Why do I go to All Saints'?

Peter Moule

In January 1992 I returned to Nottingham from the south of England where I had lived and worked for many years, to care full-time for my mother who was approaching her 90th birthday. I had of course visited her frequently during the ‘away’ years and attendance at Church had always been an important part of our lives, but prior to 1992 All Saints’ Church, Raleigh Street, had remained for us that wonderfully interesting building seen only from the outside, as we passed in one direction or the other.

In 1992 however I found that as All Saints’ was very near to where we now lived, it was possible for me to attend the Sunday morning service there without being away from home for too long, and it is since then that this church has assumed a significant part in my life. Later that year, and after my mother had died, I found that with more time available I was able to take a greater part in both Church and Community Centre activities, and as Crucifer and Server for a period I was able to satisfy my desire for helping in the service. Eventually, however, playing the organ again brought me back to that part of worship with which I had been most familiar all my life - its music, and it has been my pleasure and privilege to play the organ of All Saints’ for some years now.

On 8th August 1998 Florence and I were married at All Saints’ by the then Vicar, Revd David White. It was a beautiful service which we shall always rememberand indeed which we often talk about, and of course it is a very real reason for my attachment to that Church.

I have heard it said that the Church is the people in it, not the building in which they congregate. Obviously one must go along with the first part of the statement, but I do find that the building itself has a most definite significance. When for instance I look out of my sitting room window at the steeple and spire of All Saints’ Church, I know that not only does it have a host of bells to ring in the good news of Christ, but to me it embodies within its form the eternal upward spirit of Faith Triumphant.

One of the reasons for going to All Saints’ therefore, is because I like the building - the Steeple and the Spire already referred to, the high ceiling above the spacious Nave and Chancel, and the so very peaceful Lady Chapel.

Moving around so much during the years before “All Saints’”, I was not able to become a long-standing member of any one church, although at St Martin’s, Epsom I was able to enjoy a number of years in the choir, but whatever the Church, wherever it was, it shared with all the others one great feature - and this also relates very much to All Saints’, Raleigh Street - it was ever welcoming.

Peter Moule


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Last revised 1st January 2005