After the busiest year ever [P.S. I say that every year] I’m confronted by the season in more ways than one. Hot on the heels of my winter fuel payment comes the glorious Advent Celebration @ St Aidan’s with the choirs of Bankside, Hillcrest, Hovingham and Chapel Allerton Primary Schools.
St. Aidan’s Church, the most beautiful space with an exquisite mosaic by artist Frank Brangwyn, will be filled with the voices of young people from Harehills making music, singing carols and reading. It is a proper celebration of Christmas joy and for the second year running I am reading at the service. Last year I read Shepherd’s Sonnet from my latest collection ‘A Bench for Billie Holiday’, notable for amongst other things the autobiographical appearance of my ancient knees in the poem. This year I am to read Gabriel, a poem written specially for this event, again in the first person, which looks at the archangel’s relevance in the noisy and crowded modern world of communication.
May I take this opportunity of wishing you a Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
