Datchelor carols in the heart of London

Those of my regular blog readers will remember that some years ago I attended the 125th anniversary of my old school's old girls club in London. It was such a lavish occasion held at the Clothworker's Hall in London. If you missed that post this is the link

My wonderful old school sadly shut its doors forever in 1981 and every year since then there has been an annual carol service held at St. Olave's Church in London. This article is a lovely write up of my old school.  

Every year I have tried to make the service and every year something has come up or the weather has been awful (last year it snowed) but this year I was finally able to make it. I was originally going with my Mum and my BF Karen (both fellow Datchlelor old girls). Sadly both had to pull out but I was determined to go anyway so I set off on Sunday afternoon to make the journey to St.Olave's church.

This amazing medieval church is nestle between modern skyscrapers round the block from Tower Hill tube.

This road name had me giggling to myself.

How unassuming is the entrance to the church yard.....but how cool are those skulls! Charles Dickens described this as "The churchyard of St. Ghastly grim!"

I did study a bit of Latin but even my husband who has an excellent command of Latin struggled to translate this. Google came to the rescue and it means"For me to live is Christ, to die is gain". The date is 1658 when the church yard was rebuilt. Samuel Pepys walked though this gateway into the tiny churchyard, with his wife on his way to the Sunday service. It is an incredible hidden gem in London and the church is thought to date from 1056 however the original building was wooden. It was rebuilt in 1450 in stone and survived the great fire of London in 1666. 300 plague victims were buried here which is why the South entrance is below ground level. The church was severely damaged by bombing in the 2nd world war but enough survived to restore it to full glory in the 1950s. This is now a listed building. 

 Samuel Pepys and his wife are buried in the church. 

He even has a street named after him

This was the entrance I took to the church

a lovely Christmas tree greeted me in the porch

and then the glorious interior was revealed.

We sung some wonderful carols and yes us Datchelor girls do sing rather tunefully.

Sadly Moira got stuck in a traffic jam so wasn't able to lead the service but in true resourceful Datchelor spirit the organizers stepped in and lead a wonderful service.
The opening carol was one of my Datchelor favourites, "Hills of the North rejoice" and our voices lifted into the air of this medieval wonder of a church.
There were Christmas readings, prayers, Hosanna was sung by the Old girls' choir, a fun prize giving (I won a little prize for attending for the first time) and we finished the service with the rousing "O come all ye faithful".

It really was the most splendid way to spend the 2nd Sunday in advent afternoon. It brought back so many fond memories of my Christmas years at Mary Datchelor from 1972-1979. Memories of Dorcas Day (a charity day where we filled boxes for good causes), knitting squares for blankets, copying carols into our Christmas Carol books, decorating our form rooms (which usually involved lots of tinsel), having a "post box" in every form room to put our Christmas cards, singing such wonderful carols and the piece de resistance; Christmas dinner when the Boar's Head carol was sung during a procession through the dining room. Datchelor girls have very good singing voices!

After the service there was welcome tea and mince pies and lots of chat. I didn't see anyone there from my year but it was fun to exchange memories with several lovely old girls and old teachers I spoke to.

As I stepped out of the church to come home, the church yard looked even more beautiful to me in the crisp darkness.

As I made my way back to Tower Hill tube London was looking her usual stunning self.

 The Shard was lit up on the skyline.

Looking across to the Tower of London made me feel so proud to be a part of this wonderful city.

 There is just so much history here.

Even the tube entrance was warm and inviting on a crisp December evening.

So my card today just had to be one to remember such a joyful occasion.

The image is one of my old Nicecrane (sadly no longer trading) digis. I thought the joy die, carol sheet of O come all ye faithful and the deers (or harts as deer were known in medieval times and Hart Street is where St.Olave's is situated) were very appropriate. The red and green colour scheme reminds me of the trees inside the church.
This card is up for sale at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton High Street, SM5 2AE

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Card Mania 4/5 Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas anything goes
ABC Christmas 3/3 Y is for your favourite things mine just has to be the joy of Christmas.
Crafty Catz 2/3  anything goes
Moving along with the times 2/3 anything Christmas
Crimbo crackers 3/3 anything goes
Winter wonderland 3/3 anything goes
Alphabet challenge 1/3 s is for season's greetings
Time out 1/3 Joyful

I would like to thank the organizers for rekindling my Datchelor Christmas school memories again. I really hope to make the service again next year.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Billy my cat has managed to finish typing up his annual Christmas post which I know you all enjoy. He will be here tomorrow to share the mayhem of the annual arrival of the Christmas trees 😼

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

A Moment at Ightham Mote

Last week the weather was very spring like and on my day off  I visited Ightham Mote in Kent with my Mum and Dad. We are all National Trust members and even though we have visited this medieval treasure many time we always see something different. I also love seeing these properties at different times of the year as the grounds look wonderful during the different seasons.

