Category: Letters

Letter to S. Anselm’s, Hayes – 2^nd June 2020

To all at S. Anselm’s,

I’m very grateful for Fr Cashmore’s invitation to write to you all.  It’s difficult to believe that it has been over three months since my last visit!  We have all, obviously, been living through unprecedented times since then; and I hope and pray that whatever joys and sorrows these last few months may have brought, they have not broken your spirit as individuals or as a church.  ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46).

We’ve all been adjusting to new ways of living over the last two months.  Sadly, much of my weekly round of school and care home visits has necessarily been suspended.  This has been hard – it is during times of trial that one most wants to be present with a community, and when the Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is perhaps most valued by those who encounter It.  

Nevertheless, a quieter diary has allowed more time to pray.  I’ve never been a very good ‘pray-er’, which is one reason I value the daily Office and Mass so highly, for giving me the opportunity (and, as a priest, the obligation!) to turn to God several times each day, and offer the prayer of the Church on behalf of my parishioners.  Being able to offer Mass on behalf of our communities, institutions, and individuals – living and departed – and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ regularly is such a privilege, especially at this time when so many Christians are denied It.  I’m sure you are longing for that day when you can join together to celebrate the Eucharist again at S. Anselm’s – God willing, not too long now!

Another positive outcome of lockdown has been the time spent with Roisin and Oliver.  It’s sobering to think that Oliver has been locked down for half of his life, and spent two months interacting exclusively with his mum and dad.  Thank God for video calling, which has at least allowed his grandparents to see him regularly, even if this is nowhere near the same as holding and cuddling him, which I know they are longing to do again – they’ll be surprised how heavy he is!  This time has not been without its challenges – Oliver is not a good sleeper, and I have had frequent resort to the prayers of our Lady and S. Joseph for patience and strength at around 3am many nights!  After all, they know exactly what raising a new-born is like, and their prayers have definitely been effective.  

Raising a baby makes the Incarnation all the more incredible and mind-bending.  That God the Son, Jesus, by Whom all things were created (Colossians 1:16) became human as a real-life baby, utterly dependent and totally vulnerable, is amazing.  Fully human, like Oliver, He too needed to learn how to eat, sleep and interact with the world.  S. Paul writes poetically of the Son’s humility in Philippians 2 (look it up!), one of my favourite passages of Scripture.  That God should stoop so low, becoming one of us in order to raise us up to be one with Him, is an amazing thing to consider.  When I look at Oliver, as I am now, gurgling and playing, and imagine Jesus to have done the same, I am filled with gratitude, love, and awe.

I am very much looking forward to my next visit to S. Anselm’s, whether it’s for Fr Matthew’s licensing in July, or whenever.  I have always enjoyed and looked forward to my visits, and I have been very grateful for your prayers and generosity since getting to know you over the last year.  I will continue to keep you all in my prayers regularly, as you prepare for a new stage in your mission to the people of Hayes.

With love and best wishes,

Fr Alex, Roisin & Oliver

 Walsingham
 26^th May 2020

Dear people of St. Anselm’s,

I am delighted to have this opportunity to write to you at Fr Matthew’s invitation, and to send you greetings from the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

At this time of the year the Shrine would usually be a very busy place with groups of pilgrims, visitors and tourists enjoying the spiritual and physical beauty of this holy place. The Shrine Shop would be filled with people wanting to purchase a souvenir, a book, a statue, a rosary or perhaps even some Norfolk Lavender Talc! Norton’s Café in the Shrine Grounds would be buzzing with those enjoying a coffee and a Nelson’s Slice (one of our speciality cakes), or perhaps a bottle of our recently launched Pilgrim Pale Ale. Most importantly, the Shrine Church would be open for all to enter for prayer and worship, to light a candle or to be sprinkled with water from the Well, following in the footsteps of countless pilgrims down the ages.

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic the gates and doors of the Shrine have been firmly and very sadly closed. The stillness and silence both in the Shrine and in the village has been strange and at times eerie. This was particularly so yesterday (Monday 25^th May) which would have been the day of the annual National Pilgrimage. The cancellation of the National was a huge disappointment to the thousands who love to attend. For once the weather was absolutely perfect which somehow made the fact that it wasn’t happening all the more difficult to comprehend.

