WE ARE 150

Our 2022 Festival to celebrate 150 years of St Paul's church was a fabulous six weeks of jubilation and joy, fellowship, faith and fun!

HEAR THE PEOPLE SING
SUNDAY 15 MAY 3:30PM AND 6:30PM 

The 150 anniversary celebrations got off to an wonderful start, with two  performances to a packed church of Hear the People Sing: a concert featuring music with a Chiswick connection! A ten-minute film compilation of some of the highlights of the event can be seen on YouTube below. 

HOUNSLOW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MOZART IN MAY
SATURDAY 28 MAY 7:30PM 

The second event in the Festival was a lovely concert from this popular chamber group who gave us a programme of Mozart and Louise Farrenc.

SERVICE OF CELEBRATION
SUNDAY 29 MAY 10AM
Five members of the church: Katherine Makower (Amazing Grace), Peter Capell (Thine be the Glory), Audrey Jennings (I Cannot Tell), Cathy Morgan (Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer), and our organist Tom Torley (Dear Lord and Father), all chose their favourite hymns, which were sung by the congregation at this joyful service of worship and praise. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Kensington, the Right Reverend Graham Tomlin and the service was followed by coffee in the vicarage garden. 

POETRY FOR A SPRING EVENING
SUNDAY 29 MAY 7PM
The next event was an evening of joyful, uplifting and reflective poetry, chosen and read by the St Paul’s Poetry Group. 

FESTAL EVENSONG
WEDNESDAY 1 JUNE 6PM 

To mark the exact day of the 150th Anniversary of the Consecration of St Paul’s on 1 June 1872, this evensong service included a sermon from Archdeacon of London, the Ven Luke Miller together with some celebratory music sung by St Paul’s Choir and friends. The service was followed by a very jolly drinks party at the back of the church.

THE ADDISON SINGERS
SATURDAY 11 JUNE 7:30PM

English Music for a Summer Evening. The programme by this very popular West London choir included Dyson, Stanford, Delius and Vaughan Williams. 

THE HISTORY OF ST PAUL’S
FRIDAY 17 JUNE 6:30-7:30PM
This was an utterly fascinating talk on the history of St Paul’s from James Wisdom and Val Bott from the Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society. Using old maps, James and Val showed us how the shape of the parish changed. We discovered how St Paul's grew from a temporary building for a new suburb to the substantial building that stands today and found out lots about how the social mix of the community around the church has grown over 150 years.

There is an exhibition about the last 150 years of St Paul's at the back of the church, and this can also be downloaded as a pdf from the HISTORY page of this website.

KEW SINFONIA
SATURDAY 18 JUNE 7:30PM
The programme for this lovely concert included Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Brahms' Piano Concerto no 1 and Gade's Symphony no 4. 

FLOWER FESTIVAL
FRIDAY 24 JUNE TO SUNDAY 26 JUNE

The church was filled with flower displays from local churches, schools and community groups for all to admire and refreshments were served throughout the weekend in the gardens. There was also a variety of musical performances including Tom Torley on organ, Catherine Jessop on piano and Sue Shorter on flute! We were absolutely delighted to have the Middlesex Yeomanry playing in the garden on Saturday afternoon, who gave us a rousing selection of favourites.

EVENING PRAISE
SUNDAY 26 JUNE 6PM
The Flower Festival closed with an evening service with readings, music, prayers and hymns.  

COMEDY NIGHT
SUNDAY 3 JULY 7PM 

The final event of the 150 Festival was an evening of hilarious entertainment from the brightest and best of London’s young comedy circuit, performing in a marquee in the garden. 100 guests brought their own picnics and enjoyed both the entertainment and the bar! The perfect ending to our celebration!