ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, DOWN AMPNEY

We had a great service at Church this morning - and it was good to be back, although I did need to sit for some of the songs, but I was there!

After church, we went out to Down Ampney, which wasn’t too far to drive, to see the exhibition about Ralph Vaughan Williams, because we knew that in 2022, the Church will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth -  (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958).  RVW was an English composer, whose works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years.

I’m sure many of you will have sung the hymn, "Come Down, O Love Divine" to the tune “Down Ampney”, named after the Cotswold village where RVW was born.   He was the third child and younger son of the vicar, the Reverend Arthur Vaughan Williams and his wife, Margaret, who was the great-granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood and a niece of Charles Darwin, something I didn’t know!

Apparently, when the young Vaughan Williams asked his mother about Darwin's controversial book “On the Origin of Species”, she answered, "The Bible says that God made the world in six days. Great Uncle Charles thinks it took longer: but we need not worry about it, for it is equally wonderful either way".

The middle shot in my collage, under the photograph of Ralph Vaughan Williams, is the font where RVW was baptised on 1st December 1872.  There was a notice on the font that said : “His father invited the Reverend Hyde Beadon, the vicar of the neighbouring village of Latton to perform the ceremony.  Apparently, during the ceremony, he dropped baby Ralph and it was only the quick action of his mother, who grabbed the long skirts of his christening gown, that prevented the poor little chap from crashing to the stone floor.  There are no further records of Reverend Hyde Beadon taking any more baptisms in Down Ampney!”  

We had a dedication at our church this morning and I’m pleased to say the baby was NOT dropped!

There have been several celebrations of RVW’s birth in the Church already and more are planned up until the end of October.  Two of my favourite Ralph Vaughan Williams compositions are Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914) - a shortened version of which you can listen to here - played by Nicola Benedetti - it is exquisite.  

The Silly Saturday Gang were very grateful for all your kind comments yesterday - and hope to be back next week.