Contacting the Abbey...The Abbey Offi ce12 Kingston BuildingsBath BA1 1LT

The offi ce number is (01225) 422462(Monday to Friday: 9.00 am - 4.00 pm).Answerphone service outside those hours.The offi ce is normally open to visitors in the morning.Email offi ce@bathabbey.orgWebsite www.bathabbey.orgFacebook / Twitt er @bathabbeyFax (01225) 429990Offi ce Staff Mrs Cheri Bragg, Mrs Annett e Smith,Mrs Lyndie Sugden, Mrs Deborah Coleman

ClergyPrebendary Edward Mason, Rector(01225) 318267;Revd Dr Alan Garrow, Vicar Theologian(01225) 466272;Revd Claire Robson, Vicar Pastor(01225) 484469;Revd Dr Sarah Hartley, Self-Supporti ng Minister (01225) 442462;Revd Evelyn Lee-Barber, Curate(01225) 422462Clergy AvailabilityThe clergy welcome communicati on on any matt ersby lett er, email or telephone. Please contact theAbbey Offi ce.

April 2014

Abbey News

Services and Preachers...

Morning Prayer on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8.30 amHoly Communion on Thursdays at 11.00 am and Fridays at 8.30 am

Evening Prayer from Mondays to Fridays at 5.30pmNo Evening Prayer during Holy Week

3 5.30 pm Choral Evensong Thomas Hardye School Murrill in E Christus Factus Est Bruckner

6 The Fift h Sunday of Lent – Passion Sunday 8.00 am Holy Communion Mrs Anne Dowling 9.30 am Parish Communion The Revd Claire Robson

11.15 am Choral Mati ns The Revd Claire Robson A Litany Walton Pange Lingua Greater Love Ireland 3.30 pm Choral Evensong Crucifi xus Lotti Fauxbourdon Wills Christus factus est Bruckner 6.30 pm By the Way

Evening Service Jason Royce

13 Palm Sunday – Services will be sung by the Grey Coat Hospital Chamber Choir

8.00 am Holy Communion The Revd Dr Alan Garrow 9.30 am Parish Communion Bishop John Perry 11.15 am Choral Mati ns Bishop John Perry 3.30 pm Choral Evensong 6.30 pm By the Way

Evening Service Alison Mares

17 Maundy Thursday 7.30 pm Sung Eucharist Canon Russell Bowman-Eadie Missa Aeterna Christi Munera Palestrina I give you a new commandment Shephard

18 Good Friday 10.30 am Cross Walk Service 12.00 noon Three Hour Service Canon Russell Bowman-Eadie 7.30 pm Meditati on for

Good Friday

20 Easter Sunday 8.00 am Holy Communion The Revd Evelyn Lee-Barber 9.30 am Parish Communion The Revd Dr Alan Garrow 11.15 am Sung Eucharist The Rt Revd Peter Maurice,

Bishop of Taunton Bath Abbey Mass Hewitt -Jones Dum transisset Sabbatum Taverner

3.30 pm Choral Evensong O Sons and daughters Davies Dyson in D Lobet den Herrn Bach 6.30 pm Evening Eucharist The Revd Evelyn Lee-Barber

26 5.30 pm Choral Evensong St Michael & All Angels, Bassett , Southampton

27 The Second Sunday of Easter – Services will be sung by the choir of St Michael & All Angels, Bassett , Southampton

8.00 am Holy Communion Mr Jeremy Key-Pugh 9.30 am Family Communion Mr Jeremy Key-Pugh 11.15 am Choral Mati ns Mr Jeremy Key-Pugh 3.30 pm Choral Evensong 6.30 pm By the Way

Evening Service

Reaching the Unreached, dust and ashes Many of you will know that I was back at Reaching the Unreached (RTU) for a few days recently. As one of the UK trustees I was in India to att end a board meeti ng, to review progress, confi rm the annual budget and agree on plans for the future. It is good also to see the daily routi ne, the diff erent acti viti es and to experience life there again, if only briefl y.