Everyone in the country has been affected in some way by Covid-19 and the restrictions accompanying it, many in very serious and tragic ways.

The situation has been the focus of prayer for millions of Christians who, though unable to worship in their churches, have been faithfully offering their prayers at home. 

Here at the Shrine too, the work of prayer has continued. A Mass has been offered daily and every evening at 6pm Shrine Prayers has taken place in the Holy House. This has been particularly significant as Shrine Prayers have been offered daily without interruption since they were introduced by Fr Hope Patten , the restorer of the Shrine, in 1922. Throughout every war, every crisis, every major political and historical moment in our nation, this chain of prayer has remained unbroken. An additional blessing in recent months has been the ability for us to live-stream Shrine Prayers. This has enabled pilgrims all over the world to see on the screens of their devices the much-venerated Image of Our Lady of Walsingham in the Holy House and to join in the prayers with myself or Fr Andreas, the Shrine Priest, leading them.

History was made yesterday as the National Pilgrimage Mass was also live-streamed from the Shrine Church. The latest viewing figures suggest that over 10,000 pilgrims joined in the celebration. 

None of these benefits, though, can ever substitute being physically present in England’s Nazareth. The closure of churches and places of pilgrimages has been a bereavement experience for millions of Christians, an experience shared by those of other faiths around the world. It has touched on the very real need we have for places that are set apart for worship and prayer, for holy ground, for sacred space. Our church buildings are visible signs of our faith and of our belief in the mystery of the incarnation. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Shrines and places of holiness powerfully remind us of the purpose of life and the destination of our earthly pilgrimage. Our churches remind us and our communities of the presence of God who dwells among us, and who has let his glory be seen in the face of Jesus Christ, born of Mary.

The Latin motto of the Shrine is “Domus Dei. Porta Coeli” which translated means House of God, Gate of Heaven. It is a motto which expresses in very few words how places like Walsingham touch the hearts of so many. They are words which can also apply to our own more local places of pilgrimages, not least our parish churches, houses of God set apart in our communities for his glory and praise and to inspire us to serve him more faithfully in our daily lives.

It is interesting to learn from Fr Matthew that Walsingham has a special place in the memory of St Anselm’s. I’m told you have a number of statues of Our Lady of Walsingham and many stories of great pilgrimages in the past. You also have in Fr Matthew a priest who is himself a regular pilgrim and so I very much look forward to welcoming St Anselm’s to Walsingham on many more pilgrimages in the future. 

It is a unique and special place, a real gift to us all, and you can be sure of a warm welcome from all who have the great privilege of working at the Shrine.

May God bless you in your witness to the Gospel, in your lives of faith and prayer, and may Our Lady of Walsingham pray for you.

Fr Kevin Smith

Priest Administrator

Dear Parishioners of S Anselm’s in Hayes Town

I am very grateful to Father Matthew for his kind invitation to write to you at this particular period of difficulty and uncertainty for all of us in this time of pandemic.

Compared to Bishop Michael Colclough, whose connection with your parish goes back over forty years, I am, I appreciate, still a relative new boy in these parts!

My first memories of S Anselm’s date back just over a decade. I arrived in North Hillingdon in September 2009 and had to learn my way around this part of West London. Eventually, I had to travel to Hayes to meet the son of a lady resident in this parish, who had recently died, and found myself locked into the Hayes Town one-way system(!!), which took me past what looked like a derelict church building on Station Road. I since learned that this was S Anselm’s. I learned too that the parish had had a difficult history and had no full-time priest.

Our Hillingdon Deanery Clergy Chapter met at S Anselm’s on 3 February 2011, thanks to the good offices of Father Simon Evans, then Area Dean. Over the coffee-cups, I learned that a couple wanted to get married at S Anselm’s later that year, but that no priest had been found to conduct the wedding. So I volunteered – and the offer was taken up with considerable alacrity. The wedding took place at S Anselm’s on 14 May. It was the first that had happened there for many years and was, very properly, an occasion of great rejoicing!

Since then, I have been very pleased to assist you in various ways, most recently in arranging suitable cover during the recent Interregnum, following Father Geoffrey’s departure for a parish in the Diocese of Derby at Eastertide in 2019. I have much enjoyed both my occasional Sunday visits to you for the Parish Mass and also the Low Masses I have been able to cover on a Thursday morning. It is really good that you specifically asked that these be kept going, even in the absence of a full-time priest!

