Vol 3/2
March
1998

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Parish Profile

St Alfege, Greenwich
More than mere history!

Canon Giles Harcourt has been Vicar of St Alfege, Greenwich for almost ten years and is, deliberately, a familiar sight on the pavements of the parish. His church is in the heart of the town centre - a stone's throw from the Cutty Sark and the Maritime Museum.

The parish is a mix of highly 'des-res' and less than 'des' Council estates - Glenda Jackson and Cecil Day Lewis had homes on Croomes Hill, cheek by jowl with ex-GLC tenants who'd rather live somewhere else! "We're a microcosm of the Church of England" said Giles. "Our congregation reflects all income and social groups, those living comfortably on the top of the hill and people struggling to survive in the riverside estates, and those between, held together rather like the Holy Trinity!"

Giles with Matthew & Joan Hunter,
both 79 and married at St Alf's this year

The present church is probably the third on the site where Archbishop Alfege was pelted with bones by the Danes and dispatched in a mercy killing by one of his followers in April 1012. Little is known about the first church except that it was rebuilt sometime in the 13th century. After the roof fell in during a violent storm in 1710 architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Wren, was commissioned to design the third - and present - church. Consecrated in 1718, it was Hawksmoor's first church and is one of the finest examples of English baroque architecture.

Gutted by incendiary bombs in 1941 the church was restored in 1953, only to lose its roof in a freak gale in 1978. Although the roof was repaired other work had to wait. Even today St Alfege is engaged in a major appeal to preserve Hawksmoor's masterpiece for the 21st century.

'St Alf's', as the locals call it, has three ministries - the first to its congregation, the second to the wider parish and a third to the 2 million tourists who come to Greenwich every year.

The church offers what Giles calls a 'moderate catholic' style - attracting an eclectic congregation, of whom over 50% come from outside its parish boundaries. Sunday worship consists of an 8am said Eucharist, a 9.30am Sung Eucharist, an informal eucharistic 'family service' at 11.15 and a monthly choral evensong. There is also a Eucharist every weekday and opportunities for prayer and meditation, and regular house groups - jointly with the local URC, Roman Catholic and Methodist churches.

At the 9.30am on 1 February the preacher was to be Bishop Colin Buchanan. I arrived at 9 o'clock, too early for the 'welcomers' whose rota was listed in the vestibule but not for Curate, Barry Thorley, who abandoned 'Bishop-watch' to give me a whistle-stop tour before the service. St Alfege can seat 1000 people, up to 200 is normal on Sunday morning - but at 9.30 the procession of clergy, lay assistants and choir outnumbered the congregation. Over the next half-hour more arrived slipping quietly into the pews so that by 10 o'clock we were around 160 in number.

I was told it is a common feature of the riverside churches - people are very laid back about service times. "Often I start a service wondering where everyone is and half way through start worrying whether there is enough wine and wafers" said Giles. Service sheets were provided - "it saves people struggling with books" - plus a weekly newsletter and supplementary hymn sheet.

Music is an important part of St Alfege worship. Stephen Dagg who runs a centre for young musicians shares the organ stall with Philip Simms, who founded the celebrated Thomas Tallis Society. The society, based at St Alfege takes its name from the 'father of church music' Thomas Tallis, who with his wife Anne is buried under the Chancel. However there is a danger that the music can overwhelm - at times I felt more like a member of an audience than a congregation - the Sanctus, for example, was a lengthy choral performance which had at least one of my neighbours looking at his watch! Having said that it was totally redeemed by the quality of the singing.

Looking around at the start the congregation appeared to be mainly the 'more mature' - but when the 20 or so Sunday School children filed in, many of them joined parents who obviously had come in later and as the Peace was exchanged, the people walking around were all ages, colours and accents.

11:15 family service in the children's chapel

After the service over coffee in the church hall, I was told several times "It's a very faithful congregation..." "people come regularly every week".

The distinctive type of worship had attracted all types of people, ranging from 'disillusioned evangelicals' to ex-Roman Catholics and many coming to church for the first time - particularly noticeable at Easter and Christmas Eucharists, when hundreds come to the altar rail for a blessing.

St Alfege has three priests. The Vicar,Canon Giles Harcourt, Canon Richard Buck and the Rev.Barry Thorley. It looks like a big team - but I was told "We are actually under-resourced. Only 30 or so years ago, St Alfege supported a full-time staff of five clergy." Giles is also Rural Dean and Borough Dean, which takes up a lot of his time. Richard Buck is a national retreat conductor, warden of retreat centres and "spiritual director to a cast of thousands". St Alfege is his anchor, but his time is necessarily limited. So the arrival of the experienced Barry Thorley as Curate three years ago was very welcome.

The team also includes a Reader, Peter Kinison and Mike Passmore a SPA. Peter is an incredible character. Confined to a wheelchair since childhood, he preaches, organises and leads services and until recently was teaching drama at a local school. He said "When you have been disabled since childhood you learn to make the best use of the bits which work!"

Mike Passmore is a Surveyor with the Children's Society. As well as organising the parish's visiting team and acting as verger, he runs the 11.15 'Family Service' with the help of Barry Thorley and Barbara Catterall who plays the accordion. The service is Communion based but simplified to be more accessible to children and adults who find formal communion a bit 'heavy'. The kids obviously enjoyed it, providing an enthusiastic musical(?) accompaniment with drums, rattles and tambourines.

"We set out to provide a variety of services to bring people in."said Giles Harcourt" We hope they then go out into the world with a new perspective". Children are a vital bridge between St Alfege and the community. Giles is a regular visitor to St Alfege CofE Primary where his wife Lesley is a community worker for whom the school is a springboard for reaching families in the estates. When Giles arrived nine years ago he decided "God gave me two ears, two eyes and only one mouth. Use them in that order. Find out what the parish needs before setting your priorities". One thing he found was "Insecurity". "It is a problem with all social groups - the wealthy worry about job security and the poor worry where tomorrow's food is coming from!"

Debt management proved to be a common problem, so St Alfege set up a unique service in an office off the church hall. Meridian Money Advice provides debt counselling, family budgeting and negotiation with creditors. It has two part-time staff and 8 volunteers backed by a team of trustees which includes a solicitor.

Many of the clients come from the two Council estates, Meridian and Haddo. Haddo used to be a 'sink' estate, where people from all over London were 'dumped'. Many have moved on but unemployment and social disadvantage are still the norm - for example, a Haddo address makes it nigh impossible to get credit, except from loan-sharks.

Three years ago St Alfege wanted to establish a presence on the estate, so when Barry Thorley joined the parish he moved into one of the flats. "It's important that people see and experience the church living alongside them" said Giles "It emphasises that we are much more than a social service."

St Alfege's policy is to open its doors to the community - and that includes many of the 2 million tourists who visit Greenwich. There is a rota of visitor `helpers' and guide-boards to the church in a choice of 17 languages. With the approach of the Millennium - focusing on Greenwich - they expect the numbers of visitors to grow rapidly. "We are looking at how to cope with this and planning our own programme to place Christ right in the centre of the Millennium in Greenwich" said Giles.

Currently St Alfege is appealing for £350,000. The plans include reopening the North entrance on the Greenwich street-front, completing the interior redecoration, rewiring and re-lighting (including floodlighting), and rebuilding the organ.

"Worship is central to our mission" said Giles "We want to increase our involvement in the community but the first step must be a fully restored church fit to take its place at the heart of Greenwich life - with its doors open to a world public."

more...news from the parishes

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