Giving and receiving at St Matthew's

St Matthew's was delighted to host a revival of the afternoon tea ceremony, firstly for older tea drinkers in the hall in June and then in August in the sunshine of the vicarage garden. In addition to Fr Stuart's many sterling qualities as our priest, we did greatly appreciate his light hand with scones and his provision of unlimited cups of tea to stimulate lively conversation.

We were again well represented on the parish churches stand at the Wimbledon Village Fair this year. Thank you to everyone who came on the day to talk about the church and to help paint children's faces. We had queues of people of all ages coming to visit us all day and it was lovely to meet so many members of the local community. The day was deemed a great success, with literature about the church being distributed, and the highlight definitely being Fr Stuart's sartorially elegant star appearance.

The walk to Southwark did not defeat the stout-hearted. They completed the eleven miles to the cathedral in about 5½ hours, encouraged by the promise of refreshments en route and a photocall with the Houses of Parliament as backdrop.  They stood before the 'St Matthew's Wimbledon' stone in the pavement and celebrated Christopher as he stood before St Christopher's altar. A memorable event to enliven a July day.

We celebrated the spirit of harvest on the last Sunday in September, bringing gifts of food and clothes for the homeless, to which £50 was added from sales on our produce stall. The traditional hymns, the autumn colours of the flowers were valued links with the past. As we celebrated the ending of a cycle of growth, we greeted a new life as Eva FitzHugh was baptised into our community at St Matthew's.

On 24th October a 'Growing in Prayer' workshop was held at the church. Members of our congregation joined others from the parish to explore a form of meditation which involved being still and focusing on our consent to participate in God's presence and activity within.

Our moving celebration of All Souls Day (The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed) was a sung Mass in which Fauré's Requiem was sung as part of the liturgy. Catherine Richards sang the Pie Jesu most beautifully and Jonathan Turton sang the solo part in the Libera Me with great power and gravitas as well as conducting while Malcolm Barron played the organ. Five singers from other churches in the parish also took part.

Gwen Shafee held a sale at her home of new and almost new garments given generously by friends and neighbours, which not only raised a very useful sum of money for the church but also provided a kaleidoscope of colour among its customers. She also provided much help for the needy and the community gained greatly from her hard work.

The Winter Fair was another triumph for organiser Janet McDonough, and a credit to all who gave their time and effort. Colourful stalls and the café atmosphere of the tables in the centre created a bright and festive scene. The choir and friends sang songs which dated from the Thirties (but are still as fresh as ever), ably rehearsed and conducted by Malcolm Barron. A total in the region of £2000 was raised, a welcome addition to church funds.

Gwyneth Llewellyn

And for one night only: The Meal

A novel way to raise money for our charitable giving took the form of a raffle. The lucky winner was offered dinner for eight at home, cooked by Fr Stuart and Kim Van Rooyen. Martin Kohler had the winning ticket.

Saturday

6.45: With minutes to go before our friends are due to arrive, I get a telephone call from one of them, T, informing me that he doesn’t eat chicken and A is a vegetarian. What's on the menu?
Chicken.
7.05: Guests assemble at our house, but the house looks a tip and there's no sign of cooking or a laid table, and Jess and Martin look decidedly relaxed, too relaxed. What's going on?
7.15: Troop to Coombe Gardens with twelve bottles of wine, one bottle of Port, two cheeses, a soft drink, and some chocolate, to be met by Father Stuart. L removes her beautiful jewelled shoes and makes herself at home in the sitting room, warming her feet in front of the coal fire. Our twelve bottles of wine disappear.
William, our splendid wine waiter, offers us an aperitif made of blackcurrant and apple. I settle into my seat. William's back on the scene; oh, go on then, I will have another one.

Starter: Goat's Cheese, Tomato and Herb Tart

William gives me a glass of white. I wander into the kitchen to try and find wine and retrieve two bottles that are meant as presents. Fr S suggests in no uncertain terms that I leave the kitchen. L wanders into the kitchen after discovering that Kim is a Zimbabwean. After some time in the kitchen L discovers that Kim went to school with her best friend.

