Service at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; Movilla Abbey honoured with Jubilee beacon; Movilla Abbey honoured with Jubilee beacon; Lunchtime Recital; Saint Bartholomew’s Girls Choir visit; New Entrance and Art Gallery Open at St Michan’s
Service at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
The Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be marked at a special service of Morning Prayer at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast on Sunday 3rd June 2012 at 11.00am. The preacher will be the Dean, The Very Revd John Mann. All are welcome to attend.
Movilla Abbey honoured with Jubilee beacon
Movilla Abbey in Newtownards will be the location for the lighting of a beacon as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Monday 4 June. The honour belongs to only three places in North Down and one of a few churches in the whole of Northern Ireland.
Pictured with the beacon are Movilla Abbey rector Revd Kevin Graham (right) and Revd Paul Gallucci, the Methodist minister. It’s just one of a series of over 4000 being lit in the United Kingdom. The ceremony will take place at 10.20pm on Monday evening as the finale to a community fun night which starts at 7.45pm.
The night will include live jazz, Ards Voice Community Choir, Vibe Academy, BBQ, Face Painting, Trialstar motorcycle display, Classic vehicles, All Age Fancy Dress, Face Painting, Beat the Goalie, Games, Bouncy Castle and much more.
It’s all free and everyone is welcome to come along.
Music in Calary
This year’s Sacred Spaces concert is “Baroque Masterpieces”, which will be presented in Calary Church at 8pm on Friday 8 June. The concert features established and respected Wicklow–based musicians Annette Cleary (Cello), Rachel Factor (Harpsichord) and Eamon Sweeney (Baroque Guitar) and will include music from Antonio Vivaldi, Jean–Philippe Rameau, and Turlough O’Carolan. Tickets are €15, or €12 for concessions, and can be booked by emailing derekneilson@eircom.net or phoning John at (01) 2818146.
Lunchtime Recital at St Ann’s, Dawson Street
A lunchtime recital of ‘Stanford’s Biblical Song’ with Rory Musgrave (baritone) and Charles Marshall (organ) takes place in St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, on Monday June 11 at 1.15 pm. Admission is free but donations are accepted. For further information contact: 01–6767727.
Saint Bartholomew’s Girls Choir to Visit Killiskey Church
The girls and gentlemen of Saint Bartholomew’s Church Choir, Dublin, together with their Director of Music, Tristan Russcher, visit Nuns Cross Church, Killiskey, Ashford, on Sunday June 17 to sing a traditional Service of Choral Evensong at 7.30 pm.
The Service of Choral Evensong dates back to the Book of Common Prayer (1662) and is used daily in Anglican Cathedral Churches worldwide. The tradition of singing the daily office is maintained here in Ireland in Cathedrals in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.
The service in Killiskey Church has been organised by Canon John Clarke and the Revd Ken Rue as part of the preparation for the Confirmation group who are due to be confirmed by the Archbishop later this year.
The music for the service will include some well known congregational hymns, a setting of the Evening Canticles by Irish born composer, Charles Villiers Stanford, and an anthem by Baroque composer and sometime organist of Westminster Abbey, Henry Purcell.
The girls and gentlemen of Saint Bartholomew’s Choir have performed in Cathedrals in Dublin, Armagh, Kilkenny, Cashel and Cork as well as visiting St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice for a concert tour in 2009. Their CD “ And the house was filled with smoke “ recorded in December 2011 will be available for sale after the service.
This will be the second occasion that a Choir from Saint Bartholomew’s Church will have visited Killiskey Church. On a previous occasion the boys and gentlemen performed a concert in aid of the Church Restoration Fund in May 2002.
New Entrance and Art Gallery Open at St Michan’s
St Michan’s Church, famous for its crypts which house the mummified remains of some of Dublin’s most influential 17th, 18th and 19th century families, has now become a home to the arts with the opening of a new community gallery. The church, which is near Dublin’s busy Smithfield area, has turned a little used side–chapel into a space for the arts and has also reopened a long forgotten entrance which is set to dramatically increase visitor numbers. The gallery and the entrance were officially opened on Friday night along with the first exhibition to take place in the church.
The new entrance, which opens out into Smithfield near the Old Jameson Distillery, was discovered completely by chance. Curate of the Christ Church Cathedral Group of Parishes, Revd David MacDonnell, was helping with some gardening works at the back of St Michan’s churchyard when he found a step. After a bit of digging he discovered another one. Archeologists were then called in and following some further excavation, a frame which had housed a gate was found in the wall and work began to reopen the entrance, sponsored by the Historic Area Rejuvenation Plan (HARP). The entrance has been open since April and Vicar of the group of parishes, Archdeacon David Pierpoint, said footfall to the church had trebled on a daily basis since then.
Inside the church, St Paul’s Chapel had been set aside as a quiet space where people could pray and be away from visitors who had come to shake the hand of the Crusader and view the other mummies. However, Archdeacon Pierpoint said that the room was rarely used and Mr MacDonnell suggested using the space as a gallery. There is no charge to artists to exhibit their work but they will be invited to make a donation to the church.
The gallery and its first exhibition were officially opened, by Revd David MacDonnell. The exhibition is entitled ‘Reflections’ and is a collaboration between painter, Maeve McCarthy and photographer, Mella Travers. It features paintings of St Michan’s and photographic portraits of its people. The church is open from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday and from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm on Saturdays.