Past Events

Author and architect Alec Forshaw, a former Conservation Officer for Islington, presents, live and online, a history of Smithfield Market in advance of its re-purposing as the new Museum of London. He traces its origins to Roman times and covers its development as a meat market, site of executions, red light district, health centre (St Bartholomew's Hospital), and fairground. His illustrated talk will present photographs from his book Smithfield Past and Present, now in its third edition. Copies of the book will be available at the live event.

This talk will be online via Zoom and in person at St George's. If you wish to watch online, please register here to get the Zoom link. You can also pay at the door (cash or card).

Jonathan Lilley trained at the RAM as a first-study organist and member of the Church Music and Choral Conducting classes. Whilst still a first-year undergraduate he held the organ scholarship at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and passed the notorious Fellowship exam of the Royal College of Organists. He began his career proper as Sub-Organist of what is now Leeds Minster, before moving to Ely Cathedral as Assistant Organist. He has gained the RCO's diploma on Choral Directing and diplomas in piano and singing, and in 2005 was awarded the RAM’s honorary diploma of Associate. Jonathan was appointed Director of Music at Waltham Abbey Church in 2013, alongside which he is establishing a freelance career as accompanist and general keyboard person in and around London. In January 2016 he became accompanist to the English Baroque Choir.

We hope you will join us for an hour of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Peter Towey is the vice-president of the Anglo-German Family History Society (AGFHS). He has uncovered some unexpected sources of information about the lives of ancestors from across the channel, including ships' passenger lists and British census records, and reveals some of the tricks that make ancestry research fruitful.

This talk will be online via Zoom only. If you wish to watch online, please register here to get the Zoom link.

Richard Brasier [BMus (Hons), MMus (Orgelsolo), LRAM, ARCO, ATCL] enjoys a busy and far-reaching international career as a soloist, teacher, recording artist and musicologist. Richard is active as a teacher and examiner for the Royal College of Organists, is a member of the Academic Board, and is Artistic Director of the college's annual study trips to instruments of historic significance in Europe. He was Artistic Director for the 2022 RCO Organ Forum, at which the college celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of César Franck. Since 2020, Richard has been organist of St Mary’s with St George's German Lutheran Church in Central London.

We hope you will join us for an hour of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Local Committee chair Sunhild "Sunny" Walker-Kier left us in September 2023, spending the last weeks of her life in St Christopher's and staying cheerful to the end. Her final wish was that a fundraising event for St Christopher's be held in her memory. So this is it - featuring Imke Siegerist (organiser and soprano), Janna Hüneke (flute), Rick Jones (baroque lute) and Erik Eichelberger (organ). We are also expecting a guest appearance via Zoom by singer-songwriter Eddi Hüneke from Germany - Sunhild was his Number One Fan.

This concert will be accessible both in person and online. Entry is free, but please donate generously to St Christopher's hospice either at the concert (if attending in person) or by visiting https://stchristophers.org.uk/donate and mentioning Sunhild's name when submitting your gift.

If you wish to watch online, please register here to get the Zoom link.

Currently Associate Director of Music at All Saints Margaret Street in London, Jeremiah combines his Sunday duties with a busy career as a freelance recitalist, accompanist and teacher. Jeremiah has performed solo recitals across the UK, Europe and America.  His work has been broadcast on television and radio in the UK, France and the Czech Republic, appearing alongside the BBC singers on Radio 3 and playing a televised recital as part of the Janáček May International Music Festival.  This year’s projects include recitals in venues such as St Paul’s Cathedral in London and Uppsala Cathedral, as well as participation in the Toulouse les Orgues and Rocamadour Musique Sacrée festivals.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Blue Badge guide Ulla Thiessen gives a talk on the current Hans Holbein exhibition at the Queen's Gallery (soon to be King's). This promises to be a fascinating study of the life and times of the man who painted Henry VIII's portrait and freeze-framed a moment in history in his work The Ambassadors.

This talk will be held in person and online. Tickets are £7 from Eventbrite.

Francesca Massey has recently embarked upon an active portfolio career as an organist, choral conductor and teacher, having worked as a cathedral musician for 15 years.  Born in Birmingham in 1982, Francesca was educated at Cambridge University and the Royal Northern College of Music (on a prestigious ABRSM Scholarship), holding Organ Scholarships at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Manchester Cathedral.  She later became Assistant Organist at Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge, Assistant Director of Music at Peterborough Cathedral, Sub-Organist at Durham Cathedral and Director of Music at Rochester Cathedral.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

St. Christopher's is a hospice in south London, England, established in 1967 by Cicely Saunders, whose work is considered the basis of modern hospice philosophy. Heather Richardson is the former Chief Executive of St Christopher's Hospice and present Director of Education, Research and End of Life Policy for the charity. She gives an illustrated talk on the history and founding principles of St Christopher's, explaining how these may bring comfort to individuals approaching the end of their lives and be of value to families and communities facing the challenge of accompanying someone in their last days.

This talk will be held in person and online. Tickets are £7 from Eventbrite.

