreciated.
Cranmer Awards
The Salisbury Branch
Cranmer Awards were held
on Friday, 16th November at
Milton Abbey School, Dorset,
courtesy of the Headmaster,
Mr Gareth Doodes, M.A. The
Branch Chairman welcomed
the competitors and gave a
short explanation of the
purpose and history of the
awards. The junior section
was won by Findlay
MacGregor and the runner-
up was Poppy Grant; both are
pupils at Milton Abbey
School. The senior section
was won by Hugo Slawson
and the runner-up was
Edward Polsoe; both are
pupils at Sherborne School.
Miss Prudence Dailey,
Chairman of the Judges,
presented the winners and
the runners-up with a book
token and a Book of
Common Prayer.
Truro
Twenty-seven members of
Truro Branch enjoyed a
guided tour of the National
Trust gardens at Lanhydrock
on Wednesday, 10th October,
led by the Head Gardener, Mr
Tommy Teagle. After a
sumptuous cream tea in the
restaurant, at which we were
joined by the Bishop of
Truro, the Rt Revd Tim
Thornton, celebratory
Evensong conducted by the
Revd Roger May was held in
St Hydroc’s Church. Bishop
Tim preached the sermon
and the lessons were read by
Mr John Sale and Mr Geoff
Chapman. A big thank you to
the National Trust and
especially to Mr and Mrs Sale
for making all the
arrangements for this very
happy occasion.
Forthcoming EventsCranmer Awards 2013
National Finals
Thursday, 28th February
at the Royal York Hotel and Events
Centre, Station Road, York YO24 1AA
We are delighted that His Grace, the
Lord Archbishop of York, John
Sentamu, has agreed to present the
prizes. All members and friends of
the Society are warmly invited to
attend.
The timetable for the day:
10.30 a.m. Coffee
11.00 a.m. Finals begin
12.45 p.m. Lunch (pre-booking
essential)
2.00 p.m. Presentation of Prizes
A buffet lunch served in the
restaurant will be available at the cost
of £18.50 per head for those who
have purchased tickets in advance. If
travelling by car please contact the
Royal York (Conference and Events
department) to book a parking space
(01904 653681). Once the ten
complimentary places are booked
additional spaces have a daily rate of
£6.
Peter Toon Memorial Lecture
Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Tuesday, 16th
April
4.00 p.m. Evening Prayer
5.00 p.m. Inaugural Lecture by
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali
Fuller details will be available on the
PBS website.
Bath and Wells
Wednesday, 20th March. Visit to
Chavenage Manor, nr Tetbury,
Gloucestershire. Litany and Ante-
Communion in the chapel, followed
by lunch and a tour of the house.
Monday, 13th May. Holy
Communion will be celebrated at St
Giles-in-the-Fields, London to mark
the 75th anniversary of the English
Clergy Association.
Tuesday, 14th May. Choral
Evensong at Merton College, Oxford,
followed by a formal dinner.
Thursday, 30th May (Feast of
Corpus Christi). Visit to East
Quantoxhead to celebrate Holy
Communion in the parish church of
St Mary the Virgin. We hope to visit
the Court House and gardens.
Saturday, 13th July. Sacred Bristol:
a guided walk will be led by Martin
Palmer, Secretary-General of the
Alliance of Religions and
Conservation, then Choral Evensong
at St Mary, Redcliffe, sung by the
Harmonia Singers.
Monday, 29th July to Sunday, 4th
August. Musica Deo Sacra Festival,
Tewkesbury Abbey.
Sunday, 18th August to Sunday,
25th August. Edington Festival.
Saturday, 21st September (Feast of
St Matthew). Visit to St Nicholas,
Brockley, nr Bristol and AGM. The
Abbot of Downside will talk on the
Reformation. This will be preceded
by Matins and followed by the
Monastic Office of Sext and then
lunch.
Sunday, 6th October. Visits to the
Chapels Royal at St James’s Palace and
Hampton Court Palace, with lunch at
the Oxford and Cambridge Club.
Blackburn
Saturday, 27th April. Prayer Book
Celebration in Blackburn Cathedral,
with the aid of the choir Octavius:
27
11.00 a.m. Choral Communion.
Preacher The Rt Revd Robert Hardy,
former Bishop of Lincoln. Followed
by lunch; 1.50 p.m. Branch AGM in
the Crypt; 2.15 p.m. Afternoon
Speaker, Dr John Bertalot: ‘The Prayer
Book and Music’, an illustrated talk;
3.30 p.m. Cathedral Evensong.
