A letter from Cape Town

Happy Christmas to you all
I thought this would be a good time to pen a brief update and circulate it via the Abbey Blog to let you know what we have been doing. Our family arrives in two waves to spend Christmas with us on Sunday and so this seems a good time to try and capture the first three weeks.
Settling in and settling down was both easy and took longer than expected! Richard and I have loved our apartment above offices in Adderley Street which is the Oxford Street of Cape Town and comes complete with Christmas lights - athletes in one display and a nativity in the next!! We are also just 5 minutes walk from the Cathedral - which has a labyrinth!!
Today is a public holiday so the 7.15 daily Eucharist is delayed until 8am and an interfaith walk around the main worship places of the city begins at the Labyrinth at 9am. This is organised by the Cathedral committee for reconciliation and justice with whom I was privileged to meet. Many of the folk here played significant parts in the fight against apartheid and the Cathedral had a significant role in that so there is a real passion to interpret the themes of justice and reconciliation for our own days and to be active in these areas. The interfaith walk is in its fourth or fifth year and the Mayor joins in!
Last Sunday we went to St Cyprians in Langa to the kind of African service people talk about: 3 and a quarter hours long and in Xhosa - although Fr Antoni kindly slipped in the odd English words every 15 minutes or so to help us keep track. What struck Richard and I even as we walked in was how like Church of the Holy Spirit - the ‘mission’ Church of St Mary’s Kenton it was. This was where Richard did his early scouting and we both attended Holiday Clubs. (I believe that a Greek Orthodox community now worships there). We stayed to lunch - kind of the equivalent of the lunch club Christmas dinner but VERY different. During the service all the ‘indoor members’ of the Church who are not usually able to attend were called forward - bags of groceries for their Christmas were blessed (by me!!) and distributed and after the service they were given lunch in the church hall. The catering was vat sized (I have the pictures to prove it!) Like many churches St Cyprians has an outreach programme and they feed those who can’t feed themselves at lunchtimes during the week. They are supported in doing this by their link parish in the Diocese of York.


We have made the most of our time off here as well - highlights were a half day at Cape Point and another half day in the V and A Waterfront. We did a trip down the coast to Hermanus and have done two glorious sunset drives along different coast roads. Last Saturday evening we did a special Jazz tour which involved going to musicians houses eating with them and listening to them talk about their music and their history -t his was organised by a company called Coffeebeansroutes who do good - slightly different tours. Absolutely fascinating and we came home turned on the telly and there was our host of a couple of hours ago narrating a programme about Jazz!! Then on Sunday we went to a concert in the Kirstenbosch Gardens - fab venue for concerts with Table Mountain as a backdrop to the stage. I hadn’t really taken much notice of Freshly Ground (World Cup song Waca Waca artists) but they are great - we have the CD but decided not to join the mile long queue to get it signed just joined the mile long queue to get out of the car park instead!!!
As you can tell we’re getting a lot of opportunities to do things we might not normally do! We’re also enjoying working together - as I write we are sitting opposite sides of the kitchen table working together having just stopped for lunch. This is a real blessing!
So what next! As I said our family joins us for Christmas and after that we set off for Kimberley. We had hoped to travel by train but can’t, so instead we shall drive - taking in a little of the Garden Route on the way. In between starting and finishing this letter I have been on the interfaith pilgrimage - too much to mention here so look out for another instalment!
With our love and prayers for a blessed and joyful Christmas
Sue and Richard

A Week in the Life of Abbey Admin!

Hello – I am Hilarie Rogers the Parish Administrator and the PA to Sue Booys, the Rector. I also do admin work for the Bridge Group of Parishes, the Dorchester Team and the Aston and Cuddesdon Deanery! I work in the Rectory each morning and see a lot of the life of the Abbey.

This blog will give snapshots of some of the things that come through this office!

Monday 17th May
Arrive at 8.30am. More than the usual amount of emails as it’s Monday, but look at all of them and answer or log most of them by 9am. No phone calls yet and only one phone message to listen to. From 9am the calls to book tickets for the English Music Festival (to be held in the Abbey at the end of May) are routed through the office, so make sure all the booking forms are to hand. Usual 9am meeting with the Rector to ask about things that have cropped up, and receive tasks. Items discussed include: arrangements for Episcopal Visitation this evening; interviews for church architect; headstone in one of the Team Churches; managers for forthcoming concerts. Have a few phone calls about clearing up after last night’s concert. We also go through the phone messages and agree who will follow up which and similarly with emails. That takes us up to about 10am!