Founded by Dr Francis Roads in 1997, the London Gallery Quire performs West Gallery Music - the hymns and psalmody heard in parish churches and nonconformist chapels during the Georgian period, from about 1722-1850. It is often vigorous, poignant, and very enjoyable to sing. Many of the pieces are a lot livelier than later Victorian hymnody, and there is a wonderful repertoire of Christmas carols. The choir has a long tradition of giving a Christmas concert in this wonderful original 18th century chapel. The Stollen and Glühwein that follows is always much enjoyed too!
See more about the London Gallery Quire at https://www.lgq.org.uk/ .

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Richard Brasier [BMus (Hons), MMus (Orgelsolo), LRAM, ARCO, ATCL] enjoys a busy and far-reaching international career as a soloist, teacher, recording artist and musicologist. Richard is active as a teacher and examiner for the Royal College of Organists, is a member of the Academic Board, and is Artistic Director of the college's annual study trips to instruments of historic significance in Europe. He was Artistic Director for the 2022 RCO Organ Forum, at which the college celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of César Franck. Since 2020, Richard has been organist of St Mary’s with St George's German Lutheran Church in Central London.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Clement Attlee, sometimes referred to as "the suburban revolutionary", was MP for Limehouse and, as leader of the Labour Party, the unlikely victor of the first post-war general election in 1945. For the next six years he led a government that would transform the country and lay the foundations on which so much that we value in this country still rest, especially the National Health Service. These achievements were all the more remarkable given that they were forged in the gloom of an economy broken by war and with a Cabinet riven by rivalries, distrust and raging egos. Geoff Cosson summarises his life and work.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Tina Christiansen is a concert organist, organist at Ansgar's Church, Odense and artistic director of Odense International Organ Festival. In 2011, she graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (DK) with the highest marks at the master’s exam in the class of Professor Ulrik Spang-Hanssen. After completing the master’s exam, Tina was accepted with top marks in the Soloist class (the advanced postgraduate diploma), from which she made her debut concert in 2013. Alongside the Soloist class, Tina has studied with Anders Johnsson at Malmö Academy of Music, Sweden, and finally she has supplemented her studies with masterclasses with Dame Gillian Weir, Roger Fisher, Nigel Allcoat, Leo van Doeselaar, Paolo Crivellaro, Marie-Louise Langlais, Winfried Bönig, Bjørn Andor Drage, Eric Lebrun, Ullrich Böhme, Michele Croese, Hans Fagius and Thomas Trotter.

Tina has played numerous concerts throughout Denmark as well as more than 70 concerts across large parts of Europe (Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Latvia) and in Russia (the Far East Coast, Siberia, Kaliningrad Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, etc.). Tina has also performed as an organ soloist at concerts with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and the Prince's Music Corps. In 2017 she was invited to play a solo concert at St Paul's Cathedral in London and the final concert at London Organ Day. The year 2023 offers, among many other concerts, concert appearances in Rome and France as well as a major tour in England, including a recital at Westminster Abbey. More information can be found at https://tina-christiansen.dk/cv/cv%20english.html .

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Medha Chetai is the archivist for the Royal London Hospital. She illuminates the rich and varied history of this venerable institution, which started life as the Infirmary of London in Prescot Street in 1740 and moved 17 years later to its present location in Whitechapel - both almost within a stone's throw of St George's church. After a series of changes of name, governance, funding model and architecture, the hospital continues its vital work today as part of the Barts Health NHS Trust, formed in 2012.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Ewa Belmas is a member of the Society of Women Organists and resident organist at Lviv Concert Hall, Ukraine. She currently lives in Kent and has become renowned for spirited performances of her own transcriptions of the Harry Potter film scores at prestigious venues such as Rochester Cathedral.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Dennis Hayes, founder of Academics for Academic Freedom, asks 'Does Anyone believe in Free Speech?' In liberal Western democracies, almost everyone says that they believe in free speech, but this belief is being challenged. Young people are now said to be less inclined to support free speech and more inclined to censor speech they find offensive. Many activist groups believe that free speech must be curtailed to protect oppressed minorities from harm. The government's promotion of free speech through the recent Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act has been denounced by trade unions and left-wing groups as a blank cheque for racism and hate speech. Free speech is no longer seen as the foundational value, but one among many so that it can be traded off to support other values.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Depending on volunteer availability, the morning session on 16th September looks a little doubtful at the moment. Watch this space for updates.

Richard Brasier [BMus (Hons), MMus (Orgelsolo), LRAM, ARCO, ATCL] enjoys a busy and far-reaching international career as a soloist, teacher, recording artist and musicologist. Richard is active as a teacher and examiner for the Royal College of Organists, is a member of the Academic Board, and is Artistic Director of the college's annual study trips to instruments of historic significance in Europe. He was Artistic Director for the 2022 RCO Organ Forum, at which the college celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of César Franck. Since 2020, Richard has been organist of St Mary’s with St George's German Lutheran Church in Central London.

