2023 Calendar
January 2023
Friday 27 January: Quiz Night
7pm for a 7:30pm start
The ever popular St Paul's Quiz Night is back! Questions this year are set by last year;'s winners, the Barker family. Teams make up tables of eight; if you'd like to come but do not have a team let us know and we will find you a table to join! Tables should bring their own supper and the church will provide cutlery, plates and glasses. Please bring all the food and nibbles you will require to fuel your mighty brains! However, we WILL be providing a cash bar for beer, wine and soft drinks and politely request that attendees support this as part of our fundraising efforts for 2023, and don't BYOB! Tickets are £10.00 per person, to be collected on the night. To reserve a table or a seat at a table, please contact Sara Hodson
February 2023
Sunday 26th February 11am Bring and Buy Sale
Homemade cakes, chutneys, preserves and other goodies! Please bring contributions and come along and purchase!
March 2023
Sun 19 Mar 10am MOTHERING SUNDAY
10 am Eucharist with flowers for all mothers and carers
Sun 26 March PASSION SUNDAY
10 am Eucharist
Sun 26 March 6pm Evening performance of Stainer's Crucifixion
by St Paul's choir and friends
Sun 10 April PALM SUNDAY
10 am Eucharist
April 2023
Good Friday 7th April
Children's Activities in the Isis rooms, church and garden from 10:30am until noon
Good Friday Service at 12 noon: Canon Julian Reindorp
Easter Sunday 9 April
10am Parish Eucharist: Canon Julian Reindorp
Please bring bells to make a joyful noise!
Wednesday 26 April 7pm
PCC Annual General Meeting
All are welcome for a glass of wine, the election of the new PCC and to hear about our plans for the coming year
May 2023
Sun 28 May PENTECOST SUNDAY
10am Parish Eucharist: Rev Eileen McGregor
Sunday 7 May
Coronation Service 10am
Celebration Drinks and Canapes 11am
This special service marking the coronation of King Charles III will be taken by Canon Julian Reindorp. All are welcome
for fizz and canapes after the service in church (or hopefully the garden) as we celebrate our new king, community, faith and service.
Wednesday 17 May
PCC Meeting 6pm Isis Rooms
Wednesday 17 May 6:30pm
Meet our New Vicar!
We invite the congregation to come and join us for a glass of wine and to meet our new vicar, Rev Caroline Halmshaw. Rev Caroline's "Institution and Induction" Welcome Service will be on the evening of Monday 24th July (taken by Bishop Emma Ineson) and her first regular Sunday Eucharist service at St Paul's will be on Sunday 3 September.
June 2023
Wednesday 14 June
PCC Meeting 7:30pm Isis Rooms
July 2023
Saturday 1 July 7:30pm
A Coronation Celebration
The West London Chorus, accompanied by organ, brass and percussion will perform a programme of rousing and joyful music, including:
Coronation Te Deum – Walton
A Crown of Glory – Rutter
Ecce Sacerdos Magnus – Bruckner
O Hearken Thou – Elgar
I Was Glad – Parry
Tickets are available now from Ticketsource
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/westlondonchorus/t-ojvmydn
Saturday 8 July 4-7pm
Grove Park Group Summer Party
Everyone is invited to the Grove Park Group Summer Party in the St Paul’s Church Garden! It's a free family-based event and is open to all – you don’t need to be a member of the Grove Park Group. There’s going to be some fabulous live music, face-painting, bouncing sessions with music on small trampolines, (led by an experienced fitness instructor) a large frame with dressing-up clothes for fun photos, a barbecue with both meat and vegetarian options, a bar with wine, beer and soft drinks, plus our local ice cream vendor. Do come along – this is a brilliant community event and a great chance to meet and mingle with friends and neighbours!
Wednesday 12 July
PCC Meeting 6:00pm Isis Rooms
Monday 24 July 7:30pm
Instiution and Induction Service for Rev'd Caroline Halmshaw
This special service is to welcome our new vicar, Rev'd Caroline Halmshaw. The service will be taken by Bishop Emma Ineson, Bishop of Kensington and Area Bishop for West London. There will be
refreshments following the service.
August 2023
September 2023
Sunday 3 September 10am
Rev'd Caroline Halmshaw's first service at St Paul's
Wednesday 20 September
PCC Meeting 7:15pm Isis Rooms
Sunday 24 September 10am
Harvest Festival
October 2023
Saturday 14 October 10:30am
St Paul's to St Paul's Walk
On Saturday 14 October, we are walking from St Paul's Church in Grove Park, Chiswick to St Paul's Cathedral – a distance of 10 miles. Please join or sponsor us!
The walk starts at St Paul's Church, Chiswick W4 3SB at 10:30am. We suggest a contribution of £20 for walkers, which you can now make using our GoFundMe page, where sponsors are also able to donate.
