Pew Sheet – 26th May 2024
The Parish Eco Group writes
’We are delighted to be part of the “Shine a Light on Climate Justice” initiative by welcoming the Climate Justice Candle into our parish. Wherever the candle visits, that congregation is asked to reflect, pray and focus on climate justice for the week, particularly thinking of people in developing countries already impacted by climate change.
If you have any thoughts or ideas about how our parish community can be more involved in this area, please do contact either Valerie or John Andrew who would be delighted to hear from you’
Dates for your Diary
8th June The Parish Fete
will be held in the School grounds 11am till 3pm Please start keeping items aside for the Fete. Thank you.
15th June Diocesan Retreat
Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin, Youghal 10 a.m. (Coffee) 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. followed by
a light lunch ‘Sharing Christ’s Peace in a Conflicted World’ – a retreat led by Brother Tobias of the
Society of Saint Francis.
30th June
11am United Service in St Mary’s Church
3.30 pm St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, the Bishop will ordain Andrew Coleman and Eoghan Healy to the
diaconate. Both will serve as deacons in the Ordained Local Ministry.
28th July Parish BBQ after 11am Service
IF APPLICABLE, PLEASE FILL IN AND RETURN THE YOUTH CLUB SURVEY BEFORE 11th AUGUST.

Music Notes 26-05-2024
Hymns at St Mary’s
196 O worship the Lord
684 All praise to thee
211 Immortal love
321 Holy, holy, holy
Another historical snippet from my research in newspapers of the nineteenth century this week concerning William Best (1826-1897), a very prominent English organist and composer:
“In the Sheriff’s Court, Red Lion Square, London, the case of Cooper v Best came before the court in Thursday. This was an action in the Exchequer brought by Mr Wilbye Cooper, the vocalist, against Mr William Best, the organist of St George’s Hall, Liverpool, to recover compensation for an assault. Mr Best is the organist at St George’s Hall, Liverpool at a salary of about £400 or £500 a year.”
Mozart wrote an orchestral accompaniment for the solo parts in the ‘Messiah’, in Handel’s original setting the organ accompanied the solo arias. On this occasion Mozart’s setting was being used. On with the story:
“On the occasion in question Mr Best insisted on playing, and when Madame Radersdorff was to sing her well-known air,
‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’ Mr Best still played, and that lady sent him a message There was some dissatisfaction in the hall, and the people did not seem to appreciate Mr Best as he appreciated himself. After the performance some conversation took place in the library between Madame
Radersdorff and the defendant, and he told her she was an impertinent woman. She appealed to Mr Cooper, who forbore expressing any opinion; but when requested…..he gave his opinion, upon which the defendant rushed upon him and struck him. The jury gave a verdict for £50.”
(Cork Examiner, February 1868).
Best seems to have been a difficult character – he had already been dismissed from a post in London at the Royal Panopticon Hall for refusing to play Mendelssohn’s Wedding March as the audience exited.
We organists are far more amenable these days!
Bébhinn 087 228 5965 bebhinnmuire@gmail.com
Random Notes CDLVIII
In the centre of the South Atlantic stands a remote group of six small islands, the largest of which Tristan da Cunha, so named after the Portuguesa explorer Tristao da Cunha, who in 1506 discovered the islands, and since 1816 the only one inhabited, its population as of the present day being two hundred and thirty-eight.

For many years, Tristan da Cunha has been a popular area for collecting by philatelists, although in fact only having its own actual postage stamps since 1952, and is a place which for many years has excited the imagination of the compiler of this note.
A recent acquisition from Tristan that may perhaps engage the interest of some of the readers of Random Notes is illustrated herewith.

A most interesting item, it being a somewhat roughly opened unstamped envelope sent from the island sometime in the mid to late 1920’s, addressed almost certainly in the hand of an islander to the ‘Revd H .W. Rogers, S,P.G., 15 Tufton Street. Westminster, SW, London, England’ , and bearing a rather poor
impression of the far from common ‘Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic’ type II rubber cachet, used spasmodically from 1919 for a period of upwards of some fifteen years on the small quantity of mail that was at that time leaving the island and then being picked up by any passing ship that happened to call.
The addressee of this envelope was the Revd Henry Martyn Rogers (1879-1926) of The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Missionary Priest on Tristan da Cunha, 1922 – 1925, and of whose time there a quite fascinating account is given in the book, ‘The Lonely Island’ by Rose Annie Rogers, ‘wife of the late Henry Martyn Rogers, Missionary Priest and Fellow-Worker with him on that island’, London, 1926.
K.L.R.