I have shown some history of Ightham in Jane's Journal before and if you are interested do have a look at the link here . As a small recap it dates from the 14th Century and has been restored lovingly over the years by the National Trust. There are even some new rooms open this year. This as the view as we walked down the footpath.

The timber cladding is gorgeous and so typically medieval

We walked across the bridge and entered the house via the stone courtyard

 Below is the only Grade 1 listed dog kennel...their hounds must have been huge.

The property has had many owners over the years and this room is nearly how it was left by the last owner, Mr Robinson.

 There are so many pretty flower displays everywhere

 The chapel is one of my favourite parts and the Tudor painted roof and leaded lights allow the sunlight to stream in.

 All the staircases have carved figures and panels

I love all the photos dotted around showing past owners and their own belongings

 and outside the grounds looked lush and green after the winter's rain.

There were very few visitors that days so we almost had the place to ourselves and as we walked around the sense of peace and the past was very potent. I decided when I got home to make a Moment of our day for my physical Jane's Journal.

I  had the paper guide from our day so I as there are some great challenges encouraging us to use our junk or up-cycle I decided not to bin it but to use it in my Moment.

I used my Distress inks to blend several spring colours onto my CS and ripped up the guide and stuck these on the page.

Next I used my newest TH stencil and my new Forgotten Coral distress ink ( I LOVE this colour) it is so vibrant and goes with everything.

I needed something medieval so I remembered my Latin script stamp by The Artistic stamper and partially stamped it over the page in  sepia Archieval ink. It couldn't be any other colour choice could it?

I wanted to somehow incorporate the medieval timber cladding so keeping with the deconstructing/recycling/junk theme I dug out some packaging which I cut up and ripped a little to "age" them.

I also had an old ribbon from a present from ages ago, which was heading for the bin which had flowers and pearls on. This seemed to also fit the bill for my Moment.

I am sure by now you wondering where on earth I am going with all this...so

here is my finished Moment...........

 Here are a few close ups. The great quote is one of my Tim Holtz stamps, it seemed so appropriate. I stamped it onto a Cheery Lynn alpine border as I felt all the detailed cut outs of this die have such a medieval feel.

I tried to create a memory of the leaded stained glass in the chapel by using my lattice die. The sunny colours of my inked card shine from behind reminding me of the light streaming in through the windows. The clock charm represents the clock chiming in the distance as we walked around savoring the peace and quiet.

I inked the corrugated packaging to represent the medieval timber cladding of the house. I also tried to include the lovely gardens by making the bottom timbers more like fencing. I want to be peeping throught the fence into the pretty grounds of Ightham. I added some flowers and greenery using Cheery Lynn and Marianne dies which I coloured with DIs.
The feather was another nod back to the past.

Some touches of gilding wax added a little touch of history too

and you can see the upcycled ribbon above too.

and one final arty shot where you can see I even used my date stamp to add the day we visited.

I would like to enter my Moment into the following great challenges;

PaperArtsy deconstruction #5 I was inspired by Leandra's video to look at using products in a way they were not designed for ie my corrugated card packaging became timber, the lattice die became stained glass windows and the guide was ripped up and used to make my mixed media background

A Vintage Journey anything Tim

Pan Pastel UK challenge, alter it I have altered the guide, my corrugated card and the ribbon for my Moment

Our creative Corner Junk in your trunk

Art with Heart Go green

Bunny Zoe spring colours

Craft Stamper take it make it anything goes

Flonzcraft Olde Worlde

That Craft Place add a charm

Cheery Lynn celebrate my Moment is a celebration of life, and how to take the time to enjoy it.

Allsorts flowers and pearls 

Country view crafts anything goes

Inspiration Journal spring flowers

The Artistic Stamper spring is coming I have used my mini Artistic Stamper calligraphy sheet stamp

The Ribbon Girl green my project not only features green ribbon, leaves and distress inks but is also green in the sense that most of it is made from recycling and deconstructing ;0)

Mixed Media World anything goes

I hope you enjoyed your visit with me to Ightham, if you are ever in that part of Kent it is a wonderful day out......and try to remember in this busy life we lead.....

Learn to pause, or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.....

Enjoy the week,

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x