St Mary's Garden Party

Saturday 5 July 2008, 3 - 7pm

Come and spend some time in our beautiful Oasis Garden, have a drink, browse the stalls, eat a burger, listen to live music. All are welcome to enjoy Summer in Balham!

Concert at St Mary's

Saturday 21 June, 7.30pm.
A rare performance of 'Erwin und Elmire', an opera written by Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxony, in 1776 with text by Goethe.
Performed by students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Free entry.
Don't miss this chance to see and hear this work performed in Balham - we are pretty sure it is an absolute first!

Concert by Guildhall Musicians

You are invited to a concert by Guildhall musicians on Saturday 10 May at 7.30pm. Music by Richard Strauss, including his violin sonata and a song cycle.

Free entry, retiring collection.

Organised by St Mary's Church.

Apologies

Our apologies to anyone who was trying to access the website on the 24^th - 25^th April as they would have been surprised to see that it wasn't here. This is due to a technical difficulty beyond our control (obviously we were having a senior moment).

We understand that there were many people who wanted to see the counter hit 200 years, and it is great that there is that much interest in the site. Again our apologies if you missed it.

Please check back over the coming weeks as we update the APCM reports from this years annual meeting.

Thank you for visiting the St Mary's Church, Balham website.

1808-2008, Bicentenary Celebrations

On Thursday 24 April 2008 we will have been providing a place of worship for the people of Balham for 200 years.

We will be celebrating over the weekend of 26 - 27 April. You can find more information about our celebrations in the what's on section of the website.

To celebrate this glorious achievement, you may have noticed we have gone sepia tone on the St Mary's website.

Saturday 26 April 2008

10:30am - 3:30am
Exhibition 'Campaigning Against Slavery 18-20th Century'
In recognition of our links with William Wilberforce.

2:00pm 'Ring That Bell'
With the aid of local school children.
We will ring our 200 year old bell 200 times.

7:30pm 'Celebratory Dinner'
A food filled evening. Tickets on sale.
Adults £10.00, Children £5.00, Family £25:00.
For further details and tickets contact Karen Gray c/o Churchwarden Martin Gray (see contacts page for details)

Sunday 27 April 2008

10:30 Festal Eucharist
With The Rt Rev Dr Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark presiding and preaching.

1:00pm 'Beating the Bounds'
Reviving the tradition of the annual walking of the parish boundary. A 3 mile walk and a picnic lunch.

10:30am -3:30am
Exhibition 'Campaigning Against Slavery 18-20th Century'
In recognition of our links with William Wilberforce.

6:30pm Choral Evensong.
With The Rev Mandy Hodgson, Rector of St Leonards Streatham preaching.
In recognition of our original links as part of that parish.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting - 20 April 2008

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held in the church from 11:45am Sunday 20 April 2008.

The meeting will elect Churchwardens, Members of Deanery Synod, Ordinary Members of the PCC and Stewards.

Reports on the past year will be presented.

Formal notifications are displayed in the church.

Early Evening Recital - 19 April 2008

We are hosting a FREE recital headed 'Italians and Shakespere In Love' on Saturday 19 April 2008 between 6:00 and 7:00pm.
With
Richard Lea - Baritone
Charlotte Way - Piano.

A Programme of Italian and English songs, with an interlude of Romantic piano music:
Le Violette - Alessandro Scarlatti
Come Reaggio di Sol - Antonio Caldara
Crudo Amore - Giacomo Carissimi
Torno il Sereno Zefiro - Sigmundo d'India
Vittoria, Mio Core - Giaccomo Carissimi
Fantasiestucke - Robert Schumann

Let Us Garlands Bring (Five Shakesperean songs) - Gerald Finzi

Classical Concert

Saturday 8 March at 7.30pm

The last in the present series of free concerts, 'Romantics in Balham'. Guildhall Artists will present Brahms' charing set of vocal ensemble pieces, the 'Liebeslieder Waltzes' for two pianists and four singers.

Entrance free, retiring collection

PCC Matters

It is important that the congregation know what the PCC has been discussing and, at the meeting on 22 January, it was agreed that a (very) abbreviated version of the minutes would now appear in the pew leaflet. Here is the first offering:-

PCC Meeting – 22 January 2008
The PCC held its first meeting of 2008. In addition to the routine work, the following matters were discussed:-

God is Green: an environmental assessment of St Mary’s has been carried out by CEN (Creative Environmental Networks) and we await the report. The Diocese is encouraging churches to consider green issues and the environmental policy is available on their website.

Building & Finance Committee: an action plan for maintenance has been drawn up and includes getting estimates for carpet replacement in church and replastering the kitchen stairs, also sorting out the damp in the side porch and the heating in the Music Room.

Oasis Garden: the total grant has been received (£24,902) and the main work completed. A Garden Team will be put together to look after the Oasis Garden and the rest of the church garden. There will be monthly working parties.

Lettings Committee: charges for the hire of rooms have been increased for 2008. All the users are happy with this. New charges for parking outside the church will be considered in the spring.

Child Protection: the Child Protection Officers held a useful meeting in December. Children attending Sunday School now need to be registered, under Diocesan policy.

Concert Programme

We are delighted to host a series of free concerts headed 'ROMANTICS IN BALHAM'. These will be held on Saturdays on 19 January, 16 February and 8 March 2008. They will commence at 7:30pm. Admission is free, so why not come along and enjoy a romantic evening?

See calendar page for additional details.

Merry Christmas

O come let us adore him. Join us in our Christmas festivities this year at St Mary's, there is something for everyone. Sunday 23rd 6:30pm - Carols by Candlelight. Christmas Eve 4pm - Crib Service especially for children & 11:30pm - Midnight Mass a candlelit Festal Eucharist. Christmas Day 10:30am - Festal Eucharist for all the family. For more information please visit the what's on calendar. We look forward to seeing you.

World AIDS Day

You are invited to a service on World AIDS Day, Saturday 1 December at 5pm. The service will include music, stories, hymns and prayers.

Understanding Islam course

From 9 January 2008, 8-10pm, for a period of 10 weeks, St Mary's will host the course 'Understanding Islam' by Dr Chris Hewer. He is an outstanding teacher and will take us through the various aspects of Islam. All are welcome to this free course.

Harvest Festival & Back to Church Sunday a Success

A big 'thank you' to everyone who contributed to our Harvest Festival last week in whatever form! All the Harvest gifts (and there were many!) have been sorted and distributed among families and individuals who use the Asylum Welcome at St Mary's on Thursday afternoon. Some of the gifts have been kept to share throughout the winter with people who knock on our door for help. Thank you also for making it a joyful service at which we were able to welcome a number of new people.

Welcome To Our New Website

Thank you to all those that took part in our previous survey, we hope you like the changes we have made to the site. After several months of work, the site is ready and raring to go. However, be sure to stay tuned as we plan to add some exciting new features in the coming months.

Grand Opening of the Oasis Garden Coming Soon

The Oasis Garden will be formally opened by the Mayor of Wandsworth at 3:00pm Saturday 13 October 2007.
Come and admire the work undertaken so far, learn how you can make use of this new community space, and find out how you can lend a hand as this new green space for Balham grows.
Tea and cakes will be served. A sunny afternoon is guaranteed....even if it's raining.