The Secretary’s Newsletter

Launching this month … HYMN COMPETITION 2026

To celebrate our 90^th Anniversary and in conjunction with The Pratt Green Trust, new hymns are invited on the theme of “Ages Past – Years to Come”. The competition will also honour the legacy of Elizabeth Cosnett (1936-2024).

Entries are invited in the following categories:

• Original text to a well-known melody
• Original text to an original melody
• Original melody to an Elizabeth Cosnett text

The Judging Panel includes acclaimed hymn writers, composers, compilers of hymnals, and members of both the Society and the Pratt Green Trust.

The prize for each category is £300, as cash or towards the cost of attending our Anniversary Conference in July 2026, where the winning entries will be sung.

Participation is open to all Society members and all residents of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The competition opens for entries 23rd November with a final submission date of 12th April 2026. Please use the online entry form (https://bit.ly/48YZ3IK, also on our website and Facebook feed).

There is no fee to enter this competition, but donations will be gratefully received to assist with administrative costs. An opportunity to donate is included on the online entry form.

BBC Radio Daily Service: Focus on Hymns, w/c 17^th November

You may just receive this in time to catch some of the Radio 4 Extra “Daily Services” with a focus on hymns, for the week 17th – 21st November. These will be available online for 28 days afterwards: see https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wzfs/episodes/guide.

Thursday’s programme in particular may contain a few familiar sounds and voices following a visit the BBC’s Mark O’Brien paid to this year’s Conference.

We welcome new members who recently joined the Society:

Holden Ferry (Lislackagh, Co Mayo, Republic of Ireland)
Ms Melanie Fletcher (Charlton Kings , Cheltenham, UK)
Mr George Wall (South Normanton, Derby, UK )

We regret having to report the death of a member:

Professor David Smalley (Blackburn)

David Smalley, a member of the Society since at least the early 2000’s, was the former Principal and a Professor Emeritus of the North and Midlands School of Music.

2026 Conferences for your attention and diary

HSGBI Conference: Tuesday 21^st – Friday 24^th July

As noted earlier, our own Conference next year will feature the winning entries from our 90^th Anniversary competition and will be a core part of our anniversary celebrations. The venue will The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire (where we held our 2013 Conference). Further details will follow but, for now, please do note the dates.

IAH Conference: Monday 31^st August – Friday 4^th September

Our European sister society, IAH, will hold their next biennial Conference in Strasbourg, France. This will be an international gathering with participants from across Europe and beyond; presentations will be in German and English, with translation.

Topics will include Strasbourg’s place in historic hymnody; the Genevan Psalters; African hymnology; and the use of digital hymn resources. Guided tours, organ recitals and other concerts will complete the social programme. This should be a great occasion and a good chance to visit a fine European city.

HSGBI and Wild Goose Resource Group: Regional day, date TBC Planning has begun for a joint regional day, on a Saturday next September or October, in north-west England. Further details will follow but if you are in or near the Carlisle / Penrith area and could help with arrangements, please contact our Executive President, Martin Leckebusch. Thank you.

In case you missed it …

Friends of Brian Wren, our long-time member and an internationally esteemed hymn text writer, contributed to an online event last month (11^th October) to celebrate Brian’s work and thank him for his writing and influence. Robert Canham sent greetings on the Society’s behalf. The celebration was recorded and can still (at the time of writing) be watched at https ://www.youtube. com/watch?v=khnAkSON NE.

You may have noted that this year marks the 250^th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen, an event commemorated at Winchester Cathedral (where she is buried) on 16^th October. Following the cathedral service a statue of Miss Austen by Martin Jennings was unveiled. The service included a hymn commissioned for the occasion, ‘Lord, open our lips’ (tune, HANOVER) by our member Rosalind Brown. (Those who were present at our Conference in July will recall her splendid lecture on the topic, “What if Jane Austen had sung hymns?”) A recording of the celebratory service is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch7v-SVn !PG2pHA with Rosalind’s hymn sung around 20 minutes in; for the full order of service visit https://static.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/10/10- 16-Jane-Austen-An ni versa ry-Service-followed-by-statue­unveiling.pdf.

Bulletin back-issues offered …

Following the extensive work done over the past few years to digitise our Bulletins and make them available on our website, the decision has been taken to reduce the quantity of paper retained in our archives.

We therefore have a few full runs of the Bulletin in printed form, from Issue 1 (October 1937) onwards, which we are able to make available to members who are interested. If you would like to have such a set, for a donation plus transport costs, please do contact our Executive President, Martin Leckebusch, or any of the other Officers.

… plus help requested …

The task of sorting our paper archives will require some short-term accessible storage at a location where sorting can also be carried out, ideally in the Midlands or the north-west of England. If you are able to help us find such a location, the Executive President, Martin Leckebusch, would be pleased to hear from you.

… and help offered: today’s useful technical tip

Our Newsletter frequently includes links to online resources; often these are lengthy and complex. However, if you visit our website and navigate to the dropdown headed “About us” you can find the Secretary’s Newsletters, from where you should be able to navigate directly to these various locations.

Honorary Vice Presidents of The Hymn Society of Great Britain & Ireland

Robert and Jenny Canham write: “We would like to express our gratitude to the Officers, Executive and those attending the AGM for the honour accorded to us in electing us as Honorary Vice Presidents of The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Whilst we are still a little bemused by this accolade, we are pleased to be joining our friend and colleague Professor J.R. (Dick) Watson, whilst remembering former colleagues such as Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith, Revd Dr Fred Kaan, Revd Canon Alan Luff and Dr Bernard S. Massey, all of whom themselves represent considerable presences within the world of hymnody, both nationally and globally.

“As for ourselves, Robert has always regarded himself as a workhorse, not a thoroughbred, though hopefully, over his twenty years as Secretary he has contributed something worthwhile to the stability and success of the Society. Jenny has always regarded herself as being in a supporting role as ‘Assistant to the Secretary’ as well as in her particular niche at Conference which she has loved and where she became a sort of ‘mother hen of the gathered family’ there!”

Robert and Jenny, the enthusiasm with which the AGM accorded you this honour confirms the esteem in which you are held by your Hymn Society family!