Author: Kelvin

Public Notice: St Nicholas Church Organ – Proposal for a tonal improvement

We have applied to make changes to our church organ 

View the Public Notice here

View the Supporting documents here

It is a good instrument that has been well-designed and well maintained.  It will not need any major work in the foreseeable future.   Eric Pask, a previous Organist and former Diocesan Organ Advisor, was largely responsible for a creating this versatile instrument.

However, one organ stop is rarely used, the Great Dolce 8ft.  It is so quiet that it is almost inaudible – this means it won’t combine with any other stops in a meaningful way.

The proposal is to replace this set of pipes with a Gamba 8ft. The organ had one of these in the original instrument.  The stop is moderately quiet but would blend with the other stops.

The Gamba would be most useful for choral accompaniment, sitting volume-wise between the Stopped Diapason and Open Diapason on the same manual.

I had investigated the idea with the current Diocesan Organ Advisor last year who came to the church and confirmed that any change would be appropriate, increase the instrument’s versatility, and he would support it if it went to faculty.

The 46 pipes of the Dolce stop would be replaced by 46 second-hand Gamba pipes, possibly made by Norman and Beard who worked on the organ in the past.  There will be minor changes to the pipe racks (which could be reversed at some point in the future), but otherwise it would be straightforward exchange.  The drawstop would need re-engraving.

In summary, this would be an enhancement of which I believe Eric would have approved. 

It will improve the organ and make it a more versatile instrument for worship

Christopher Muhley

Organist

‘Pause for Thought’ contributor installed as Rector of Harpenden

St Nicholas’ Church, Harpenden was full to capacity last Sunday for the Institution and Induction of the new Rector of Harpenden, the Reverend Patrick Moriarty. A congregation of some 400, with many more watching the live stream of the service on Facebook, joined the Bishop of Hertford, Jane Mainwaring, and the King’s representative, Marion Brown, to welcome the new Rector. Harpenden Mayor, Pip Liver, and local MP, Victoria Collins, led the civic leaders attending.

In his new role, Patrick will oversee worship across three Anglican churches in the town, St Nicholas’, St Mary’s and All Saints.

Patrick commented, “My family and I were touched by the greeting we received on Sunday. Harpenden is such a fantastic town and I’m excited to meet the people and explore my new home. St Nicholas’, St Mary’s and All Saints are a huge part of community life in Harpenden and we’re looking forward to becoming a full part of that. With Easter only a few weeks away, I can’t think of a better time to be starting my ministry here, as I build on the success of my predecessor.”

Patrick was ordained to the priesthood in 2018, alongside his career in education. He was Headteacher of the Jewish Community Secondary School in Barnet between 2012 and 2022. He is a Trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews, a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s ‘Pause for Thought’ and a Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire. He is married with grown-up and school-age children and has most recently been Associate Priest at St Stephen’s and St Julian’s Church in St Albans.

He succeeds Rev’d Canon Dennis Stamps who had been Rector since 2012 and moved to a new Parish in the Cotswolds last summer.

Bon voyage Dennis!

Over forty parishioners from Harpenden attended the ‘Service of Licensing’ for Dennis Stamps as Associate Vicar of the Shill Valley and Broadshire Benefice, at St Peter’s Church, Filkins, on Tuesday 23rd July 2024.  This followed Dennis’ retirement as our very popular Rector and the marvellous send-off for him at St. Nicholas’ on June 9th. 

The service at St. Peter’s took place on a warm and sunny evening.  Both the church and the village of Filkins looked glorious, in their Cotswold-style, and we were made to feel most welcome by our hosts.  Members of our choir attended and, led by Marie Price, sang ‘We Praise Thee O God (Te Deum)’ by CV Stanford.  The service was led by the Bishop of Dorchester. 

We offer our prayers and best wishes to Dennis and Helen as they settle in to their new Parish in the Diocese of Oxford.

Prayers of Love and Faith for same-sex couples

The Parish of Harpenden (All Saints’, St Mary’s, and St Nicholas’) is pleased to welcome the Prayers of Love and Faith for same-sex couples.  All the clergy in our parish are happy to provide such prayers within a service upon request.  The PCC has unanimously endorsed this decision of the clergy and the use of the newly commended Prayers for Love and Faith.  As a parish we are committed to being an inclusive church, called to be caring, loving and welcoming to all.  Please contact the Parish Office (01582 765524) if we can assist.

Planting a dead hedge

Having taken advice from local experts, Alex Melson and Tim Hill, as part of St Mary’s Eco Church initiative, a dead hedge has been started next to the wild flower area and the bug church. Rustic Sweet Chestnut stakes were kindly donated by the Tarmac company for this purpose.

Dead hedges are piles of branches and twigs arranged to form a barrier. They provide hiding places and nesting habitats for all sorts of creatures, as well as food for insects. As the hedge rots down, the nutrients are recycled back into the earth below, meaning garden ‘waste’ needn’t go into garden bins or bonfires.

Our Parish now Supports Azalea

Azalea means beautiful and dignified in ancient Greek and its mission is to empower and facilitate sustainable transformation in the lives of the men, women and neighbourhoods impacted by sex trafficking through several different projects. Sex trafficking is when an individual is coerced, forced, or manipulated into providing sexual access or services to a ‘punter’ often through threats of, or acts of, violence from a perpetrator.  So what work does Azalea do?

» Read more

St Mary’s Bug Church

St Marys bug church was filled up with twigs, leaves and other materials at our outdoor Simply Worship service. We found some caterpillars, and moved one into the bug church complete with his favourite leaves!

We added the Please and Thank you prayers to the prayer board in church. We are proud to have received our Eco Church silver award.

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