Main Course: Coq au Vin

William gives me a glass of red. I suggest, in my best Bristolean accent, that as both M and R live in Wandsworth, A should tell everyone her 'Wandsworth' story. I suggest Fr S stays to listen. He says he'll only stay if it's dirty. He stays.
E is chuckling a lot.
I tell everyone how I like to ensure that guests who don't know each other have some kind of connection: R's sister's children do a lot of show-jumping and I've seen a picture of T show-jumping. T and A have been to Cephallonia, and L comes from there. No, she doesn't drink the wine when she's there.
Jess tells everyone how on her holidays twenty years ago she found the Zimbabweans a friendly and proud people. R and M met in Zimbabwe and later R worked there for some time. R and L discuss two books about Zimbabwe: 'Don't go down to the dogs tonight' by Alexandra Fuller, and 'The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam' by Lauren Liebenberg. T tells us he just finished a Wilbur Smith.
Fr S asks me whether he should serve the cheese now or after the pudding. I prefer the cheese now. Jess challenges my decision. Fr S points out that he wasn’t asking her.

Cheese

I have the squidgiest cheese. I point out that the cheese knife looks like a fish-gutter. But what do I know? Apparently the holes in the blade stop the cheese from spreading over the board. Fr S doesn't like cheese spreading over his board. I have more squidgy cheese.
William brings the Port. Oh no, the Port. Apparently the Port is very good. Jess has several glasses.

Dessert: Classic Crepe Suzette (pancakes in Cointreau and Orange syrup)

M is suffering from dog hairs. As he drinks more Port his nose gets bigger. R points out that not only does he have problems going up and down mountains, but he has problems staying at her sister's because of all the horse hair. I decide to venture into the kitchen to ask for some anti-histamine. Fr S doesn't shoo me out of the kitchen.
Around the table we briefly talk religion. I suggest that Catholic priests can now become Anglicans, get married and then become Catholics again. M, who is Catholic, says no they've got that covered.
William's dad arrives to take him home. Amanda and Kim emerge from the kitchen to say goodnight. I tell everyone how Kim has cruelly sacrificed playing area for his kids in the garden for the sake of a smoker. Kim disputes size of smoker.

Coffee and Teas

T and I are the awkward axis of the table who don't want Coffee. T then changes his mind. R and I have Chamomile; R cools hers down with some Soda water.

We leave. Fr S tells us you can put several different pictures of your animal on to pet passports. I hug him and thank him for the evening.
T gets his car and drives round to pick up A. M and R walk back and head off quickly, baby-sitter beckons. E and L stay for a while and chat. E searches around our house for his daughter's doll. E and L leave without doll, but with daughter.
Jess and I go to bed. I can’t stop thinking about squidgy cheese.

Martin Kohler

Children's Worship

Since September we have been enjoying a new approach to 'Sunday School' at St Matthew's. We have combined all the age groups and introduced Children's Worship in which we engage in Godly Play. Godly play is a child-centred approach to learning about and responding to God's presence in the children's lives, taking place in a child-focused atmosphere. Father Stuart is an acknowledged expert in the field, advising and running courses for the Southwark Diocese, so we decided to take advantage of this and introduce Godly Play at St Matthew's. Many of you/your children may have witnessed this already at Father Stuart's popular Easter and Christmas workshops, or the adults may have experienced it through last year's Lent course.

Godly Play is based on the Montessori method of child-centred education and is a 'para-Eucharistic liturgy' to use the correct phraseology! This means that the children are the focus and the content reflects that which happens in church.

Gathering together: This is an opportunity to say 'goodbye' to carers and leave any toys behind that might distract from the Godly Play experience, just like at the school door. The children are met and greeted at the hall door by the welcomer. They calmly join the circle. A Godly Play community begins right there, by building a circle where each and every participant is warmly welcomed and valued.

