Epiphany Festival 2007

The 2007 Epiphany Festival was held on Saturday 6th January at the church of the Most Holy Trinity with St Mary, Hoxton, London, N1 by kind permission of the Vicar, Fr Iain Young, SSC and the Church Council.

The day began at 12 Noon when Fr Young, Vicar of Holy Trinity & Chaplain to the home Chapter of St Hugh of Lincoln, led the singing of the Angelus prior to a Solemn Concelebrated Mass of the Feast of the Epiphany at which he was the Principal Celebrant. He was joined by the Warden, Fr David Moore plus Fr Roderick Hingley, Fr Robin  Jones, Fr Geoffrey Baulcomb and Fr Daniel Humphreys. Fr Christopher Noke, COF supported and Deaconed at Michaelmas, who is NSM Curate at St Saviour Raynes Park & All Saints South Wimbledon and a member of the Incarnate Word Chapter (Kingston upon Thames) was Deacon. Councillor Craig Aburn, the Guild Master of Ceremonies and Group Councillor for South London (LG5&6) was Subdeacon. Bro David Fordham, MC at Hoxton was assisted by members of his serving team and my son, John, joined the team for the day as Boat boy.

The Blessing of Chalk at Mass

The Mass was sung to Missa de Angelis in Latin and we are very grateful to James Holmes for organising the music and the choir and to Christopher Moore for coming to play the organ.

During the Mass, the ceremonies proper to the feast were celebrated, namely the Proclamation of the Feasts for the coming year and the Blessing of Chalk.

Censing at the Offertory

The customary hot lunch was prepared and served by Barbara Aburn (my mother) and was well received, as usual, by about eighty hungry festival-goers. Our grateful thanks to her for all her hard work before and on the day and to my wife, Nicki, and the rest of the team of helpers.

After lunch the day continued with Solemn Guild Office, Sermon, Procession to the Crib and Benediction at which the Warden officiated and Fr Young, preached.

It was a joy and a privilege to welcome our Warden, Fr David Moore, our Secretary-General, Councillor Terry Doughty, Treasurer-General, Louis Lewis and Grand Councillor, John Cairns who has been unable to be with us for the past two years due to his health. Thank you to my  fellow Councillors for their support and the many members who had come from far and wide – Leicester, Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Wales, among others and some slightly closer by to celebrate our festival with us. Unfortunately Peter Graham, formerly Group Councillor for Bristol who, now a Roman Catholic, who still supports the Guild and has been a “regular” at this festival for several years was unable to join us this year as he had a “better offer” of a holiday in the Canary Islands!!

During Solemn Guild Office

It was also a shame that Councillor John Donovan, a server at Hoxton, was unable to take part in the serving due to his wife, Beryl, being in hospital. John was one of the first people I got to know at Hoxton when Fr Young asked me to serve at his licensing in the parish ten years ago. At the time, I was Deputy MC at St Alban’s Holborn where Fr Young had been for a few months before going to Hoxton. And so a long association with Hoxton developed and I now get invited (if not expected!) to be subdeacon at the annual Tridentine High Mass for St George’s Day. It was very good to have John with us for the afternoon, having moved his wife to a hospital closer to home in the morning.

We are very grateful to Fr Young and the Church Council for allowing us to use Holy Trinity Church and Hall and to David Fordham, the MC, Sacristan and Vice Chairman of the Church Council for a great deal of support and hard work, both beforehand and on the day. Organising Guild festivals can be stressful at times and so it is always a great joy to receive support from the hosts and not go home exhausted! Thanks, also, to Councillor David Froud and Bro. Paul Leforte for stewarding and to everyone who helped in any way with preparations and on the day. It was another joyful festival and, we pray, a worthy offering to our Lord.

The Procession

This festival is now firmly established in the Guild calendar and the 2008 festival will be on Saturday 5^th January – please put it in your diary now.

The Epiphany Crib

Craig Aburn
Guild Master of Ceremonies

[Photographs kindly supplied by Bro. Henry Frier]

Click here for more photos on the national Guild website

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Reports / Photos from other year's Festivals

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Page last updated April 2009