Services and talk are open to all and
are free. Lunch must be pre-booked
and paid for in advance and is
£12.50 per person.
Exeter
Tuesday, 12th March at 11 a.m.
BCP Holy Communion followed
by The Litany, at St Matthias
Church, Babbacombe Road,
Wellswood, Torquay TQ1 1HW.
Lunch afterwards at a nearby
inn, The Kents.
Wednesday, 1st May at 2.30
p.m. A visit to Lukesland
Gardens, nr Ivybridge—
entrance fee £5.00. Tea available
at the tea room. Evensong to
follow, conducted by the Revd
Preb. Paul Hancock, at Plympton
St Maurice Church, Plympton.
Please contact the Branch
Secretary by 20th April if you
wish to come to this event.
Saturday, 15th June at 2.30
p.m. Branch AGM at The
Wickham Hall, Ashburton
Road, Bovey Tracey, followed by
Tea and Evensong. The speaker
has yet to be decided.
Norwich
27th April. Joint visit with the
Round Tower Churches Society.
6th June. The AGM will be in the
Norfolk Club, King Street, Norwich.
Oxford
The annual commemoration of the
martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas
Cranmer will take place in Oxford
on Thursday, 21st March. Further
details will be available from the
Branch Secretary nearer the time.
Contact John Dearing on 0118 958
0377 or [email protected] .
28
IN VOICE AND VERSEProfessional trio ‘In Voice and
Verse’ have been celebrating the
350th anniversary with a special
concert called ‘From Time to
Time’. Their aim is to show the
Prayer Book as a companion to the
major milestones of life (birth,
childhood, adulthood, marriage,
illness and death). The music
includes Handel’s ‘Come unto
him’, S.S. Wesley’s ‘Lead me, Lord’,
John Ireland’s ‘It is a thing most
wonderful’ and Geoffrey Burgon’s
‘Nunc Dimittis’. The words
include not only the incomparable
language of Cranmer and his
successors but also examples of
how the Prayer Book has affected
people’s lives over the centuries.
‘In Voice and Verse’ received rave
reviews last year for their concert
celebrating the King James Bible.
They have performed at venues
across the country including the
National Gallery, the Buxton
Festival and Durham Cathedral.
Lance Pierson is a professional
actor and poetry performer,
Belinda Yates is a member of the
Monteverdi Choir and Heather
Chamberlain is an accomplished
pianist and teacher. Their concerts
are available for 2013 and beyond.
For further information, please seewww.invoiceandverse.co.uk .
Forms of words for making a bequest to the PrayerBook Society in your Will
For a new Will
‘I give [the residue of my estate/the sum of £___] to the Prayer Book Society
(Registered Charity number 1099295) of The Studio, Copyhold Farm,
Lady Grove, Goring Heath, Reading RG8 7RT for its general charitable
purposes and I declare that the receipt of the Finance Director or other
authorised officer shall be a full and sufficient discharge to my
Executors.’
For a codicil to an existing Will
‘I [full name] of [full address] declare this to be a [first/second] codicil to my
Will dated [dd/mm/yyyy]. In addition to any legacies given in my said
Will I give to the Prayer Book Society (Registered Charity number
1099295) of The Studio, Copyhold Farm, Lady Grove, Goring Heath,
Reading RG8 7RT [the sum of £_________/___% share of my residuary estate]
to be used for its general charitable purposes and I declare that the
receipt of the Finance Director or other duly authorised officer shall be a
full and sufficient discharge to my Executors. In all other respects I
confirm my Will and any other codicils to it.’
29
The Society stands for:
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Sovereign and our Country;
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In accordance with our Constitution, the
Objects of the society are:
One
To foster the love of England and to
strengthen England and the commonwealth
by spreading the knowledge of English
history, traditions and ideals.
Two
To keep fresh the memory of those, in all
walks of life, who have served England or
the Commonwealth in the past in order to
inspire leadership in the future.
Three
To combat all activities likely to undermine
the strength of England or the
Commonwealth.
Four
To further English interests everywhere to
ensure that St. George’s Day is properly
celebrated and to provide focal points the
world over where English men and women
may gather together.
Are you proud of your Country and her glorious history?
Then why not become a member of
The Royal Society of St. George. Membership provides an
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and Englishness, and to celebrate our nation and its achievements.
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Please visit our website for regular updates
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The Royal Society of St. GeorgePatron:
Her Majesty the QueenSociety Founded: 1894
THE ENGLISH CLERGY ASSOCIATIONFounded 1938 www.clergyassoc.co.uk
Patron: The Rt. Rev’d & Rt. Hon. the Lord Bishop of LondonPresident: Professor Sir Anthony Milnes Coates, Bt., B.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P.