Listening to the word of God: A story is told from the Bible using wooden figures and artefacts to help tell the story. The stories are told in a specific order.

Responding: The children respond through wondering about the story and their own response to it. They also respond through singing or craft.

Sharing: The children share a feast of biscuits and juice or water.

The children are experiencing what is happening in church but at their level.

As we do not have time to complete all of the above in one session we split it over two sessions. In the first session we have a story and the wondering followed by a feast and songs. In the second session, on the following Sunday, we recap the story and respond through craft.

Children's Worship is for all children from age 3 as by this time they have often started nursery and/or are ready to sit and listen to a story. For younger children there are activities and stories in the crèche that relate to the story told in the Godly Play session.

We send out a timetable of sessions for the next term at the end of the previous term. Each term we have an 'open' session so that parents and carers can experience what their child/ren have been enjoying. This takes place on one of the craft sessions so you can join in and the special circle on the previous session still belongs to the children.

We hope that your child is enjoying Children's Worship and that they look forward to the special time spent together. As with all new ventures there will be teething problems so if you have any queries or are interested in becoming a helper or leader, please see Father Stuart, Rosie or Shelli.

Rosie Cook

Climate Crisis – the Archbishop of Canterbury's Operation Noah lecture

What was I thinking as I walked towards Southwark Cathedral on a cold October evening to hear Archbishop Rowan Williams deliver a lecture on climate change? Would I be surrounded by dreadlocked eco-warriors? Would there even be many other people there? More seriously, I suppose what I wanted to know was what did he, or the Church of England or Christianity in general, have to add to the whole climate change debate?

I need not have worried about being on my own – the Cathedral was packed with over 1,000 people. The evening started with some African drumming, after which we sang the hymn 'All creatures of our God and King'. Having ensured that we were thus fully awake, the Archbishop began his lecture by saying that he did not want to talk about climate change, at least not to start with.

Instead, he took us back to the story of Noah, a story that we are all familiar with from our school days, and the song about the animals 'going in two by two'. By carrying out God's instructions, Noah was responsible for the continuation of life on Earth. The story of Noah deliberately echoed the creation stories of Genesis, where humans are put in charge of caring for the animal world. The flood story ends with the making of a covenant between God and all living things; God is committed to the continuance of life on earth. Humanity has a special role in creation to reflect the love and intelligence of God. This role involves protecting all life; it certainly does not mean that we have a licence to do as we please. Humanity is unimaginable without all the other life forms which sustain us and which we in turn serve and conserve. Therefore the saving of our future as human beings is inseparable from securing the future of all living things. It also means that respect for humanity, and human dignity and justice, is bound up with respect for all life.

The ecological crisis could in fact be seen as a crisis about our humanity. We have lost this sense of life as a web of interactions. We have become disconnected from the natural world, and this could be seen in the erosion of rhythms of work and rest; the loss of patience with the passing of time; the fear of ageing and death; the lack of respect for the very old and very young. For all our wealth and comfortable lifestyles, there is a lack of well-being. We have become addicted to self-destructive patterns of consumption and behaviour; the current financial crisis is one sign of this.

So how can we live in a way which shows our understanding of living in a shared world? It is easy to become disheartened, to think that as individuals our actions will have no impact, or that it is too late to do anything about climate change anyway. This is where religion can contribute, not in an authoritarian way, by telling people what to do, but showing us a way of living which is more in tune with the natural world and with our own humanity. Combating climate change should be a matter not just of survival but of human happiness and justice. We are used to thinking about justice in an abstract and legalistic way, as a matter of individual rights, rather than about doing what is right. The role of religion could be to help us recognise the moral dimension to the environmental crisis, and to make moral and religious convictions more visible in the public sphere. If we can see the spiritual and moral dimension to climate change, then the small changes we can make to our own lifestyles are not insignificant; they are crucial.

