THE
P RTAL
August 2015
Page 4
Usually a term of abuse, but Joanna
Bogle gives it a new designation!
T
he Church of the Most Precious Blood at the Borough,
Auntie Jo a n
South Bank
Religion?
London Bridge, celebrated with a special Mass at the start
of July – the month dedicated to the Precious Blood of Christ.
Mgr Keith Newton celebrated Mass and preached, and we had a
full church, splendid music, glorious rousing hymns...and then a
celebration barbeque afterwards.. It was all a great day for the whole
community, and a new chapter for this richly historical corner of London.
na
wri tes
Precious Blood Church is to have a splendid restoration, new flooring, old peeling paint put to rights, a
beautifying of the sanctuary, and more ... information here: www.preciousblood.org.uk/125-appeal. We will
need a lot of help for this, so please donate generously – The Portal will keep you up to date.
This is what Auntie Joanna wrote for the celebrations:
Beside the flowing river where there once was sand and mud
There’s now the Borough Market, and our church of Precious Blood
With bells that ring to summon us to daily Mass and prayer
And Londoners and tourists both will find a welcome there
The Tube stations at London Bridge and Borough – or a bus
Will take you to O’Meara Street, and Father Chris, and us!
On weekdays there’s a lunchtime Mass that starts at five past one
To fit in with your lunch hour, so just finish work, and run!
Then weekends: Saturday at six, and Sunday, half past eight
And Parish Mass, 11, lovely music, don’t be late
And then there’s coffee after, in the Long Room as a rule
With noise and lots of children from the parish Sunday school.
We’re not the first to worship here, you may be sure of that
Just see the ruined palace where the old archbishops sat
And Saxon nuns a convent built along the riverside
Where raiding Vikings came with ships on the incoming tide
And further on the Marshalsea a ghastly prison where
Poor prisoners were chained and starved, all ghastly and unfair
And Catholics among them, yes, and in the Clink as well
In dirt and filth and loneliness in stinking prison cell.
But now we’re celebrating in the cheery parish where
The welcome’s always certain and the Lord is always there
It’s got a special feeling here, just by the railway track
Where trains go roaring past us into London Bridge and back
You sometimes get a cheerful toot as something rumbles past
Or weird electric flashes when a train goes really fast
We sometimes have processions down along the Borough’s ways
The music’s a bit patchy – but at least we’re giving praise And on a special feast-day, like today, we like to make
A lovely celebration, with a barbeque, and cake
And lots of lively talk, and wine, and lots of cheerful noise
(and that’s only the grown-ups, never mind the girls and boys)
And people centuries ago along the Thames side mud
Are looking down from Heaven saying “Cheers for Precious Blood”!
contents page
MPB 125
1892 – 2017
Key points of the Appeal
• In 2013, £55,000 was raised from the parish congregation to
install the underfloor heating system over the top of the existing
bare concrete floor.
• The heating tiles form a temporary floor on which a new
limestone floor finish is to be placed.
• The sanctuary area needs heating and a new floor to integrate
with the nave flooring.
• The walls of the Church were originally painted and stencilled.
When that decoration got dirty and deteriorated the whole of
the church interior was painted at various times (from the 1970s
onwards) building up layers of paint which did not always bond
to the underlying layer resulting