Summer at St Michael’s

Peregrine Update – Juvenile VF fledged at 6.34am on Wed 20 June. She was spotted in a garden in Haldon Road, so she was roofed by the local vet in sight of the Church. She took a good flight that evening, was seen on the tower, later reaching the pinnacles below the spire where the adults roost.

Young VG was more cautious and spent a lot of time sitting in the trefoil and at least once fell out but clambered back in. She fledged at 5.05am on Fri 22 Jun and seemed to be doing okay. But next day Nick Dixon heard calls from the Choir Vestry gully. VG had come down there and got stuck. She was rescued and taken to the Vets; the RSPCA fed her for a week, and released her back here Tue 3 Jul. Both juveniles now seem to be doing fine.

For July we are mostly singing Mass Settings in F, but we end the month on another climax with Haydn’s Little Organ Mass.

With the current shortage of resources, numerical & financial, it seems wise to scale back a little over August. There will be no Tuesday Choir Practices from 31 July to 21 August, just as Tuesday & Thursday Vespers take a break in August. Choir will continue to meet at 10am on Sundays, to run through the Music for the Liturgy and polish up a Communion Motet from our repertoire. Mass Settings will be congregational (Merbecke, Martin Shaw and the like) so we can all join in.

Tuesday Choir Practice will resume on 28 August, as Sunday 2nd September has our monthly Choral Evensong at 6pm as well as Sung Mass at 11am.

A quick forewarning that September will be a busy and exciting month at St Michael’s with the Church Open all day on 8th for Devon Historic Churches Ride&Stride and the Deanery Prayer Walk, on 9th for Cream Teas, and 15th & 16th for Exeter Heritage Open Days. Then our 150th Anniversary Michaelmas Celebrations are on the weekend of 29th/30th September.

Other events in July…
Wed 18th July at 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture – Rev Dr David Nixon (St Thomas Church, Exeter, formerly Dean of Studies for South West Ministry Training Course) will ask the question: “What does God think about Brexit?”

Sat 28th July, 9am, Men’s Breakfast, see in churches for details.

Richard Barnes.