We are not yet quite sure when it will be possible for our churches to re-open for public worship, even though we look forward to that time with increasing impatience. You are most fortunate in having Father Matthew as your new Parish Priest and whether or not it will be possible for him to be licensed publicly on the Feast of S Mary Magdalene in July (which also happens to be an important birthday for Father Matthew, but don’t tell anyone!), I am sure that a way will be found for the legal necessities to be completed, so that he actually becomes your Parish Priest on that day and so begins with you a fresh chapter in the life of S Anselm’s. As Bishop Michael’s recent letter to you indicates, life at S Anselm’s has rarely been easy and I guess that the immediate future will present its own difficulties and problems for all of us. As a parish, S Anselm’s has shown a remarkable degree of resilience over the years and I wish you all both happiness and success as you look forward to sharing with Father Matthew in the life, mission and ministry of S Anselm’s in Hayes Town, both in the coming weeks and months, as we strive to move from the present ‘lock-down’ and into what some have described as the ‘new normal’ (whatever that may mean).

Our Lady of Walsingham: Pray for us.
S Anselm: Pray for us.

With prayers and every good wish to you all.

Father Desmond

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Alleluia! Christ is Risen

This is an Easter season which none of us could have expected, and the like of which none of us has seen before. You are all so much in my prayers. I pray for health and wellbeing for you and your loved ones, and that you may find joy and hope in the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ even in  this time of trial.

The second reading at Mass last Sunday was taken from the First Letter of St Peter. St Peter is writing to young Christians, to those newly baptised, fresh in the faith but also it seems facing the threat of persecution and uncertainty. St Peter encourages these new-born disciples of Jesus Christ with these ringing and resonant words:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light

A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation – these are all words and phrases which were once applied to the people of Israel. But what was once true of God’s first people, the Jews, is now true of us, because we have been called into the fellowship and communion of Christ’s universal Church. We who were once (as St Peter continues) no people are now the people of God.

What a cause for rejoicing! Even in times of trial – especially in times of trial – we know that we are God’s people and that Jesus Christ is our shepherd, teacher, Saviour, and friend. And what are God’s people to do? At all times, in every circumstance, we are to sing the praises of God. We are called to worship. In the well known phrase of St Augustine, we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!

As we travel through lockdown we look forward to the restoration of public worship in our churches, including of course at St Anselm’s. That is still some way off, though it may be that the church building may at least be open again for prayer after a few more weeks have passed. Meanwhile, I am grateful for all that you are doing to maintain a sense of being together as God’s people in Hayes Town. I am very grateful indeed that Fr Matthew Cashmore, your parish-priest designate, is now offering valuable help to you in doing just that. 

On the 22^nd July, Fr Matthew will be licensed as your new Priest-in-Charge. Whether that can happen in church we must wait and see. But whatever the circumstances of his licensing, the day will mark an exciting moment in the life and mission of the parish. I am convinced that God has great things in store for you, and that, through your witness, the power of the risen Christ will be made known to many.

Brothers and sisters, I long to be able to celebrate the Mass with you and for you. Until that time, in these strange days, please keep singing the praises of God. Keep hopeful and keep faithful, and may the love of God warm your hearts and nourish your souls.

May Our Blessed Lady, Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for you.

May St Anselm and all the saints of God pray for you.

May His holy angels watch over you and keep you safe.

Thank you for your witness and your courage

With every blessing

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ at St Anselm’s

I am so delighted to be invited by Father Matthew to write to you as Area Dean of Hillingdon, to encourage you and to assure you of my prayers.

I hope that you and your loved ones have been able to keep safe and well in your homes during the Coronavirus lockdown.  It’s a tough time, isn’t it, but I have been encouraged over the last few weeks by the words of Psalm 46 which speak so powerfully into the challenging times that we face:

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

The Psalm concludes:

Be still and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46 verse 10.

I hope that, although you are sadly unable to meet together for Mass at the moment, you are still able to find your own space and time to be in God’s presence, for worship, prayer and reading the bible.  It is so often in the stillness that we discover for ourselves the psalm’s promises that God is indeed our refuge and strength.  I am therefore particularly grateful for the way that Father Matthew, and the rest of the team at St Mary’s Kenton, are supporting you pastorally, including providing you with access to their amazing online worship. 