Several new children had been admitt ed to the villages, more

housing is going up and the drought is as dusty and dry as ever. The signs of real poverty, hardship and shortened lives are on the doorstep. Over there, you maybe do not need a reminder of these things as much as we do. It is around you and RTU is right in it with those who endure real trauma, illness and diffi culty in their lives.

On this visit the nights were disturbed, as they someti mes are, by the prolonged and noisy celebrati ons of a Hindu funeral. This goes on for a while before the procession and traditi onal cremati on next to the river. In our culture we are not so public about these things.

It was Ash Wednesday whilst I was there and as it is every day at RTU early morning mass was celebrated in the darkness and quiet of the dawn. Fortunately, the alarm woke me. Not to have been there with two hundred children and mothers, and religious (Fathers and Brothers) would have been a missed opportunity. And as is our traditi on we received the ash on our forehead.

On this one day in the year, a stark and very visible sign and reminder of who we are and where we all come from.

James Playfair Member of the Abbey’s Mission Links group

The Revd Dr Alan GarrowAfter eight years at the Abbey, Alan Garrow is moving back to academic life. From this summer he returns to full-time research as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Sheffield. His last day at the Abbey will be Sunday 20 July.

We shall miss Alan, Emma, Samuel and Eleanor and wish them all the very best. There will, of course, be an opportunity to show our appreciation and say farewell.

Advertising for Alan’s replacement will begin in the first week of September.

Footprint SuppersSo many of you stopped to say ‘thank you’ after the Footprint suppers – either in person or by writing on the table covering – but we should be thanking you! So many of you have already returned your pledge forms and we look forward to receiving the remainder by Palm Sunday on 13 April. If you have not received your pledge form and brochure, please contact Katie McGill at 01225 303314 or email kmcgill@bathabbey.org.

The total pledged will be announced on Easter Sunday and you’ll be receiving further information in the coming weeks but in the meantime, thanks everyone.

Laura Brown Appeal Director

Message from the RectorEaster is late this year. Actually, that’s not quite true because it’s exactly the same time of year EVERY year and has been since its roots in the Jewish Passover celebrations that began over 3,000 years ago. However, it doesn’t feel like it because it follows the cycle of the moon and so swings this way and that. It’s late in our calendar year which does strange things to our normal rhythm of things.

For example, most school holidays are in the two weeks before Easter. It also means our Annual Parochial Church Meeting is just a few days after Easter which seems a bit odd. Daffodils are flowering long before Mothering Sunday. Ascension Day and Pentecost are pretty close to being in the summer.

All this is a bit of a jolt to the system and we might sympathise with those who would like to fix the date of Easter. Why can’t we just regularise it for all our sakes?

But I’ve grown to like this disruption to our life. Do we really want it to be so predictable?

A late Easter reminds me of God’s time and to pay attention in the moment.

We are very conscious of this being a special time in the life of the Abbey. A number of people and events have come together in a way that we just could not have planned. We sense God’s hand upon us as we prepare a new Vision Statement, make our Pledges to Footprint, and wait for news from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Whatever happens, in May we will find ourselves at another turning in the road and catch a glimpse of the next few steps ahead.

So, in these last weeks of Lent and in preparation for the intensity of Holy Week and the glory of Easter Sunday, I ask you to pray. To pray for:

• the process of fashioning the Vision Statement People and Place Fully Alive

• our response to the invitation to support Footprint with our pledges

• the Footprint team as we approach a decision that will require a holy response

• the remaining Tuesdays in Lent, for the speakers and our community at prayer

• our preparation for Holy Week

In prayer we will become aware of God’s timing in own lives and the life of the Abbey community. In the end, this is the only time that really counts - whenever Easter falls.

