Rehearsal in full swing Some evenings do more than fill the diary - they fill our hearts. And at St Aldhelm's we've got an evening coming up that promises to do just that. I don’t know about you, but for me there is something about live music that really gives me a boost. The pleasure of hearing music that’s being made right in front of me, of being able to see the faces of the musicians, share their enjoyment of the music and the moment, is something really special. And I

“May the meadows be clothed with flocks of sheep and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they shall laugh and sing” Psalm 65.13 Mother Anna writes: I grew up in a small town in Lancashire. Wherever you are in that town, you are never more than a 15-minute walk from a sheep. Cows too. But no valleys standing thick with corn – my home town was set among moors and hills, too wild for arable farming. So although I grew up in a town I lived a fairly rural life, in a to

Visit St Aldhelm's as part of the Open House Festival on Saturday 19 September, 10am-5pm Mother Anna writes: What if you were a visitor, coming to St Aldhelm’s for the first time? What would you notice? Would it be the outside of the building? The warm red bricks, maybe the detailing over the windows that always looks like eyelashes to me. Or perhaps the doors and their ironwork – they are old and tired but that doesn’t diminish the delicacy and surprising prettiness of the b