As Bishop Michael recognised in his recent letter to you, it is fair to say that life at St Anselm’s has been become rather fragile over recent years.  However, I really do think that there are grounds for great hope that you are about to enter a new season of renewal, growth and blessing.  First, you are about to receive a wonderful new priest in Father Matthew.  I know from having met him that he will come to you full of faith, passion and vision for the future of St Anselm’s.  Can I therefore encourage you to pray for Father Matthew and his family, to welcome them with open arms and then work collaboratively with him to discern God’s direction for St Anselm’s in the years ahead.  

Secondly, Hillingdon Deanery is right behind you as you embark on this exciting journey.  It has been really striking over the last year that, although as a Deanery we face many challenges and demands on our resources, the Deanery clergy all agree that providing St Anselm’s with the resources you need to bring renewal to the life of the church is our number one priority. The first piece of the jigsaw was to appoint a new incumbent who is a missional and entrepreneurial Catholic – we believe we have achieved that in Father Matthew.  But we also feel that to give you a fighting chance of being properly equipped to serve your rapidly changing community, you need other resources too.  We are therefore hoping to be able to reallocate additional resources to St Anselm’s from elsewhere in the Deanery as they become available.  All being well, this may include a salary and housing for someone to work with Father Matthew to develop midweek community ministry based in St Anselm’s.  We also hope to be able to provide some capital funds to kickstart a project to renew your building so that it is capable of being used flexibly to host a whole range of church and community groups and activities.  The Southall group of churches are also available to help you to think about how you can connect with the incredibly diverse and vibrant community of which you are a part. 

So, despite all the troubles of the present time, this is also a time to be hopeful and prayerful.   I think that we have cause to be really encouraged about what God has in store for St Anselm’s and for the people of Hayes Town in the years ahead.  In the coming weeks and months please do devote yourselves to prayer, as I and my colleagues in the Deanery pray for you.  As psalm 46 urges, take time to be still before God, and listen for what the Lord has to say to you about your part in God’s plan to new life to St Anselm’s.  You will discover that the Lord is indeed a refuge and strength but he is also the God of new life. 

May God bless you and those you love.

The Revd Richard Young
Area Dean of Hillingdon 

Message from The Very Reverend Michael Tavinor, 
Dean of Hereford Cathedral to the people of St. Anselm’s, Hayes.

I suppose my roots in St Anselm’s go back to its very beginnings.  I was taught piano in Hayes 1960-72 by a lady called Mrs Rixon – as Olive Bishop she was the first person to be married in the new St Anselm’s in 1929.  Not that long after, my parents were married there in May 1931 – you can see a picture of their wedding, outside the main door.  It hasn’t changed that much, although the style of dress of the guests is very different, isn’t it?!   The Hayes Gazette for May 1931 tells us that the officiant at the wedding was the Revd. E F Bailey, the first vicar of the parish.  At the wedding, the organ was played by my aunt Hilda and the reception was at the Hayes Restaurant, near the church but long since closed.   Later, in 1938, my aunt Doris was married at St Anselm’s, and on that occasion, my father was the organist. Again, Fr Bailey officiated. 

I lived (until 1982, when I was ordained), in Stirling Road, just within St Anselm’s parish, on the estate off Coldharbour Lane.   I went to school, 1958-65 at Minet Infants/Junior – again, in the parish.   It is, of course, a Local Authority school, but the parish priest of St Anselm’s, Fr Albert Phyall, used to visit and took a group of us for a weekly class.   I visited the school a couple of years ago and spoke to the staff and pupils.  I was very impressed with the school today – lovely staff and pupils. Just one excerpt from my reminiscences of school life: 

I recall the wedding day of Princess Margaret in 1960.  I would have been 6.  We enacted the ceremony taking place in Westminster Abbey – the prettiest girl in the class, was Princess Margaret; the boy best at sport was Anthony Armstrong Jones and guess who I was?  Yes – you got it – the Archbishop of Canterbury!  (my note – mercifully, the prophecy was never fulfilled….!)

