St Margaret's Church Prestwich

It is often said that a change is as good as a rest, so during summer 2024 I took a partial sabbatical from my more visible roles and responsibilities at St Margaret’s, set the ‘Out of Office’ on my parish email account, and visited other churches.

I began in early July with a long weekend in Hawkshead. I was due to sing there with the Manchester Chorale in a concert on Saturday 6 July, in the parish church of St Michael and All Angels. It’s a small and beautiful church, and the concert was very well received.

I spent Saturday 13 July at Bolton Road Methodist Church, Bury, for the ALM annual summer conference. It was a spiritually refreshing and replenishing day, beginning with a worship band, and ending with a silent eucharist, via Mission Community chatty sessions and singing and drumming workshops. The silent eucharist was deeply moving, and actually not silent at all. There was quiet background music throughout, and we were provided with a leaflet of readings and prayers for reflection. The Presiding priest was however completely silent, and we simply had to watch her to take our cues for what to do and when. For example, having blessed the bread and wine she took communion herself, and offered them to one other person, who then offered them to whoever was nearby. In that way, the elements trickled out through the congregation with minimal movement or fuss.

On a very hot day in July I visited the wonderfully cool – and incredibly opulent – Porto Cathedral.

On 28 July I worshipped at St Paul’s Kersal. I had never been there before, but was welcomed as an old friend and looked after well. I learned that they too had a devastating fire in the mid 1980s, and took the opportunity to remodel the interior of the church building: the west half of the nave is now a social space with a café, offices and toilets, with a mezzanine allowing for upstairs meeting and small function rooms.

In August I was welcomed to All Saints Stand. You probably know it’s a vast building, able to seat around 1200 worshipers up on the gallery that surrounds the nave on three sides, as well as at ground level. The organist sits on his own up in the organ loft, with a rear-view mirror allowing visual communication with the choir in the chancel below. During the peace, “Love is All Around” was played (it made perfect sense at the time) while everyone left their pews and wandered about, offering peace to each other with a handshake or hug. I hadn’t realised just how much I’ve missed this weekly physical contact at St Margaret’s.

Slightly further away, in August I had my first ever visit to Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, off the Northumberland coast. Access is across a  narrow causeway, and is therefore dependant on tidal flow. Time was limited, but I managed to see the castle, abbey ruins and parish church of St Mary the Virgin.

August also saw my first visit to Edinburgh and the Cathedral of St Giles. I’ve been a regular visitor to Scotland in the past, but never to the capital city. As luck would have it, we arrived as the daily midday service started. It was 15 minutes of total calm amongst the tourists and visitors to the Fringe – and a deeply spiritual experience.

St Mary’s Prestwich is of course our “mother” church. I visited on a quiet day, with many ‘regulars’ away on holiday. Coffee and cake were served at the back of the church, and a very nice man pointed out the Green Man to me in the roof (he’s gold!) and explained that he is associated with the Harvest, and the fertility of the natural world.

St Hilda’s is one of our nearest neighbours, yet I had never been inside. very high Anglican, the choir was singing an antiphon as I arrived, and they sang a psalm during the service, as well as all the hymns and an anthem. The start time of 11:00am also allowed a leisurely start to the day!

The last functioning place of worship I visited was the Cathedral of St Mary, Killarney. I had been past it many times, but never ventured inside. It’s worth a look. A wedding had just finished as we arrived (they were still taking photos outside), and whilst there, the organist started practising some hymns. It was wonderfully calm and peaceful after a busy day of sightseeing.

Other places of worship visited include several ruined abbeys: Lindisfarne, Kelso, Melrose, Jedburgh, Ballinskelligs, Derrynane and Mucross – the latter being the best preserved, with completely intact cloisters. Of course these long since stopped being places of worship, but nonetheless I found them all to be spiritual as well as historic places to visit. Maybe these should be the subject of another blog post!

More than once in my summer wanderings I was complimented on having a nice voice, and encouraged to consider joining a choir. Everywhere I went I was greeted, offered coffee and biscuits afterwards, and looked after, so I wasn’t left sitting on my own with no one to talk to. I realised how small the musical word is, making new connections and remaking older connections in new contexts. I tried ‘new’ ways of doing things, sang ‘new’ hymns and worship songs, and grew to understand that we’re all the same really, doing our best in ever tougher circumstances.

As with all the best holidays, it has been wonderful to get away and visit new places. It is also wonderful to be back home at St Margaret’s again.

I am all too aware that my sabbatical, without the generous cooperation of others, would have simply been a leave of absence. So to those who looked after livestreaming the Sunday and Wednesday services, and monitored the general parish email account and dealt with enquiries, thank you.

Carol P