Nigel will be presenting the next Monday Fellowship talk at Bradford Cathedral on Monday 9th March at 2pm. His subject is ‘My life as a countryside volunteer’ and ahead of it we spoke to him to find out more about him, what to expect from his talk, and some of his favourite local walks.Can you give us an introduction to yourself?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">My name is Nigel and I’m one of the volunteers for Bradford Countryside and I’ve done that for thirty-five years now. I lead walks for Bradford and for Kirklees. I’ve always liked walking. I come from London and there were only a few places to walk there; to get to the countryside would involve a bus ride, which I used to do with my mates. We didn’t know much about public footpaths: we just walked across fields, and got chased by farmers occasionally!</span>When I moved up to Bradford, my wife got a dog and I ended up as the one walking it! So I did that and eventually moved onto walking in Bradford around 1984. The person at the back was David Parsons, who oversaw the volunteers. He asked me then whether I’d be interested in leading a walk, but at that point I didn’t know anything about that. David invited me along to the next meeting and I went along and they started to teach us things like map reading, how to talk people when outside and where to stand to get people to listen so they can see you, and it all went from there.Walks must be good, both socially and for health?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Yes, especially in Bradford. They do weekday walks mainly now and can get up to 120 people per walk!</span>Do you have a particular favourite walk that you most like?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I have several. I like going through Judy Woods but I have another walks as well around the district.</span>You are speaking at the Monday Fellowship in March; what will you be talking about?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I’m going to take them back to my roots, and how I don’t come round from here, where I lived and how I used to enjoy going out into the countryside, taking a bus or train out and walking back. Where my cousin lived was actually only about 2-3 minutes from the countryside, as he lived in north-west London and they were still building it around there, and there were lots of places to go. I’ll also talk about how, coming up here, how I started walking, with Bradford and then a year later with Kirklees. I’ll be talking about what interested me when I was down in London and what interests me now from a walking point of view.</span>How can people get involved with walking and become a Countryside Volunteer themselves?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">They would need to get in touch with Danny Jackson on Bradford Council as he’s the one who takes all the people who’ve said they’d like to give it a go. He will invite them along to see them, take notes on what they like and don’t like, and send out a pack. Then you can come out on walks and be helpful back-ups on walks and to find out what’s involved. When you’ve done about six of those there’ll be discussions about the walks, and put walks on.</span>If you want to come and do a walk you can pick up a walking leaflet from the Visit Bradford Tourist Information or online. I try to give people good details and which bus to catch that sort of thing.At the moment I’m doing some ‘web walks’ with Bradford Council, where you can print them off and go and walk them. These were done in around 2008 but they need checking and I’m letting them know if there are any problems on them, as quite often after twelve years paths might be taken out and you might end up leading people into someone’s garden!
"May I speak in the name of God who, in this season of #Lent, calls us to take up our cross and follow Him."Listen back to this week's Sunday sermon preached by the Reverend Canon Dr Flora Winfield at https://bradfordcathedral.org/worship/listen-back
As spring approaches here are some of the highlights of events happening in Bradford Cathedral this March!Fairtrade Breakfast<span style="font-size: 1rem;">As Fairtrade Fortnight nears its close for another year we mark the half-way point with our annual Fairtrade Breakfast. It’s happening on Sunday 1st March from 8:45am to 9:45am. It’s free to come along but you can donate to help support the Traidcraft Foundation. Expect Fairtrade muesli, jam, marmalade, tea and coffee, along with locally produced honey and butter, plus lots more. Find out more on our blog post.</span>Art<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Our Artspace exhibition for Lent runs all the way through this month, with the artwork displayed in the Artspace area around the cathedral. Come and see artist Ali Thistlethwaite’s paintings and find out more about her and her work on our blog post.</span>Music<span style="font-size: 1rem;">This month we welcome pianist Jill Crossland for our next monthly Coffee Concert. It’s taking place on Tuesday 10th March from 11am (with refreshments at 10:30am) and it’s free to come along! Find out more about Jill in our interview with her.