Ethelflaeda Festival, 2013

Friday 18 October

7.30pm

THE 5th ETHELFLAEDA LECTURE

Sara Maitland

Did women have a choice? Freedom, marriage and religion in Mediaeval Europe

Sara Maitland’s first novel Daughter of Jerusalem won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1979. Since then she has written five more novels and five collections of short stories, including Big Enough God. She is regular columnist for The Tablet. In 2004 she moved to Galloway and built herself a house on the moors where she lives alone, exploring the possibilities of a contemporary eremitical life. She wrote A Book of Silence, partly a cultural history of silence and partly a personal memoir of her own search for that elusive lifestyle. More recently she has published Gossip from the Forest, about forests and fairy stories.. Later this year Comma Press will publish a collection of short stories The Mosswitch inspired by conversations with contemporary scientists.

Read Sara’s Ethelflaeda Lecture or listen again…

Supported by the Friends of Romsey Abbey

Free admission; retiring collection.

Saturday 19 October

9am – 1pm

FULL PEAL OF BELLS

11am – 12.30pm

IN PRAISE OF ROMSEY ABBEY

A Tribute to Judy Walker

In celebration of the Abbey historian, Judy Walker, and to launch the revised edition of her history of Romsey Abbey, Liz Hallett explored the history of Romsey Abbey through pictures, drawings and photography.

Admission free; retiring collection.

5.30pm

CHORAL EVENSONG for the eve of the Feast of St Ethelflaeda

Sung by the girls choirs of Christchurch Priory and Romsey Abbey

Music to include:

Fountain Wisdom – June Boyce Tillman
Gloria in Excelsis Deo – Anne Megary

7.30pm

ETHELFLAEDA CONCERT

Bach, Brahms & all the girls!

Music by women for strings, voice and piano

David Owen Norris – Piano
Amanda Pitt – Soprano
Louise Williams – Viola

A stunning concert of chamber music given by three of the leading artists in the country of well known music by Bach and Brahms, together with delightful songs and sonatas by Rebecca Clarke, Elizabeth Maconchy, and Clara Schumann.

Tickets £12 (£10) from the Tourist Information Centre.

Sunday 20 October

10am

FESTIVAL EUCHARIST

Preacher: Revd Tim Sledge, Vicar of Romsey

This service featured the second performance of a specially commissioned Communion setting by the young composer, Francesca Perry, and the first performance of a setting of Psalm 121 by Robert Fielding, featuring a solo female voice echoing Ethelflaeda.

12 noon – 12.30pm

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

A Triptych in kiln-formed glass

Alex Hoare is an award winning local artist. Over the Festival, she exhibited this piece in St Nicholas Chapel inspired by 1 Corinthians 13. Alex talked about this piece and the place of women in creative arts locally.

Admission free – includes a glass of wine.

6.30pm

CHORAL EVENSONG & PROCESSION

Preacher: Debbie Thrower, Reader in the Parish of Alton, and Simeon Chaplain to the Elderly

Debbie Thrower is well known as a broadcaster and television presenter. Now she spends her time in ministry in the parish in Alton, with a particular focus with the elderly.

Music sung by our combined choirs included pieces by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. With the Legends of Ethelflaeda at its heart, the service culminated in a procession to the chapel dedicated to her, where prayers were said.