We will assemble outside the church at 10:30am, picnic in Kensington Gardens between 12-1pm and arrive at St Paul's Cathedral around 3pm where we will congregate in the Middlesex Chapel for a time of prayer and reflection. There will also be the opportunity to look round this iconic building, and have a welcome cup of tea in the Crypt Café! All walkers are then invited to attend Choral Evensong which is from 5-6pm, during which St Paul’s Church will receive a blessing.
Sunday 15 October 11 am
Produce Sale
Homemade cakes, chutneys, preserves, fruit and veg from allotments and gardens and many other
goodies! Please bring contributions and come along and purchase!
Wednesday 11 October 7:15pm
PCC Meeting in the Isis Rooms
Saturday 21 October 2023, 7:30 pm
Kew Sinfonia: Autumn Concert
MENDELSSOHN: Overture, The Hebrides
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto
ETHEL SMYTH: Serenade in D
Sunday 29 October 6pm
All Souls Service
Remembering the departed: an evensong service with music from the choir
November 2023
Saturday 4 November 10am-12 noon
Safeguarding in a Church Setting
This is an open session, for anyone who is interested in undertaking some training on this subject. The session will be run in the Isis rooms by Shelagh Allsop.
Sunday November 12th
Remembrance Sunday
Wednesday 15 November 7:15pm
PCC Meeting in the Isis Rooms
December 2023
Advent Sunday 3 December
6pm Candlelit Advent Carol Service
A family service by candlight with music from the choir, congregational Advent carols and refreshments afterwards.
Saturday 2 December
Christmas Concert: Hounslow Symphony Orchestra
http://www.hounslow-symphony.org.uk
Sunday 10 December
Christmas Concert: Kew Sinfonia
A selection of popular, festive music
Wednesday 13 December 7:15pm
PCC Meeting in the Isis Rooms
Saturday 16 December
Christmas Concert: Richmond Light Orchestra
www.richmondlightorchestra.com
Date tbc
St Paul's Christmas Concert
Christmas Eve Friday December 24th 4pm
Family Carol Service
Christmas Eve Friday December 24th 11.30pm
Midnight Mass
Christmas Day Saturday December 25th
Family Service10am
St Stephens Day Sunday 26 December
Parish Eucharist Service10am
Events at St Paul's
St Paul's is a vibrant part of the Chiswick community and we are lucky enough to have a large group of musicians both professional and amateur, as well as lots of volunteers who enjoy coming together
to sing, play, entertain, fundraise and have fun! To receive a short weekly newsletter with information about our forthcoming events, please contact ceciliathwaites@gmail.com
150 FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
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!
SUNDAY 15 MAY 3:30PM AND 6:30PM - HEAR THE PEOPLE SING
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 here. https://youtu.be/SoWfZ8kZTqY
SATURDAY 28 MAY 7:30PM - HOUNSLOW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: MOZART IN MAY
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.
SUNDAY 29 MAY 10AM - SERVICE OF CELEBRATION
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.
SUNDAY 29 MAY 7PM - POETRY
FOR A SPRING EVENING
The next event was an evening of joyful, uplifting and reflective poetry, chosen and read by the St Paul’s Poetry
Group. All the poems from the
evening are available to download in the anthology below.
Adobe Acrobat document [1.1 MB]
WEDNESDAY 1 JUNE 6PM - FESTAL EVENSONG
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.
SATURDAY 11 JUNE 7:30PM - THE ADDISON SINGERS
English Music for a Summer Evening. The programme by this very popular West London choir included Dyson, Stanford, Delius and Vaughan Williams.
FRIDAY 17 JUNE 6:30-7:30PM - THE HISTORY OF ST PAUL’S
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 a new 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.
SATURDAY 18 JUNE 7:30PM - KEW SINFONIA
The programme for this lovely
concert included Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Brahms Piano Concerto no 1 and Gade Symphony no
4.
FRIDAY 24 JUNE TO SUNDAY 26 JUNE - FLOWER FESTIVAL
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.
SUNDAY 26 JUNE 6PM - EVENING PRAISE
The Flower Festival closed with an evening service with readings, music, prayers and hymns.
SUNDAY 3 JULY 7PM - COMEDY NIGHT
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!
Previous Events
Above you can see pictures from concerts, the St Michael's Players 2019 production of Salad Days, our Royal Garden Party and our St Paul's to St Paul's walk which raised over £2,500 in sponsorship money for our church. Some of our regular events include the Quiz Night in January and a Christmas Concert in December. Below is more information about some of our past events and at the bottom of the page you can look at galleries of photographs.