There are many practical ways in which we can make a difference, most of which we are already aware of. For example we can keep up pressure on national and local government (especially ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December), join CRAGs (Carbon Rationing Action Groups), and reduce our own consumption, travel and energy use. But as well as all this we need to restore our own connection with nature, to take time to observe the changing weather and seasons, to grow some of our own food. Even doing something as seemingly trivial as going outside in the rain!

He ended the lecture, unsurprisingly, with a quote from the Bible. Alluding to the words of Moses and St Paul (Deut. 30.11-15, 19, Romans 10, 6-9), he said that 'this is not a message remote from us in heaven or buried under the earth; it is near, on our lips and in our hearts. Today I am giving you a choice between good and evil, life and death - choose life'.

There were a number of interesting questions, to which Rowan Williams did his best to respond, on topics such as population growth, what is the Church of England doing about its own carbon footprint; the role of inter-faith collaboration; why should we advocate lower economic growth if this would condemn the developing world to poverty; should we ever resort to direct action? There were theological questions such as how should we respond to Christians who think the Bible legitimises environmental degradation; and did creation fall, or just our relationship with it?

But the final question sticks in my mind. 'In the past Christian movements for change have had charismatic leaders: where are the Wilberforces and Martin Luther Kings of the environmental movement?' Rowan Williams answered that they are you and me. Such figures of the past must have had many anguished moments, asking God 'Is it actually me you want to do something?'

Clare Brooks

[You can read the full transcript of Rowan Williams' lecture on the Operation Noah website, www.operationnoah.org].

Ann Peeks R I P (1928-2009)

For many years Ann Peeks was a much-loved member of the St Matthew's family. She came from the West Country, trained as a nurse at Bart's hospital and was married to Paul, a local GP.

She was a sidesman, read lessons, was an original member of the patchwork group. With Joan Rider she always ran the cake stall at our Fairs. She cooked for and helped to organise the Parish Lunches, and was very much involved in our never-to-be-forgotten Millennium Supper.

She was perhaps best known for her inspired flower arranging. When she and a handful of friends took over the church flowers, they attended classes and Ann’s talent immediately became evident. Under her leadership two spectacular Flower Festivals were held at St Matthew's – the first depicting the Sacraments and the second, Hymns of the Church's Year.

Ann was always there for people. In fact she was always there: if she wasn't in church on Sunday people wondered why. She was easy to talk to and had a deep and abiding interest in people of all ages, stages, abilities and interests.

Ann made a huge impact during her time as a helper at St Matthew's school. She was fascinated by the children's different styles of learning and could always engage them in conversation, never dismissing or undervaluing their ideas. She took on and devoted endless hours to several major projects. One was a patchwork hanging – each square for one of the memories of the children who were leaving the school that year. Another was part of the major flower festival at St Matthew's Church. Ann worked with the children on a series of panels using dried plant material – all lovingly collected by her – to describe a beautiful hymn in plant collage.

After Paul's death Ann decided to move back to her native West Country. With characteristic determination she went to computer classes and used the local library's computers to keep in touch with friends, including many at St Matthew's. A number visited her before she became ill and during her long final stay in hospital, and St Matthew's was well represented at her funeral. She died, her two beloved daughters beside her, in a hospice close to her childhood home. This extract from the end of The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne was printed in the funeral service sheet: "If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together ...there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart ... I'll always be with you."

Janet & Bob McDonough, Ann Deane

Precious Babies

The Neonatal Unit at St George's Hospital in Tooting cares for the sickest and most premature babies from South West London, and is the surgical centre for babies for the South East of England, as far as Brighton. There are two children in the congregation who started life with long stays on the Unit, and I am sure we will discover more following this article! The Unit cares for over 500 babies each year, the most high profile one in recent years being Lady Louise, the daughter of Prince Edward and The Countess of Wessex. My eldest daughter spent nearly four months on the Unit, and was christened there in 2001 by the Reverend Ian Ainsworth-Smith.