</span>If you like to be more involved in your music our Singing Day with Professor Paul Mealor is taking place on Saturday 14th March from 10am – 6pm and will see the composer behind the Military Wives Christmas Number One presenting some of his excellent compositions. Find out more about the member of the Classic FM Hall of Fame on our special blog.On Sunday 15th March the cathedral choir join up with the Bradford Catholic Boys Choir for a Bradford Boys Choir Festival. At 10am there is the Mass at St Joseph’s Church, Bradford followed at 4pm by Vespers here at Bradford Cathedral. On Sunday 8th March there’s also a Safari Evensong as our girls choir visits St. Andrews at Aysgarth from 4:30pm.We also wrap up the month with our Earth Hour Candle-Lit Concert with Ben Comeau at 8:30pm on Saturday 28th March. Marking the international event, this is a concert not to be missed. Find out more in our interview with pianist Ben Comeau.Our Wednesday@One Organ Recitals also continue throughout March, with free entry and starting at 1pm each week. Join us for Kurt Rampton from Birmingham on Wednesday 4th March, then Andrew Prior (Birmingham), Ed Jones (Worcester) and Joshua Stephens (Sheffield) on subsequent Wednesdays. There’s also an optional buffet lunch at 12:30pm before each recital for just £4.Faith Trail<span style="font-size: 1rem;">The Bradford Faith Trail returns for its new season on Saturday 7th March. On the first Saturday of each month you can discover more about the faith communities along Leeds Road. With five places of worship all within walking distance of the city centre, you can learn about the traditions and cultures from those who practice them.</span>The Faith Trail meets at 10:15am at St Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, Leeds Road. The trail includes a vegetarian langar lunch and finishes at Bradford Cathedral around 3:30pm.The trail is very popular so booking is essential via education@bradfordcathedral.org or by calling 01274 77 77 20.Lent<span style="font-size: 1rem;">We continue to mark the season of Lent throughout March up until Palm Sunday on the 5th April. This year’s Lent Course takes place on Wednesday evenings on the 11th, 18th and 25th March. You can join us for refreshments at 6:30pm with the talk starting at 7pm. The course is followed by night prayer at 8:15pm. Find out more on our Lent page.</span>We also have a range of Lent Books on sale in the shop, plus guides for Lent for adults and children with activities to do on each of the 40 days. There’s also a special prayer leaflet from Prayer4Bradford. All these can be collected from the blue desk in the cathedral.<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Other March events</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">There are other events and services happening in March. At the Monday Fellowship on Monday 9th March Nigel presents a talk on My Life as a countryside volunteer. Join him in the Parish Room at 2pm.</span>On Thursday 19th March we host the annual Civic Service where the Lord Mayor, Councillors, Officers and Council employees gather with other leaders and representatives from all areas of City life to celebrate the wonderful diversity of Bradford and its unity of vision and purpose. Join us from 5pm.You can also celebrate Mothering Sunday with us on Sunday 22nd March from 10:15am. On Mothering Sunday we hold together two traditions. From our English past we give thanks to God for Mother Church; for the ways in which the church nurtures us and cares for us. From the more recent past we give thanks for our own Mothers and for those who have mothered us. During our Mothering Sunday Choral Eucharist, flowers will be given out as a gift to all women present.And on Tuesday 24th March we welcome visitors in to discover more about William Morris on what would be his birthday. You can find two early examples of Morris & Co stained glass window work in the cathedral as well as our beautiful Morris & Co altar frontal in the Lady Chapel. There will also be video highlights on our big screen and the chance to pick up a booklet to find out more about the William Morris windows. Come and visit between 8:15am and 6pm.And finally…<span style="font-size: 1rem;">As mentioned in previous blogs, 2020 is the Year of Cathedrals, Year of Pilgrimage and we now have prayer cards to pick up in the cathedral, with a different design at each cathedral in the country. Can you collect them all? You can also pick up your Pilgrimage Passport and you can pick up a sticker at Bradford Cathedral and all Anglican cathedrals around the country. How many will you visit in 2020?</span>The March edition of our Keeping in Touch magazine is now available to pick up at Bradford Cathedral, or you can view it online.There are also many regular meetings throughout the month including Stitching@Bradford Cathedral, Carers’ Crafts, the Women of Faith Book Group, our Toddler’s Group and Just A Minute, as well as Places of Welcome and our monthly Bring and Share Lunch. You can find out more on our website about when they meet, or why not follow us on Facebook and join the events?Make sure you pick up a copy of our what’s on booklet from Bradford Cathedral or around the city to find out more, or view it online. Our events and services continue in April with Holy Week 2020 including Messy Easter, alongside a Coffee Concert with James and Alex Woodrow. Family Activities return on Thursday 16th April and we wrap up with Hope on the Edge: Care of Planet Earth on the final Sunday. Find out more about these and lots more in our April blog, appearing at the end of March.
