The choir of St. Andrew's, College Park, MD will be in residence at Salisbury Cathedral in England from July 24 - 30, 2023.
On Thursday July 27th the choir had the opportunity to rest their voices for a day. Most folks took advantage of a day trip to the Isle of Wight. A short coach ride to Southampton saw us loaded on to the ferry. After an hour we arrived in Cowes. Our first stop of the day was Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s beloved home. Our second stop of the day was Ryde, a seaside town for pints, chips and some shopping.
On Tuesday July 25th Markus Most arranged for our group to take a field trip to see the local football team, Salisbury FC, in a pre-season friendly match. For those of us Ted Lasso fans it was truly a fun experience to see a proper football match up close.
Our hosts at Salisbury FC treated us like royalty. Sending a bus to pick us up, buying us our first drink at the bar and feeding us a delicious dinner. Our hosts went up 3-nil in the first half but the opponent came back with a quick 3 goals at the beginning of the second half. The match ended in a draw.
There was also something else special about Tuesday the 25th, it was beloved choir member Ruth Utz’s birthday and our Salisbury FC hosts made it special but putting her name up on the scoreboard and then the entire crowd broke into an impromptu sing-along of Happy Birthday!
A very big THANK YOU to everyone at Salisbury FC for being such gracious, friendly and generous hosts. For transporting us, feeding us, making us feel so welcome and for keeping the team shop open late so we could take home fabulous gear to remind us of our visit. You have a whole following in the DC area now. Have a great season!
He became a priest late in his short life and served only one parish, in Bemerton just outside Salisbury. A dedicated group of Herbert devotees have created the George Herbert Heritage Center (https://www.georgeherbert.org.uk/) to preserve his memory and legacy. We were lucky to be able to meet with them at St. John's Place, about 1.5 miles from Salisbury. Mr. Peter Webster gave a short talk about George Herbert and we were able to view the displays of information about George Herbert.
We then took the short walk to the tiny church, St Andrew's Bemerton where we were greeted by Canon Judy Rees, founder of the Herbert Heritage Center and one of the original 32 women ordained in the Church of England in 1994. We were thrilled to present her with a tapestry of George Herbert made by the Keiskamma Art Project in South Africa. Bill and Kay Gilcher have had a long relationship with Keiskamma and spearheaded the gorgeous work. There are two tapestries and one will now be in place at St. Andrew's Bemerton and the other will reside at St. Andrews, College Park MD.
Our final offering to the memory and legacy of George Herbert was the choir singing the anthem "Love Bade Me Welcome" within the walls of the church that Herbert loved so much.
On Sunday morning we were greeted with gorgeous sunny skies. After a proper English breakfast at the hotel, many of us headed over to the Cathedral for Eucharist.
On Thursday July 27th the choir had the opportunity to rest their voices for a day. Most folks took advantage of a day trip to the Isle of ...
