Join the Dance

Join the Trafalgar Squaredance this Sunday

This Sunday a church organist will be taking to Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth with the simple aim of making London happy with music.

For one hour only, from 6pm on Sunday 13 September, Peter Harding, from Solihull will play the accordion to tourists, passers-by and other visitors to London’s Trafalgar Square. Listeners will be treated to a varied playlist, including folk music, Handel, ragtime and hymns, culminating with the theme tune of Radio 4’s The Archers.

Peter said; “Busking seems to suit me, as it is what I do every Sunday morning at the organ console, and I hope that I'll also be able to persuade those standing by to do a little barn dancing in the square. I plan to play the accordion for an hour to make London happy, although they may be happier when I stop. I'm a self-taught accordion player, and maybe skipped a few too many classes!”

Peter is one of 2,400 people who will appear on the fourth plinth between 6 July and 14 October 2009, picked from more than 33,400 applicants for sculptor Anthony Gormley’s One and Other project.

Those who can’t make it to Trafalgar Square can join the dance virtually by visiting http://www.oneandother.co.uk , to watch the plinth live.

Peter has been the organist and choirmaster for Acocks Green Methodist Church in
Birmingham for 25 years. Since he’ll be having a whale of a time, Peter invites those who appreciate his music to make donations to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) www.hwdt.org.

Source: Methodist News Service 10/09/2009

Mission opportunity ham-strung by church’s ‘clunking fist’

A probationary minister who planned to offer communion in Trafalgar Square as part of a unique arts initiative was blocked by officials within his own church. Revd Kenneth Chalmers - see my post on 24th July - wanted to create ‘a sacred space’ on the square’s vacant fourth plinth as part of the ‘One and Other’ arts project. But Methodist Church headquarters intervened after complaints that a probationer was not authorised to conduct communion.

Instead, Mr Chalmers led a worship service while the superintendant minister of Methodist Central Hall stepped in to offer communion from the foot of the plinth. Revd Martin Turner was dismayed by the church ruling, saying that a ‘wonderful initiative’ had been hampered by ‘the great clunking first of the Methodism establishment’. Nevertheless, Mr Chalmers said he was elated by doing the ‘God thing’ in public in the historic tradition of Methodists like John Wesley and Lord Soper.

Source: Methodist Recorder (6/8)