I Knew A SImple Soldier Boy brought to St Paul's the voices and music of those who participated in and lived through the Great War in two extraordinarily moving and powerful performances. Written by John Theakston and drawing on the personal reminiscences of ordinary people and contemporary soldiers' songs and music; the concert on 11 November 2018 exactly 100 years after the Armistice featured a choir of 55 adults, a children's choir of 35 from the Unicorn school in Kew and a professional orchestra of 15 players under the direction of West End musical director Michael Reed. Simon Shepherd narrated the performance, and we were also lucky enough to have Andee-Louise Hypolite, Michael George, Bogdan Kominowski, Rebecca Gresson and Bernd Steixner as our professional guest soloists. The fabulous theatrical lighting was by Andrew Voller Lighting Design Ltd and the superb sound by Simon Walter. Thanks so much Andy and SImon - we massively appreciate all your hard work! Below are a few photos of the event - many are from the dress rehearsal rather than the event itself!
Rock in a Hard Place is an exhuberant musical wtitten by Mike Reed and John Theakston, about the life of St Paul. It was premiered at St Paul's Church in 2015, and you can watch some short excerts from that event by clicking on the links below.
https://vimeo.com/525075311/8a65adbaff
Photo Galleries of Events
- Rock in a Hard Place is a brand new musical taking us through the life of St Paul. It has a witty and original script by John Theakston and music composed by Michael Reed and received its world premiere at St Paul's Church on Sunday 7 June 2015 at 7 pm. The cast included Bogdan Kominowski (who played Jesus in the original production of Jesus Christ Superstar), professional actors Danny Hill and performers Patrick Clancy and Keel Watson. The part of the narrator was sung by local opera singer Rebecca Gresson. You can get a flavour of the show below! There are also links to some live footage from the event above, under the Rock in a Hard Place poster.
- In 2014 we commemorated the start of WW1 with our concert I Knew A Simple Soldier Boy. The event was sold out, and was a moving and marvellous occasion. Go to the website below to view our tribute.
- To see some pictures of the last GroveSTOCK Music Festival - which was GroveSTOCK2013 - have a look below!This featured an amazing line up of bands both local and professional and a fantastic day was had by all!
- Our May 2013 concert entitled Rejoice was a veritable extravaganza of brass, gospel and rock! It featured performances from The Chiswick Rock Choir, Mad About Gospel, our own St Paul's Choir and Quintessent Brass playing with local tuba supremo Kevin Morgan. You can look at some photos of the evening at:
- One of our most successful concerts ever was to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The concert was a sell-out occasion and we all enjoyed this rousing and jubliant event on a beautiful May evening.
- Over 40 children were involved in our performance of The Carnival of the Animals - with some amazing costumes as well as lots of singing and dancing! We also performed a new Michael Reed arrangement of The Daniel Jazz and Peter and the Wolf - a fabulous menagerie of music!
Second Sunday Concerts
The Second Sunday Concerts were a very popular series of concerts, which took place on the second Sunday of every month - hence the name! They were always in the church, which has excellent acoustics for live music, and are completely free! Concerts included one featuring four cellists from The London Mozart Players, who gave us a truly wonderful variety of gorgeous and spirited music and we've also been treated to classical guitar, trumpet, violin and piano as well as concerts featuring singing and jazz. If you would like to be on an email list to receive news of any forthcoming Second Sunday Concerts then please email Ben Chappell with Concerts in the subject line.
GroveSTOCK
GroveSTOCK was a fabulous summer music festival that takes place in the gardens and church! It is a charity event created by the residents of Grove Park to bring great music and some summer fun to the streets of Chiswick. There were seven GroveSTOCKs in all, and over the years we enjoyed music from an incredible array of musicians - both professional and amateur. The festival sometimes includes a kids talent competition - GroveFACTOR, and loads of different fun activities; plus a BBQ, bar and fireworks to finish! It was a non-profit making event, and all proceeds were donated to the charitable funds run by the church.
Fireworks Party
Our Fireworks Party was a much-loved community event when we welcomed over 500 people into the gardens every November for a marvellous display of fireworks and our famous collosal bonfire! Over the years it has raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity, but due to an increase in numbers in recent years, we no longer feel we can stage the event in its current form. So, we are having a break while we consider other options. Huge thanks to everyone who has come along, supported us, helped out and generally made this such a popular evening!
St Paul's Christmas Concert
As well as the Advent and Christmas services that mark this special time of year; we always have a Christmas Concert - which is usually on the Sunday before Christmas Day. It features an eclectic mix of music and a variety of performances from many local musicians. Over the years we've enjoyed music from Mad About Gospel, The Swingle Bells Jazz Trio, Festive Folk and Ben and Bea Chappell. We've also been treated to some guest solos from stars of the West End shows. Our children's choir are always an important ingredient in the festive mix! At our 2015 concert, photographer Sirli Raitma took some super photos which really capture the jouous feel of the occasion and you can see those at https://www.flickr.com/gp/sirliraitma/x1PH15
St Paul's Church
64 Grove Park Road
Chiswick
London W4 3SB
vicar@stpaulsgrovepark.com
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