All Hallows new vicar The Revd Kevin Bell was instituted and installed at the church on Monday 2nd February. It is with great pleasure that this community welcomes Fr Kevin, his wife Clare and their three children to be a part of our lives here in Twickenham.  Please see below a report on the service by Sarah Vincent:

Despite the freezing temperatures, around 200 people travelled to All Hallows’ on Monday evening for the Induction of Father Kevin. In the candlelight, the regular parishioners were joined by Vince Cable MP, the Deputy Mayor of Richmond and representatives from the Armed Forces – Father Kevin has just left the Army after 26 years service.

The sermon was given by the Bishop of Kensington, the Right Reverend Paul Williams with readings by Charlotte Ryton and Father Andrew.

If anyone heard the bell toll at around 8.15 on Monday evening, that was our new Vicar signalling the beginning of his ministry in the parish. Hand in hand with the Bishop, Kevin was presented to the congregation.

There was some amusement as he started the notices “At oh-nine-thirty…” then remembered he was no longer in the Army and reverted to civvie speak “Nine thirty in the morning”. Adjusting to life outside the Barracks may take some time.
Thanks were said to all those who had worked so hard to keep the Church functioning after the departure of Mother Nicola. Then it was over to the Parish Hall for celebratory drinks and delicious canapes.

The young people at All Hallows took part in a Sponsored Sleep-Out on the chilly night of 31 January. Some 45 Cubs, Scouts, Guides and young people from the congregation slept overnight at the church, learning about homelessness and raising much-needed funds for SPEAR, our local homelessness charity.

Many of the older children slept in our unheated stone cloister, having made cardboard shelters for themselves. The younger ones slept along the aisle in the main church. First, though, there was a simple supper followed by an outdoor camp fire and a talk by a SPEAR ambassador who was able to tell them from first-hand experience what it is like to be homeless.

The Sleep-Out was designed to be fun but also to give the young people an idea of what rough sleeping on a cold winter’s night is really like. If you’d like to sponsor them, our dedicated Sleep-Out fundraising page is still open: www.bmycharity.com/AllHallowsSPEARsleepOut

Your contribution would be most welcome!

Please click here to find out more about our new Vicar and his thoughts on coming to All Hallows.

Our Harvest Supper took place on Saturday 11th October.  A delicious hot meal was served to nearly 60 people, with some rather yummy puddings donated by those who attended the evening.

We had fun with the raffle and ‘guess the weight of the pumpkin’.  The huge pumpkin weighed in at 4 stone 3 1/2 pounds!!  And was won by one of our readers who will be making many things with it including ‘pumpkin curd’.

The raffle and pumpkin raised £270 for the charity SPEAR.

Our Harvest Thanksgiving took place on Sunday 12th October where we had a fascinating and engaging talk from Bruce Warman from SPEAR, and a visit from our Little Wrens nursery who brought a lovely hamper of gifts which were added to our other harvest gifts donated to the Richmond Foodbank.

It was with great pleasure that All Hallows welcomed the Revd Mark Townsend to our church on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th September 2014.  Mark is a renowned priest/magician and he wowed everyone with his wonderfully insightful magic with tricks and illusions abound.

We saw how he managed to trick out minds and how he managed to guess what we were thinking either singularly or as a collective. 

The evening concluded with a lovely buffet meal.

Mark joined us at the Sunday service and gave a fabulous sermon on ‘Angels’, which tied in with the subject of the day, St Michael & All Angels.  He pulled ‘diamonds’ and feathers from empty bags and books and ended the talk with bubbles – one of which he magically turned into a glass ball for one of the children who was celebrating a birthday.

Our thanks go out to Mark and his partner Sally who both made the journey from Herefordshire to be with us over the weekend.  The weekend was full of magic and spectacle.

For mor information on Mark Townsend please go to his website: www.magicofsoul.com

All Hallows Church was one of over 800 buildings and events which took part in Open House London 2014 over the weekend of 20 and 21 September. Described by the organisers as “the chance to explore some of London’s most inspiring places and buildings at first hand, completely for free and at your own pace”, we welcomed people inside our beautiful church over the weekend.

Visitors could take a self-guided tour with a leaflet highlighting All Hallows’ unique history and there were quizzes for younger visitors. Escorted tours of the Wren bell tower were available and soup was sold to raise funds for restoration of the bells. Many members of the congregation supported the event by welcoming visitors, serving tea and cakes at the cake stall run in aid of Shooting Star Chase, and running a Fairtrade stall.

A frequently heard comment was, “I’ve driven past the church many times and am so glad I’ve finally seen inside”. A big thank you to everyone, visitors and helpers, who took part.

I’m pleased to report that the refurbishment work programme on the bells was successfully completed on Thursday 17^th July. The principal elements of the work comprised the replacement of all the bearings, pulleys and runner boards. Each of the bells was also checked for odd-struckness, and adjustments made where necessary to improve the striking. The work was carried out under the direction of Neil Thomas from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, with assistance from Steve Jakeman, Tim Chadwick (a member of the AH congregation), John Manley and myself.

Upon completion of the work, we rang all the bells up and down and there is a marked improvement in their handling. With this project now completed, we look forward to the bells proclaiming their message for many years to come, with only minor, routine maintenance.

 Many thanks again to Alex for organising the fund-raising quiz April. It was a very enjoyable evening, in addition to raising a substantial sum towards the cost of the project. The bell ringers were also very heartened by the generous donation from the Luncheon Club.

 It’s nice to know that our bells are appreciated!

 John Sutton, Bellringer at All Hallows, Twickenham

The service to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of All Hallows Church in Twickenham took place on Thursday 10th July.  The service was well attended by members of the current congregation, people who had a connection with the church 75 years ago, and by some who were at that original service 75 years ago.

The sermon took the form of an interview between the curate Fr Andrew Williams and the Church Historian Kathryn Elliott where many facts about the events leading up to All Hallows being consecrated here in Twickenham were discussed.

It was amazing to think how this church was built, the inside architecture (Gibbons) and the whole tower moved stone by stone from Lombard Street in the City of London to it’s current location, all as the Second World War began.

For more information on the history of All Hallows please click on the link below:

A Brief History of the Church

A service of celebration will take place next Autumn to commemorate the consecration of All Hallows once it’s build was completed.

Many thanks to everyone who supported the All Hallows Spring Quiz which took place on Saturday 26th April.  The event was very well attended and a lot of fun was had and £603 was made that evening which has gone to the Bell Fund to help repair the bell bearings in our Christopher Wren tower.

The next Quiz Night will take place on 28th February 2015. This event will be in aid of SPEAR and all will be welcome to join in the fun.  Keep the date in your diary!!