Kurt Rampton of Birmingham is the first organist to play in March of this season of Wednesday@One orgen recitals. We spoke to him about his upcoming organ recital to find out what we can expect from his programme as well as finding out more about his career.How did you get into organ recitals?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I first heard the sound of a pipe organ on a video game I was playing. I liked the sound that it made, and played around with the sounds on my small keyboard and a lot of different things happened after that. I ended up, eventually, playing on a church organ. My parents were very good to me and took me to organs in lots of churches, and even to an organ builder at one point. At that time I was just so fascinated by the instruments that it really started me off, and I got to know a local organist who gave me lessons. As my study progressed, the opportunities came to deliver recitals, my first being in my local church, where I had my first organ lesson.</span>How did you pick the pieces for your recital?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I like to present the organ as an instrument that can realise a wide range of music. There can be a lot discrepancy about whether pieces should be played on the piano, on the organ and so on . There was a time when this didn’t really exist and music could be played on a whole variety of instruments with different ranges and ensembles, so I try and take this aspect of musicianship into the recitals and performances that I give.</span>Do you have a particular favourite piece to perform?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">I very much like Ockeghem’s Prenez sur moy vostre exemple that I’m playing, which is a three-part canon and I’m just playing one section of it . Even these pieces from the 15th century and earlier, there’s such an intellect to the piece, and such a focus on line in a way that we don’t see in a lot of organ music to the same extent after that. The way that it’s composed is fascinating to me as a performer ; it brings out this singing element of the organ.</span>You’ve performed on the organ in many places; has any particular location stood out?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">There have been a lot of instruments that I’ve enjoyed playing, but if I was to pick one it would be the Flentrop organ in Hamburg. It’s an absolutely amazing instrument and so beautifully crafted. Every pipe in that instrument is so special, and has a character of its own. You can bring so many different types of organ music to life on it.</span>Alongside your organ music you do lots of projects; are you working on anything at the moment?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">At the moment I’m concentrating on the way in which the organ can be applied to a changing society. There are lots of changes happening in the world at the moment, especially in this country. We’re probably going to be seeing some of the biggest changes in our lives in the next few years. Part of what I’m doing now is looking at how this will affect the cultural base and the way people are, and the things they aspire to and want in life and reviving the instrument in a way that’s applicable to these changes.</span>Do you think music has an important place in making sense of the world, and changes in it?<span style="font-size: 1rem;">Absolutely. I think if you look at the way that music has developed over the last thousand years, both in liturgical and non-liturgical settings, it can even be a leader of cultural change sometimes. It’s something that can have a massive impact that can change and create sub-cultures in society. Music is incredibly powerful, in that way, and I think the important thing now for any professional musician or someone thinking of going into the profession today from a creative stand-point or a more traditional approach, is to look at and get involved in these challenges , and see how they can make music come alive in today’s society.</span>Join us for our weekly Wednesday@One Organ Recitals at 1pm, with a lunch buffet available from 12:30pm. Kurt Rampton will be playing on Wednesday 4th March 2020. More information on this recital, all others and this season’s coffee concerts can be found in the programme available to buy from the recitals and concerts.
