EVENTS AT ST PAUL'S
St Paul's is a vibrant part of the Chiswick community. Our church is well known for its many events, which include concerts, quiz nights, garden parties, flower
festivals, sponsored walks and more! We are lucky to have a large group of volunteers who enjoy coming together to sing, play, entertain, fundraise and have fun! Scroll down to see photos from past
events! To receive a short weekly newsletter with information about our forthcoming events, please contact administrator@stpaulsgrovepark.com
FLOWER FESTIVAL
From 16-18 May 2025, the church was filled with fabulous floral displays from many different community groups for all to enjoy! There was also music in the church and garden, and teas, coffees and cakes were served all weekend. Entry to the Flower Festival was free, but we have raised over £2,500 from donations, the raffle and refreshments, which is wonderful. So a massive thank you to everyone who was involved in any part of the festival, including stewarding in the church, serving the refreshments and washing up, bringing flowers and displays into the church, helping with the set-up and of course the clearing up afterwards!
During the weekend, over 300 adults and children visited the church where they saw a mix of colourful displays of flowers on the overall theme of Spring to Life. The imaginative displays included:
- A Day in the Country from Grove Park Gardens
- A flower filled tuba display from Chiswick Brass Festival
- A river bank tableau from the Grove Park Fly Fishers
- A greenery dress from Grove Park Road
- Flowers decorated with yellow springs, from the Grove Park Group
- An English wedding from Wilmington Avenue
- A Sri Lankan wedding from Kinnaird Avenue
- A floral golf bag also from Kinnaird Avenue
- A country garden with a flowing spring from St. Michael's Church
- Seed growing display for children from Waldeck and Geraldine Roads
- A poetry pillar from St.Paul's Poetry Group
- A display on biodiversity with refugess writings from Refugees Welcome Hounslow
- Vicar's Voyage: a decorated canoe from Rev'd Caroline
- A Teddy Bears' picnic from St. Paul's Coffee Club
Chiswick Toddlers World, Chiswick Bright Horizons Nursery, Strand on the Green Infant & Nursery School and St. Paul's Stay and Play all provided wonderful displays of work done by the children in those different early years settings and we had lots of family visitors with children keen to show off their work to their parents.
Huge thanks are due to the festival organisers: Sara Surtees, Cassandra Barker and Claire Carter. Cassandra led a team who served refreshments in the garden with delicious cakes made and donated by the congregation.
The garden highlight was a visit from the Middlesex Yeomanry Band who played a range of foot-tapping music on Sunday afternoon and there was also live music in the church on Saturday from Catherine Jessop on the piano, and on Sunday by Sue Shorter.
Chiswick House and Gardens donated a huge array of cut flowers and foliage which Margaret Harvey and Bella Makower turned into the most amazing display overflowing from the font. Chiswick Horticulture and Allotments Society gave us a flowers and vegetables and Chiswick Pier Trust produced a wonderful white floral arrangement in a marvellous white swan vase. We also received many gifts of plants and displays from individual donors, and any remaining space was decorated by church volunteers, making this a real community event.
IWe also had a great raffle with terrific prizes from local cafes, pubs, restaurants, shops, a beauty salon and generous vouchers from Strand on the Green Association and Chiswick Flower Market, who also donated two of their Market tote bags. Thanks specifically goes to Claire Carter who persuaded everyone to donate the prizes and then ran the raffle with Jill Dixon.
You can view the fabulous floral displays in the gallery of photos below!
CONCERTS
During its 150+ years, St Paul's Church has always been a centre of musical excellence. We have been fortunate enough in recent decades to have some exceptionally talented professional musicians within our congregation, including West End Musical Directors Mike Reed and Mike Dixon, renowned pianist and conductor Robert Emery, and professional cellist and violinist Ben and Bea Chappell. Their generous time and energy, coupled with the enthusiasm and verve of our many amateur singers, players and hardworking backstage team, has enabled us to put on some superb concerts, from large scale extravaganzas to smaller, more reflective performances.
AN EVENING WITH MIKE REED AND FRIENDS
This was a journey through the musical life of one of the UK's most illustrious musical directors; with many entertaining stories about the productions Mike's worked on and the famous faces he's encountered, as well as some wonderful renditions on the piano of the melodies that have been important to him over the years. In the scond half of the evening, Mike was joined by some of his talented friends from the classical and musical theatre worlds for a stunning performance of some of his favourite pieces.
You can watch a video of the whole concert on YouTube here.
The performers and helpers enjoying a pre-show supper in the Isis rooms!
John Theakston interviewing Mike during the first half of the evening
Kamilla Fernandes
Luke Street
Hannah Richardson
Bea Chappell
Dave White
Ben Chappell
Robert Emery
ROCK IN A HARD PLACE
This exhuberant musical written by Mike Reed and John Theakston about the life of St Paul, premiered at St Paul's Church on
Sunday 7 June 2015 to great acclaim. 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.
Photos from the evening are available to view at:
www.rockinahardplace.weebly.com
Short excerts can be seen at:
I KNEW A SIMPLE SOLDIER BOY
This concert brought to St Paul's the voices and music of those who participated in and lived through the Great War. It was performed in 2014 and again in 2018 to mark the 100 year
anniversaries of the start and end of WWI. Written by John Theakston and drawing on the personal reminiscences of ordinary people and contemporary soldiers' songs with all the music arranged by Mike
Reed; it is an extraordinarily moving and powerful work. Photos of the 2014
concert can be viewed at:
www.iknewasimplesoldier.weebly.com
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. Actor 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. Below are a few photos of the dress rehearsal and concert.
CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
Over 40 children were involved in our performance of this famous Saint Saens work, 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! You can see photos from the evening at:
60 GLORIOUS YEARS
One of our most successful concerts ever was to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. The concert was a sell-out occasion and we all enjoyed this rousing and jubilant event on
a beautiful May evening. You can see photos at:
REJOICE
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:
CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
The annual Christmas concert at St Paul's is always a very special occasion! Over the years there have been many different celebrations, always with the St Paul's choir at the heart of the evening. They often involve our friends trom nearby churches, sometimes there's a children's choir, sometimes we have a full band, sometimes just organ and piano, but they all have one thing in common - they are full of festive spirit! At our 2015 concert, photographer Sirli Raitma took some super photos which really capture the joyous feel of the occasion and you can see those at https://www.flickr.com/gp/sirliraitma/x1PH15
QUIZ NIGHT
The last Friday in January is the date for the famous annual St Paul's Quiz Night! Questions are set by the team that wins the previous year and it is always a very closely contested, often boisterous and thoroughly enjoyable evening!
ST PAUL'S TO ST PAUL'S SPONSORED WALKS
There have been a total of four sponsored walks from from St Paul's Church to St Paul's Cathedral, a distance of 10 miles. The first was over twenty years ago, and the most recent was on 14 October 2023, raising well over over £2,000.
GROVESTOCK AND FIREWORKS PARTY
The Grovestock summer music festival and November bonfire party were annual events, very much enjoyed by the local community.
Grovestock was created 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, with a BBQ, bar and fireworks to finish! You can see some photos of the 2013 Grovestock here:
www.grovestockphotos2013.weebly.com
Sadly, both Growvestock and the Fireworks party eventually got too large to be safely hosted by St Paul's in the space available.
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