Thursday June 7th

LONDON ON A JUNE EVENING

Yesterday I worked all day with Patti F. on a project of the Association of Catholic Women - we have a committee meeting tomorrow, so more on this then. Patti's flat is near the Oratory Primary School, and the children were walking two-by-two to nearby St Luke's Gardens for playtime. The scene looked postively villagey. The little girls wear traditional candy-striped cotton dresses and look summery and bright, and the school has a lovely image of Our Lady over its main door overlooking the London street.

Today I was back in London again for a meeting of the Tamezin magazine team to discuss next year's Young Journalist project. Bess Twiston Davies is on the team, and we have a young trainee journalist with us for a few weeks...a really good discussion today and we've come up with some excellent ideas, and will now be working on the brochure, which will go out to schools in September... I cycled on to Mass at Westminster Cathedral for Mass (do visit their website, it has a taste of some of the gloprious music you get there) and picked up a copy of the Catholic Herald (always a good read) and also the diocesan paper, the Westminster Record. This latter was of interest because it has a lovely pic of the winners of the 2007 Tamezin Young Journalist Awards....Tamezin isn't a Catholic venture, but it does have its origins in a girls' club which has Catholic links, hence the interest of the diocesan paper, and it was good to see the cheery faces looking out from the page.

Cycled on to Waterloo. Parliament Square is increasingly acquiring the appearance of a semi-permanent urban campsite, with the tents and belongings of the anti-war protesters pitched on the green below Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and their occupants settled on chairs in viigil or standing about engaging in discussions. As their banners and placards get smudged and battered by the rain, and their loud-hailers often distort the shouts and cries they call out, it's not immediately clear - except to regular passers-by, who have had time to study it - why they are there, and it all looks rather messy.

Here at home, preparations for the weekend: we are invited to a First Holy Communion (younger son of some family friends) at Brompton Oratory on Saturday, and then I take the train to Preston, as I'm due to speak at a Family Day at Fernyhalgh. The day will include a picnic, and a Corpus Christi procession and Benediction. I'm looking forward to it, though sorry to be missing our own local procession, in the grounds of the local Marymount School on Sunday afternoon. Incidentally, at Westminster Cathedral there will be one on Saturday evening, it was announced at Mass this evening...it will follow the 5.30pm Mass and would be worth attending, as it will be an act of witness in central London...