1. We have now advertised the post of Organist and Choir Director. There were a lot of people involved in putting the job description and advertisement together, but I would particularly like to thank, our Diocesan Music Adviser, for his advice. Assuming a suitable candidate applies we hope to make an appointment in early January. In the meantime, thanks to B, who is doing a great job of finding us organists and arranging the music

2. St Alban’s church is part of a bid put forward by the Diocese for an Anglo- Catholic Missioner. The background is that both the Diocese and the Church Commissioners are keen to explore ways of helping churches in the Anglo- Catholic tradition flourish. There is a tried and tested way of helping Evangelical churches grow but there is no equivalent for Catholic Anglicans. I hope that we all feel excited and privileged to be part of finding a way for Anglo-Catholic Churches to grow. We have been successful in our stage one application: now the PCC, standing committee and I, must work together on the next stage of the application. This will complement the work we have to do on our Transforming Church Action Plan.

For us music will be an important part of our mission and outreach. That’s why I am <span style="font-size: 1rem;">especially pleased that we are advertising for a new Organist and Choir Director. They will be important in our attempts to grow our traditional Masses. As far as I’m aware our Sung Masses are unique in Birmingham and an important part of our future. While being a unique selling point, we must be realistic and recognise that the appeal of our 10.00 a.m. Masses is limited, and we need to work hard to make sure that they are widely publicised, so that everyone who does like our form of worship knows about us. We also need a new Organist who is sympathetic to the use of community music projects to grow different (Catholic) congregations at our church. I have written before that I look to cathedrals for a model of how we should work. Cathedrals have excellent traditional worship in addition to a huge variety of contemporary worship and activities. I believe that St Alban’s can lead the way on revitalising the traditional and exploring the contemporary.

There are lots of opportunities for St Alban’s. The Parish is changing as the Rea Valley Urban Quarter is developed. There is already new housing stretching from Gooch Street across into St Luke’s Parish. There will be lots of new housing in the Parish and there will be some people looking for a spiritual home. We need to make sure that they can find that home with us.