The NNU at St George's Hospital is the Regional Centre of Excellence for South East England. This means that, while some of the babies on the NNU are born to families living locally, others come from hospitals throughout the South East of England which cannot provide the level of expertise and equipment needed to ensure the best possible treatment. The sickest, most vulnerable and most premature babies from Kingston, Mayday, Epsom and St Helier Hospitals are sent to St George's for expert care.

A registered charity since 1998, the Friends of the Neonatal Unit at St George's was set up by a group of dedicated staff and parents so that people could directly support the NNU. The charity is a separate entity to St George's Hospital and money raised is used specifically to help the Neonatal Unit. The charity's original purpose was to raise money to fund equipment needed that was, unfortunately, not covered by NHS budgets. When you realise that the cost of caring for a baby in Intensive Care can amount to £1000 per day you can see that the NHS money is soon used up. In 2009 money raised from donations and events will be used to purchase vital life saving equipment, for staff training and to fund parent-focused welfare projects. Our overheads are very small. With only two members of part time staff we are passionate that the money we raise goes directly to help the babies in the NNU's care.

In 2008 the charity celebrated its 10th anniversary, culminating in celebrations at a Carol Service at St Matthew's Church in early December. The event, kindly and entertainingly hosted by Father Stuart, featured performances from actors and musicians from Polka Theatre, BBC children's television presenters, musician Ian Parkin, and a choir from St Matthew's School under the very capable baton of Miss Watson. We raised almost £900! Thanks to all concerned!

The Neonatal Unit and its charity are causes that bring people together from the local community. Many people have direct experience of the excellent care given by staff at the Unit as parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents or family friends. Other people, although having no direct link with the Unit, have great sympathy for the plight of sick infants, and the anguish and worry that their parents go through. This is reflected in the patrons who have given their names and support to the charity, including newsreader and local mum Sophie Raworth, and Baroness Cumberlege.

Perhaps we can remember in our prayers the babies, past and present, those who made it home and those who tragically did not, who have spent time on the Unit. Let us also pray for their families, and the amazing hospital staff - including nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, surgeons, domestics, dietitians, radiographers and counsellors - who work so hard to give each and every baby the best possible outcome.

Sarah Collins

The Four Loves: CS Lewis

The Four Loves is a generous book. Setting out innermost thoughts about such an intimate subject as love is bound to expose a writer's personal vulnerability, and doing so may be helpful to many who read the book, even if we don't agree with all (or even much) of what Lewis writes.

It is just over thirty years since I first read the book. For me, CS Lewis remains a good writer. He's clear and witty. His anecdotes and references are pithy and often amusing, as well as being illustrative and relevant.

The philosophy, religion and morality underlying the book are profoundly Christian. It begins with a direct quotation, "God is Love," says St John. And the remainder turns on that axis. "Every Christian would agree that a man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God." But whilst God is love, love is not God – that would be to worship a false idol.

CS Lewis first distinguishes between "Gift-love" and "Need-love". Divine love is Gift-love. Need-love is "the accurate reflection in consciousness of our actual nature", but it is not bad or wrong. Further clarification is Appreciative love – "We give thanks to thee God for thy great glory". So of a lover:

• Need-love: I cannot live without him/her.
• Gift-love: longs to give him/her happiness.
• Appreciative love: would rather love him/her than never to have seen him/her at all.

CS Lewis allows two forms of love for what is not personal: love of nature ("especially for Englishmen and Russians"!) and love of one's country. Both of these can be corrupted. For example, "Our habit of talking as if England's motive for acquiring an empire ... had been mainly altruistic nauseated the world."  Again, "If I start pretending that I blacked his [a burglar's] eye purely on moral grounds – wholly indifferent to the fact that the house in question was mine – I become insufferable."

Such issues are "wider still and wider". And if we draw arbitrary lines when to stop, then we become hypocrites. In the context of American / Anglo interventionism over the last twelve years, this kind of commentary is highly relevant. I might urge you to read it just for that. It confirmed to me how far we have lost moral way in international affairs. When our leaders talk (across the political spectrum) of "a moral compass" and the like, sadly it is no more than phoney baloney. But back to the book.