Edward

Getting to know our volunteersGraham Howard Steward, guideHow and when did you start volunteering in the Abbey?My wife, a welcomer, persuaded me that joining ‘Farmer’s Army’ may be something that could usefully occupy some of my retirement spare time. I started in October 2012. (Editor’s note – Dawn Farmer our Visitors Officer also recruits and coordinates our volunteers!)

Describe what your role typically involvesMy main role is as a steward and it is centred around answering queries, showing visitors parts of the Abbey that are of particular interest to them. In addition, I act as a guide taking groups round the Abbey. I usually try and discover some background to their organisation/church/group to use as an ice-breaker.

What do you enjoy best about Abbey life?Learning more of the history of the Abbey and its importance to the city of Bath. Also interacting with my colleagues to make the role even more interesting, and learning a great deal from those who have been volunteering in the Abbey for many years. Some of the duty chaplains have a store of wonderful anecdotes for almost every occasion. It is really good to see the Abbey holding activity days to encourage more children into the church. Visitors’ feedback is also extremely enlightening, one lady said that the ‘Welcome’ leaflet we give visitors, which we probably take for granted, was the best she had been given in any church. This was because the first two pages were not about our history, but about the Christian message and what it means to believers.

What character trait do you most admire in your fellow volunteers and why?I am fortunate that I volunteer with colleagues who have a great sense of humour, yet have compassion for those who visit seeking peace and support in some of the darkest periods of their lives.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only bring one book, one piece of music and one luxury item, what would they be and why?For my book, the parts of Lyndon B. Johnson’s biography by Robert A Caro that I have yet to read; music - Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti album; luxury item - a solar powered coffee maker with lots of strong Colombian coffee.

APCMAll are invited to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting which will take place in the Abbey on Wednesday 30 April at 7.30pm. The meeting will elect six members to the PCC. If anyone would like a nomination form for this election, please contact Mrs Cheri Bragg at the Abbey Office.

We plan to distribute the Abbey’s Annual Review with updates from the various departments around two weeks beforehand. You may find it useful to pick up a copy and read through this before the meeting. If you don’t have a copy by the APCM, please collect one from or contact the Abbey Office.

Inspiring teachers to inspire childrenAs a visiting lecturer to the Primary School Religious Education PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate of Education) at Bath Spa University, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to help trainee teachers to inspire their pupils - especially by making the most of visits to places of worship. I also felt it important for the trainee teachers to have at least visited a place of worship before completing their final teaching placements in the summer. As a result, I was delighted to have set up a new partnership between

Bath Abbey and Bath Spa University which was developed especially with these aims in mind (thanks to Dawn Farmer, the Abbey’s Visitors Officer).

Entitled ‘The Bath Abbey Experience’, this initiative began in March with two days of workshops attended by over 40 Bath Spa PGCE research teachers. The workshops are designed to show teachers how they can use the Abbey in their Religious Education teaching and to offer inspiring lesson ideas.

The trainee teachers took part in what can be best described as a two-hour carousel of workshops with various staff and volunteers from the Abbey: ‘Music and Worship’ led by Shean Bowers, Assistant Director of Music and Choral Director for Schools; ‘A Church’s Seasons’ and ’A Meal to Remember’ led by Revd David Driscoll and Revd Ivor Hughes; and ‘A Journey of Faith’ led by Pete Jones, Steward. A resource pack was also given to all trainee teachers at the end of the workshop to aid their teaching.

The overall response from those who attended was extremely positive. Many made the comment that prior to their visit, they had never been in the Abbey and hadn’t realised the tremendous teaching potential. Well, they clearly had changed their minds once they had taken part in the wonderful workshops!

As this was such a success I am now in liaison with Dawn and Bath Spa University to repeat ‘The Bath Abbey Experience’ next year! The Abbey is also planning to extend these workshops to help and inspire teachers and teaching assistants who deliver Religious Education in their classrooms.

Many thanks to everyone who have given freely of their time for us.

Sue Rodford Assistant Headteacher

St. Julian’s Church School, Wellow