Andrew Dewar was originally scheduled to appear at this event, but has had to withdraw at short notice for health reasons. He has been Organist at the American Cathedral, Paris, since 2010. Alongside side his position in Paris, Andrew is professor of organ at the Royal College of Music in London. He was winner of one of the most prestigious of all competitions – St. Alban’s – but has also won a host of other international Organ Competitions, inter alia Dublin, Wiesbaden, Berlin, Landau an der Isar, plus prizes in Montreal, Schramberg and the Julius Reubke Prize at Erfurt. It is hoped that he will be able to appear at a future Organ Vespers.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection.

Local committee member Immo Hüneke surveys the German black-letter typefaces (Schwabacher, Fraktur and Gotisch): their calligraphic counterparts, their artistic value, the reasons they were created, their history and why today there is widespread antagonism to them, in the face of which a few enthusiastic supporters are keeping the tradition alive.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Traveller and lecturer Frank Pattison on Nuremberg's golden age from 1500 to 1700, its importance as effective capital of the Holy Roman Empire; its shameful support of Hitler and the Nazis; the Nuremberg Rallies; the devastating bombing; the war trials; the post-war reconstruction of a city which was 90% destroyed; and its rebirth as the "City of Peace and Human Rights".

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

The Brunel Museum’s curator, Khalil Mohammed, spotlights the history of the Thames tunnels, which connect North and South London.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Author and former town planner Alec Forshaw gives an illustrated talk on London in the decade of Mrs Thatcher, the Falklands, Eastenders, Loadsamoney, Yuppies, Sloanes and the slow gentrification of the East End.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Richard Brasier [BMus (Hons), MMus (Orgelsolo), LRAM, ARCO, ATCL] enjoys a busy and far-reaching international career as a soloist, teacher, recording artist and musicologist. Richard is active as a teacher and examiner for the Royal College of Organists, is a member of the Academic Board, and is Artistic Director of the college's annual study trips to instruments of historic significance in Europe. He was Artistic Director for the 2022 RCO Organ Forum, at which the college celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of César Franck. Since 2020, Richard has been organist of St Mary’s with St George's German Lutheran Church in Central London.

Andrew Dewar was originally scheduled to appear at this event, but has had to withdraw at short notice for health reasons. He has been Organist at the American Cathedral, Paris, since 2010. Alongside side his position in Paris, Andrew is professor of organ at the Royal College of Music in London. He was winner of one of the most prestigious of all competitions – St. Alban’s – but has also won a host of other international Organ Competitions, inter alia Dublin, Wiesbaden, Berlin, Landau an der Isar, plus prizes in Montreal, Schramberg and the Julius Reubke Prize at Erfurt. It is hoped that he will be able to appear at a future Organ Vespers.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection. 

Heather Knight from the Museum of London Archaeology will talk about the recent unearthing of the Boar’s Head Playhouse in Whitechapel.

Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

Stephen Farr (born 1967 in London) is currently the Chief Examiner at the Royal College of Organists and the Director of Music at All Saints, Margaret Street. In the years following his time at Clare College, Farr won the Royal College of Organists Performer of the Year Award (1988) as well as a number of international prizes. Farr has performed a number of world premieres for famous composers, including Judith Bingham's The Everlasting Crown in 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall; Thomas Hyde's Improvisation on Puernatus in 2012 as part of Worcester College Choir's 2012 CD This Christmas Night; and Cecilia McDowall's First Flight in 2021, performed online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Farr appeared at the BBC Proms in 2011, 2015, and 2017. He has also led and continues to lead a number of ensembles, including Florilegium, the Bach Choir, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, English Concert, London Baroque Soloists, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Wallace Collection, Endymion Ensemble, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Britten Sinfonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, and Polyphony.

We hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ. No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection. 

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach walked across Germany from Arnstadt to Lübeck in 1705. Blue Badge guide, musician and music writer Rick Jones gives an illustrated account of his 2005 re-enactment of Bach's trek. Tickets will be £7 at the door (cash only) or in advance via Eventbrite. We plan to live-stream the talk via Zoom. 

We are very excited to welcome Daniel Moult to play this organ vespers. Daniel is Head of Organ Studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and a trustee of and examiner for the Royal College of Organists. One of the leading organists of his generation, he has pioneered the use of film to promote the music of the organ, has made many recordings and broadcasts, and performs around the world both as a soloist and ensemble player, so we hope you will join us for an evening of music, played on our historic Organ.   

No need to book. Please contribute to the retiring collection. 

Ben Bradshaw is the MP for Exeter. He talks about his time as BBC Berlin correspondent in the late 1980s, around the time of the fall of the Wall.

This talk will be on Zoom and in person. Tickets are £7 from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/360310417157  

The writer WG Sebald died twenty years ago in a car crash outside Norwich where he taught at the University of East Anglia. He left four novels and was seen as a future Nobel laureate. His death was a great loss to literature and Will Self has been untiring in his support for his legacy. He often wandered in the area around Whitechapel before and after his train journeys from Liverpool Street Station to his home in East Anglia and perhaps came across St George's German Lutheran Church in his travels.

This talk will be held in person and online. Tickets are £5 from HERE