CS Lewis then categorises the four loves:

• Affection
• Friendship
• Eros
• Charity

I am not sure where the four categories come from. They may be useful, but the risk is that in trying to discuss them, they may be cut off (or just fall off) from human feelings. Any discussion then becomes dry and dusty. Mostly I think that CS Lewis avoids that.

Some of what CS Lewis writes is plainly dated and chauvinist. I'll suggest a couple of references and leave you to make up your own mind:

• on women: pages 87-93.
• on (being accused of) homosexuality – pages 72-73.

But having left you to make your own mind up on those references, how about CS Lewis repeatedly calling sexual intercourse "the act of Venus". "The carnal or animally sexual element within Eros, I intend (following an old usage) to call Venus"!!! Good grief! I'm not for a moment saying that I approve of modern promiscuity, but CS Lewis does sometimes come across to me as an almighty prude.

I hope that CS Lewis would not mind my poking fun at some of what he wrote. I am inclined to think he would not. Certainly he would be my intellectual superior (by many times) in any debate, but I hope that we have moved on from some of the dafter chauvinism and ignorance.

Yes, this book is still worthwhile reading. But no it does not reveal the secret of how to be a perfect lover.

Christian Dingwall

Film Reviews

Summer 2009 was blessed with a number of blockbusters that will be coming out on DVD about now. All are part of "franchises" and each (in the not-so-new-age way) draws on religion and paganism. So here are reviews to help you choose something to put in the DVD player, put your feet up and watch as the evenings draw in.

Angels and Demons. The sequel or prequel – sorry not sure which – to the amazingly successful Da Vinci Code. But is a Vatican curse at work here? Whilst many have made pots of money out of this franchise, in equal measure they have made asses of themselves. First it was Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, now it is Ewan McGregor's turn as a very frocked up cardinal. Leaving aside his reasons, the Pope was probably right to advise missing this one. I did and cannot offer further guidance other than a suggested rating (out of five) of one star – eminently missable.

Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen. I know this one was a sequel – the clue is in the title. I fell asleep in the middle. Otherwise loud special effects kept me awake (if none the wiser) at the beginning and end. I went with my co-critic D aged 10 who said it was the best film he had ever seen. D often says that about the last film he has seen, so I'll take his verdict with a pinch of salt and award three stars – fun for the kids (and possibly fun for the parents too if they can sneak out for a bit).

Harry Potter and the Somebody Something. Another sequel apparently. I was asleep for the beginning, middle and end but did wake up feeling marvellously refreshed. I went with J aged 23, S aged 18, T aged 16 and my co-critic D. They all said it was great and the best so far in the franchise. Applying the usual rule of thumb, I'll award three stars – something here for all the family.

Christian Dingwall

St Matthew's Website

Some years ago I wanted to learn how to build a website. I looked around for something multi-faceted and the church seemed an obvious choice. The fact that Jean prepared the weekly news sheet and looked after the archive gave me a head start.

My aim was simplicity. This was a new venture for me, and at that time computers were relatively slow. I wanted as wide a public as possible to be able to access the website. At the time more and more churches were going online and it was good to keep up with the trend.

My new digital camera enabled us to show photos of events. As archivist Jean produced a series of presentations for the west porch, including "The Sites of St Matthew's" and the history of the organ, and these were ideal features for the website. We reported on our involvement with and fundraising for the parish church of St Athanasius in Zastron, South Africa. Early encouragement came from Fr Geoffrey Rider who saw the website as a useful means of communication and gave us his weekly sermons to publish. During our Jubilee fundraising initiative the website became an important means of presenting the results of the congregation's efforts.

We knew through comments and through communications with the webmaster that the website was appreciated: by the housebound, by people who have moved away but like to know about St Matthew's, and by congregation members who have mislaid the news sheet.