Parliamentary Vice-President: The Rt. Hon. The Lord Cormack, F.S.A.
The Association seeks to be a Church ofEngland mutual resource and support forclergy (with Freehold or on CommonTenure) patrons and churchwardensrequiring information or insight.
Donations to the Benefit Fund provideClergy Holidays:
Gifts, Legacies, Church Collections muchappreciated.
Registered Charity No. 258559
Mon. 13th MAY 20132p.m.
75th Anniversary
St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London (St. GilesHigh St. Tottenham Court Road tube)
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12.45p.m. HOLY COMMUNION (B.C.P.) Celebrant: The Rev’d John Masding (Chairman)Buffet lunch upon reservation
Annual Address usually printed in the Members’ journal Parson & Parish.
Branch Contacts• BATH & WELLS:
Mr Ian Girvan, 59 Kempthorne Lane,
Bath BA2 5DX
Tel: 01225 830663
• BIRMINGHAM:
Please contact the office, Copyhold
Farm
• BLACKBURN:
Mr Neil Inkley, 6 Knot Lane, Walton-
le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire PR5 4BQ
Tel: 01772 821676
Fax: 01772 259340
• BRADFORD:
Please contact the office, Copyhold
Farm
• BRISTOL:
Mr David Selwyn, 8 Barrow Court,
Barrow Gurney, Bristol BS48 3RW
Tel: 01275 463421
Membership Secretary: Mrs Joyce
Morris, 29 St John’s Road, Clifton,
Bristol BS8 2HD
• CANTERBURY:
Mr Christopher Cooper, Goose and
Gridiron, 6 Churchyard Passage,
Ashford, Kent TN23 1QL
Tel: 07525 095717
• CARLISLE:
Secretary: Mrs Joy Budden, Arthuret
House, Longtown CA6 5SJ
Tel: 01228 792263
Membership Secretary: Mrs Kate
East, 10 Fernwood Drive, Kendal
LA9 5BU
Tel: 01539 725055
• CHELMSFORD:
Mr David Martin, The Oak House,
Chelmsford Road, Felsted CM6 3EP
Tel: 01371 820591
• CHESTER:
Mr J. Baldwin, Rosalie Farm, Church
Minshull, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5
6EF
Tel: 01270 528487
• CHICHESTER:
Mrs Valerie Dane, 225 Chichester
Road, Bognor Regis PO21 5AQ
Tel: 01243 827330
(Chichester East) The Revd G.
Butterworth, The Vicarage, 51
Saltdean Vale, Saltdean, East Sussex
BN2 8HE
Tel: 01273 302345
• COVENTRY:
Mr Peter Bolton, 19 Kineton Road,
Wellesbourne, Warwickshire CV35
9NE
Tel: 01789 840814
• DERBY:
Please contact the office, Copyhold
Farm
• DURHAM:
Mrs Rosemary Hall, 23 Beatty
Avenue, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE2
3QN
Tel: 0191 285 7534
• ELY:
Mr P. K. C. White, The Orchard
House, 12 Thrift’s Walk, Old
Chesterton, Cambridge CB4 1NR
Tel: 01223 324176
• EXETER:
Mrs Esme Heath, Brookfield,
Stokenham, Kingsbridge, Devon
TQ7 2SL
Tel: 01548 580615
• GLOUCESTER:
Miss S.M. Emson, 38 Gloucester
Road, Stratton, Cirencester GL7 2JY
Tel: 01285 654591
• GUILDFORD:
Mr John Fox-Reynolds, 3 Orchard
Cottages, Bron-y-de, Churt, Farnham
GU10 2LL
Tel: 01428 605156
• HEREFORD:
Mr Stephen Evans, 14 Raven Lane,
Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1BW
Tel: 01584 873436
Mobile: 07920 200619
• LEICESTER:
Mrs S. Packe-Drury-Lowe, 35 Green
Lane, Seagrave, Loughborough LE12
7LU
Tel: 01509 815262
• LICHFIELD:
Mr D. Doggett, Grassendale, 5 Park
Drive, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11
1BN
Tel: 01691 652902
• LINCOLN:
The Hon. Christopher Brightman,
The Grange, Hall Street, Wellingore
LN5 0HU
Tel: 01522 811432
• LIVERPOOL:
Ms Dianne Rothwell, 7 Gorsey Lane,
Warrington WA1 3PT
Tel: 01925 632974 (eve)
• LONDON:
Please contact the office, Copyhold
Farm
• MANCHESTER:
Mr Nicholas Johnson, 552 Liverpool
Street, Salford, Manchester M5 5JX
• NEWCASTLE:
Mrs Rosemary Hall, 23 Beatty
Avenue, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE2
3QN
Tel: 0191 285 7534
• NORWICH:
Mrs A. Wilson, The Old Rectory,
Burston Road, Dickleburgh, Diss,
Norfolk IP21 4NN
Tel: 01379 740561
• OXFORD:
Mr J. B. Dearing, 27 Sherman Road,
Reading, Berkshire RG1 2PJ
Tel: 0118 958 0377
• PETERBOROUGH:
Mrs M. Stewart, The Sycamores, 3
Oakham Road, Whissendine, Rutland
LE15 7HA
Tel: 01664 474353
• PORTSMOUTH: Please see
Winchester & Portsmouth
• RIPON & LEEDS:
Mr J. R. Wimpress, Bishopton Grove
House, Bishopton, Ripon HG4 2QL
Tel: 01765 600888
• ROCHESTER:
Mr G. Comer, 102 Marlborough
Crescent, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 2HR
Tel: 01732 461462
• ST ALBANS:
Mrs J.M. Paddick (Treasurer)
82 Barton Way, Croxley Green,
St Albans WD3 3QA
Tel: 01923 442734
• ST EDMUNDSBURY & IPSWICH:
Mr Anthony C. Desch, South End
House, 2 Sicklesmere Road, Bury St
Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 2BW
Tel: 01284 755355
• SALISBURY:
Mrs Lucy Pearson, 10 Briar Close,
Wyke, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 4SS
Tel: 01747 825392
• SHEFFIELD:
Miss Rosemary Littlewood, Railway
House, Hazlehead, Sheffield S36 4HJ
Tel: 01226 764092
• SODOR & MAN:
Mrs Clare Faulds, The Lynague,
German, Isle of Man, IM5 2AQ
Tel: 01624 842045
• SOUTHWARK: Please contact the
office, Copyhold Farm
• SOUTHWELL AND NOTTINGHAM:
Mr A.F. Sunman, 1 Lunn Lane, South
Collingham, Newark NG23 7LP
Tel: 01636 893975
• TRURO:
Mr J. St Brioc Hooper, 1 Tregarne
Terrace, St Austell PL25 4BE
Tel: 01726 76382
• WAKEFIELD:
The Revd Philip Reynolds, St Aidan’s
Vicarage, Radcliffe Street,
Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield HD8
9AF
Tel: 01484 863232
• WINCHESTER & PORTSMOUTH:
Mrs Nikki Sales, 19 Heath Road
South, Locks Heath, Southampton
SO31 6SJ
Tel: 01489 570899
• WORCESTER:
Mr John Comins, The Old Rectory,
Birlingham, Nr Pershore WR10 3AB
Tel: 01386 750292
• YORK:
Mr R. A. Harding, 5 Lime Avenue,
Stockton Lane, York YO31 1BT
Tel: 01904 423347
• NORTH WALES:
The Revd Neil Fairlamb, 5 Tros-yr-
afon, Beaumaris, Anglesey LL58 8BN
Tel: 01248 811402
• SOUTH WALES:
Dr J. H. E. Baker, 56 Bridge Street,
Llandaff CF5 2YN
Tel: 0292 057 8091
• CHANNEL ISLANDS: Please see
Winchester & Portsmouth
• OVERSEAS MEMBERS:
Mrs Sally Tipping, Woodland Cross
Cottage, Woodland Head, Yeoford,
Crediton, Devon EX17 5HE
AFFILIATED BRANCHES
• IRELAND: Please contact the office,
Copyhold Farm
• SOUTH AFRICA: Please contact the
office, Copyhold Farm
SISTER SOCIETIES
• AUSTRALIA:
Miss Margaret Steel, 9/63 O'Sullivan
Road, Rose Bay, NSW 2029
Mr F. Ford, PO Box 2, Heidelberg,
Victoria, 3084, Australia
Mrs Joan Blanchard, 96 Devereux
Road, Beaumont, South Australia,
5066, Australia
• CANADA:
The Prayer Book Society of Canada,
P.O. Box 38060, 1430 Prince of
Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C
3Y7, Canada
• SCOTLAND:
Mr J. C. Lord, 11 Melrose Gardens,
Glasgow G20 6RB
Tel: 0141 946 5045
• UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
The Prayer Book Society, P.O. Box
35220, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
19128, USA
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