Hayes was a different place then – it had lots of independent shops. There were a lot of Co-op shops – drapers, undertaker, chemist, shoes, and whenever we went in there, I had to parrot out the Coop number – 945985.  Sainsbury’s was there too, just opposite St Anselm’s –  white marble counters, where one was always queuing – you queued for tea, and when you’d got that, and paid, you joined another queue for bacon, paid for that, then joined another queue for butter, and paid for that….  The butter was in huge blocks, and the ladies, wearing white turbans patted it about with things like ping-pong bats. When I recently visited Hayes, I counted just a handful of shops that were there when I was a boy – the banks, three opticians and Cain’s the undertakers!

For my early years, I was ‘sent’ to Hayes Baptist Church, Coldharbour Lane but in the 1960s, my father became organist of Harlington Parish church and that was my main association until I went to university in 1972.    But, as the call to ordination became stronger, it was to St Anselm’s, that I felt increasingly drawn.  

Yes, I remember Fr Phyall, who was parish priest 1944 – 75.  He was very much of the ‘old school’, and rumour had it that he even said Mass in Latin….!

His successor, in about 1975, was Fr Anthony Burge and I became friendly with him and his wife, Caroline.  He was Australian and returned there in 1979 – he has since died.    I made my first confession to him, in the sentry box confessional, which I think is still in the church.    At that time I also used to play the organ, on occasions at St Anselm’s – the organist was Edna Davies and I still use the Delia Smith Cookery Course that Edna gave me when I went to theological College!  

Fr Burge’s successor was Fr Michael Colclough.  I regularly attended daily mass, when back from Cuddesdon and there were often as many as 20 there.  In Fr Colclough’s time, the interior of the church was transformed. He used the designs of churchwarden, Terry Hamaton (who also designed, for me, the hangings of the life of St Thomas of Hereford in Hereford Cathedral)- and from this time came the statue of St Anselm (made by Anton Wagner, of Norfolk) and the new high altar arrangements.   

In my deacon’s year, 1982, Fr Colclough celebrated his tenth anniversary of priesthood and I deaconed for him (see attachment 2).  When I was ordained, the parish gave me a silver pyx, which I still use regularly today, when taking the Sacrament to the sick.  On it is engraved, ‘To Michael Tavinor, Deacon, June 1982 from St Anselm’s Hayes’.   After my First Mass at Ealing, in 1983, I celebrated the traditional two further ‘first masses’ – a requiem at Harlington, where my parents are buried – and first mass of Our Lady at St Anselm’s. 

I served 3 years as curate at St Peter, Ealing, then five and half years as Precentor at Ely Cathedral.  From 1990- 2002, I was Vicar of Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire and have been Dean of Hereford since 2002. 

So, St Anselm’s is a long time ago, but I’ve never forgotten the influence that the church and parish had on me.  It taught me the central place of the daily Mass and, although we can’t gather for Mass, in the usual way now, when we do gather again, may the Mass have real priority in your life as a parish.  You have a wonderful church building and a rich tradition – I shall pray for you and for Fr Matthew, as you look towards the next chapter of your life in Christ together. 

Michael Tavinor

Dean of Hereford Cathedral

Dear Friends in Christ,

Yesterday we kept the Feast of St Anselm and, in that we are not able to get to church because of Coronavirus, I celebrated Mass here in our home along with my family: offering the Mass for all of you and for Father Matthew Cashmore as he prepares to become your next Parish Priest.  The Feast of St Anselm brings back lots of fond memories of my time as your Parish Priest.  I arrived in Hayes 41 years ago and, though grateful to be entrusted with such a beautiful church with a rich tradition of Anglo-Catholic worship, I was also apprehensive because the numbers attending church were so low.  The Bishop told me that if I did not make it a viable parish, then closure was in sight.  

I have heard that life at St Anselm’s is again rather fragile but, from my own experience of God’s grace, guidance and blessings, I do encourage you to take heart as Father Matthew prepares to come among you.  Pray for him now and for yourselves as a community now: and once he arrives pray faithfully with him and be faithful in your presence at Mass – which must be the heart of all you seek to be and do as God’s people.  And God will be faithful: He will bless your lives and efforts given to Him.  Remember these words of Saint Teresa of Avilla: 

Christ has no hands but your hands
To do his work today.
No other feet but your feet
To guide folk on his way.
No other lips but your lips
To tell them why he died.
No other love but you love
To win them to his side.
Yours in our Risen Lord,