In 2008 a new design of news sheet was proposed which would not be compiled by Jean. This seemed a good time to pass the website publication to someone else. Fortunately we were able to keep it in the family! My daughter-in-law Delia took over and she has produced a new website design which takes advantage of the new era of computers which have developed so much since we began around ten years ago.

The new website is very good! and it has upheld the simplicity I always tried to achieve. Advanced technology combined with personal skill has enabled Delia to analyse the response with accuracy, and we have "hits" from a surprisingly diverse public. Most churches have websites now and we can be very proud of ours.

Barrie Porter

An addition to the Archive

Archive material comes from unexpected sources. In summer of this year we were pleased to hear from a past member of the St Matthew's congregation who contacted us after consulting our website. The following extracts are taken with his permission from Peter Ayers's emails.

The reason for my looking at St Matthew's website was that our church (Heartsease Lane Methodist Church, Norwich) is considering removing pews in favour of chairs and also to change the direction of the seating by 180 degrees.  ...As the organ sound is high up (way above the heads of the congregation) I am suggesting that, as at St Matthew's, this will cause no problem of remoteness. I could remember the excellence of the acoustics in (St Matthew's). The choir was high up in the west end gallery, to the south side of the organ. The celebrant, at the east end, would sing parts of the service and the choir would respond. There was never any difficulty caused by the distance between the two, due to the fact that there were no obstructions between the two sounds to degrade the sound. We heard each other quite clearly. This would not have been so if the choir were at ground level, because of the muting effect of furniture and members of the congregation. When I was at St Matthew's no form of amplification was used. I was not aware of any problem in not hearing readers from the lectern, but maybe that was because amplification was not so usual in those days and my hearing was better than today.

I attended St Matthew's Church from 1950 until 1962, and I remember the excellence of the acoustics, as I was a member of the choir when I joined in 1952 and then had organ lessons from the organist and choirmaster, Arthur Ayley. This was at first on the electrically pumped reed organ in the restored church hall. When we moved into the new church building in 1958 an electronic organ was loaned by the John Compton Organ Company whilst it obtained and rebuilt a pipe organ by Vowles of Bristol from a redundant chapel in the West Country. The Vowles instrument was much superior in sound, although its console was not within vision of the choir.

When the organ was ready to be dedicated, in July 1960, a reporter from Wimbledon Boro' News, 11 St George's Road, Wimbledon, SW19 came and a photograph was taken of the organist, Arthur Ayley standing by the organ whilst I was playing. Here is a copy of the photograph, with the news caption alongside.

"Mr A H Ayley, organist of St Matthew's Church, West Wimbledon, standing by the church's new organ in the now completely restored building, as Mr Peter Ayers, deputy organist, plays. The church restoration fund is being closed at a dedication ceremony on 16th July."

I have many happy memories of my time at St Matthew's, especially of the kindness of Arthur Ayley ...
Please thank the organist, Malcolm Barron, for sending the organ specification. It was useful to include the stops that were added in 1998. Looking at the specification, I can now remember the names of these stops when I used to play the organ. I remember how impressive the Cornopean was on the swell and to have a sub-octave coupler on the swell must be of great benefit. In fact, the 1998 additions obviously have made a great improvement to the scope of the organ and make it capable of playing a wide range of different styles more successfully than in my day. One feature of the 1960 organ which I found limiting was the swell pedal. It was not balanced, but the foot had to be on the pedal all of the time, except when it was completely open or closed. I presume that this is now a balanced swell pedal, which can be opened in any position.

I noticed in the photographs that the roof beams are now painted red. I seem to remember that these beams were coloured a much darker colour. Perhaps this took place when the church received internal modifications.

In those days all cassocks were black, which in black and white photographs is not absolutely clear. Robed choir members could be distinguished from servers because their surplices had rounded necks instead of the angled tops. The choirboys also wore ruffs.

Thank you very much for sending me the old photographs. They were very interesting and brought back faces that I had long ago forgotten. It is amazing that the power of a photograph can send you straight back to events nearly fifty years ago.

Peter Ayers