Follow up some of the tasks associated with the items discussed. Make more copies of the order of service for tonight and fold them. Open the post from the weekend – circulars; payment of an invoice for a booking; papers for the Rector about forthcoming meetings. Another hour gone!

Answer more emails – a group visit to the Abbey; a dead branch in the churchyard; what sort of confetti; a potential source of funding for projects; website links; marriage regulations; use of Abbey’s projector; invitation to a conference. Also print off minutes of some recent meetings for the Rector. Receive emails – 23 – and log and answer as appropriate……

12 noon – receive a few more emails; take a phone call about parking at the Abbey for a concert. Make more arrangements for forthcoming concerts, including arranging managers for some events and confirming the details of arrangements for this weekend’s concert. Process payment cheques for a couple of recent events. Do invoices for last weekend’s events.

And in case you wondered – I had 3 small cups of coffee and an orange during the course of the morning!

Tuesday 18th May
The Rector is at a meeting this morning, so we have a brief exchange before she goes. Spend the first half of the morning reading, logging and answering emails that came in between yesterday lunchtime and this morning. Lots of phone calls today, which makes things take longer!

Do some paperwork for the forthcoming PCC meeting; write confirmatory letter about a wedding next year; make arrangements for a visitation to another group of parishes in the Deanery. Do some following up from the Episcopal Visitation last night; open and sort the post.

Much of today has been “firefighting” as I think of it – responding to questions as they come in, by phone or email – rather than tackling specific pieces of work. Hopefully tomorrow I will do some longer chunks of work!


Wednesday 19th May
Again, brief exchange with the Rector who is spending the day at General Synod Business Committee. Usual email checking and phone calls for the first half of the morning covering a variety of tasks. Prepare and send some letters for the Rector, and handle some cheques in payment for use of the Abbey.

Go to the Abbey to make duplicate copy of a marriage certificate for an enquirer, and also check and make a retrospective certificate of baptism. Make some detailed arrangements for the visit of the BBC to record one of the concerts at the English Music Festival next week, and have two fairly lengthy phone conversations with potential hirers for concerts in 2011 and 2012!

Open the post and deal with a few more emails. Spend the last part of the morning making a start on the weekly notice sheet.


Thursday 20th May

Check, log and answer emails and phone messages before the Rector returns from Morning Prayer at 9am. Have a session with the Rector about things that have cropped up and agree tasks.

Spend the next hour sorting papers for this evening’s Deanery Synod meeting; preparing information sheets for the Wardens about the Rector’s diary for next week and arrangements for Sunday’s service; tracking arrangements for the Architect interviews next week. Also receiving and dealing with more emails, and taking a long telephone call from BT about our entry in Yellow Pages (including explaining what a Rector is and why the house is called a Rectory….).

Check stock levels of ink cartridges for the office printer, and order more. Deal with an enquiry about how to use the Abbey’s digital projector, and a phone enquiry from a visiting choir who are coming in July. Several other phone calls and emails – another hour gone, and second cup of coffee!

Finish work on the weekly notice sheet; open the post; sort and prepare for posting the Gift Aid envelopes and collection from the Episcopal Visitation earlier in the week. More emails and phone calls and the morning has flown by once more…….


Friday 21st May

Glorious day outside – the view from my desk of the Abbey through the trees must be one of the best! Usual routine – emails and phone calls for the first hour, including some urgent jobs for the Rector. Finish off the notice sheets and make copies for the parishes in the Team. Also make a poster for the forthcoming Team Service and copy or circulate. Prepare cards for a Baptism on Sunday.

Weekly visit from one of the Dorchester Wardens. This is to update them and me on anything – they also very kindly deliver items to people in the parish, which normally includes a bumper bundle for the parish treasurer.

Take items to the Abbey and replace some posters. Spend the last part of my week working on orders of service for the Ordination at the end of June, and Evensong for the Fellowship of St Birinus earlier in June. Send final letters and invoices to four couples getting married in July.

I can thoroughly recommend the job for variety and interest, and if you have got this far then well done!! Come back next week and read Em Marshall's report on the 2010 4th English Music Festival performances and experience at Dorchester Abbey over this Bank Holiday Weekend 28-31 May!

(Blogged by Hilarie Rogers, Parish Administrator and Rector's PA!)