The Secretary’s Newsletter

2026 Annual Conference Tuesday 21st – Friday 24th July The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire

You may still be able to secure a place at this year’s Conference! If you are still considering this, you may like to know that Pam Rhodes has agreed to be one of our lecturers this year, speaking on “Hearts and Hymns” which is also the title of her weekly Premier Christian Radio programme. For other details of the Conference please see https://hymnsocietygbi.orq.uk/2026/02/annual-conference-2026/.

To make a booking at this late stage, please contact first Michael Garland, our Treasurer (michaelgarland368(g)bti nternet.com) to check places are still available and to discuss payment details. Michael will also be happy to discuss Bursaries with anyone needing help towards the cost of attending, and any offers of donations to our bursary fund.

Annual Conference: An Online I Digital Option

Members who are unable to attend Conference in person may be interested in an online option which covers part of the programme:

• Professor Dick Watson’s After-Dinner Presentation (Tues evening)
• Graham Kings: “Bicentenary Lecture: Reginald Heber, Pioneering Hymn-Writer and Missionary Bishop” (Thurs morning)
• Gordon Giles: “AI and Hymnody” (Fri morning)

These sessions will be available via supplied online links at the time of the lecture (allowing attendees to participate in any Q&A) or for a short while after the Conference. The cost of this option is £20. If you are interested, please email Martin Leckebusch (martin.leck(a)zoho.eu).e 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.

Conference Scholarship

Do you know someone who is involved with hymns in some way (such as choosing, organising, writing or composing them); is not a member of the Society; has not attended our Conference before; and is over 18? This year we are offering one Conference Scholarship for which applications are invited. The closing date is 31st May; for terms and conditions see https://hymnsocietygbi.org.uk/2026/04/bursary- available-to-attend-annual-conference/. Do spread the word!

Regional Day with the Wild Goose Resource Group: Saturday 10 October, Carlisle Cathedral (Fratry Hall)

This event will take as its theme Singing Community: Congrega­tional song, Community and Context. Leaders and speakers from the Society and WGRG / the Iona Community will be joined by others from the Corrymeela and Northumbria communities and the Cathedral itself. Bookings open early in June; tickets will include lunch and refreshments. Carlisle Cathedral is about half a mile from the railway station with many car parks nearby, making the event accessible to members and friends across northern England and southern Scotland.

Timothy Dudley-Smith Memorial

On 22nd March a special Evensong in Norwich Cathedral included the dedication of an elegant memorial tribute to Timothy Dudley-Smith. The stone records his work as Archdeacon, Bishop and hymn writer, quoting from his best-known text. Bishop Timothy’s son James and daughters Caroline (Gill) and Sarah (Walter) were, of course, there; the Society was represented by several members besides James and Caroline, whom we are pleased to count among our number. (Image: © The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop, used with permission.)

“Modern Hymn Writers” on BBC Songs of Praise

Timothy Dudley-Smith was also remembered in a recent edition of “Songs of Praise”, where James Dudley-Smith and Anne Harrison spoke of his writing. The programme also featured the work of other contemporary writers from the “modern hymns” and “worship song” genres, including Graham Kendrick, Keith and Krystin Getty and Andy Flannagan. If you missed the broadcast on 26th April you can watch online at https://www.bbc.co.uk/proqrammes/m002vqm4.

We welcome new members who recently joined the Society:

Ms Maddy Corper (Watford)
Mr Eric Gill (Droylesden, Manchester)
The Revd Dominic and Mrs Miriam Grant (Barnet)
Dr Gladys Hosken (Maidstone)
Ms Patricia Livingstone (London)
Mr Brian Parsons (London)
Mr Richard Skeet (Tilehurst)
The Very Revd Michael Tavinor (Presteigne)
Mrs Gillian West (London)
Mr Bill Woodman (London)

IAH Conference

A final reminder that the European Hymn Society, IAH, have their next conference from Monday 31st August to Friday 4th September in Strasbourg, France; registration closes on 31st May. There will be participants from across Europe and beyond, and lectures in German and English, with translation. Lecturers will include our own Phil Price and Andrew Pratt, and one leader of the hymn festival will be our member Elsabe Kloppers (South Africa). Strasbourg is a fine European city, and after the conference there will be sightseeing excursions. See https://iah-hymnoloqie.de/en/conferences/iah-international- conferences/2026-international-conference-in-strasbourg-france/.

Call for Papers

A special edition of the Swiss-based journal Religions will address “Music and Ritual in Religious Contexts”, and one of the guest editors is Dr Martin Hoondert, a board member of IAH. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 1st September, with timescales for papers to be agreed with the selected authors. For full submission criteria, see https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special issues/TD6W2FlHQ X; further questions can be addressed to Dr Hoondert at m. j.m. hoondert (5)tilbu rguniversity.edu.

We need your help!

• Our AGM at Conference will include Executive Committee elections for either two or three vacancies. Those elected will serve for a three-year term, renewable for a second term; meetings are held two or three times a year, mixing in-person and online.
• We would like to appoint a Minutes Secretary for our AGM and our Officers’ and Executive Committee meetings. The Officers meet several times a year, usually on Zoom; the Executive, two or three time a year, with a mixture of online and in-person meetings.
• Do you have technical skills you could offer? Any experience of PA / sound systems, photography, recording, or running online or hybrid events (i.e., in person and online) would be welcome.

Please contact Martin Leckebusch (martin.leck(g)zoho.eu) if you can offer help with any of these roles. Thank you.

Congratulations to our member David Lee who was joint winner of a contest for a new hymn, run by the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) in the US and Canada for their 40th anniversary year. David describes it as “an ecumenical matter: a Lutheran contest; an Anglican tune writer (me); and a Catholic text writer (the brilliant Kate Bluett). The text is a paraphrase of Psalm 46, appropriate for these unsettling times.” Both words and music can be found at https://alcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Though-the- Mountains-Quake-and-Tremble-Accompaniment.pdf.

And finally, a reminder of some resources available to us … Eagle-eyed readers may have spotted the lack of a postal contact address on this Newsletter. Martin Leckebusch, our Executive Presi­dent, says: “My wife and I are living temporarily in a friend’s attic(!) after selling our house and until our next purchase is completed. With our hymn books and other, less important, belongings largely in storage, I am glad of online resources. Do remember that your mem­bership of the Society includes access to the invaluable Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology (https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/). You may also find it worth taking out a subscription to HymnQuest (https://hymnquest.com/) as well as exploring the Hymnary.org site (https://hymnary.org/). Remember, too: our own website has all our Bulletins (via https://hymnsocietygbi.org.uk/members-resources/) and useful links to various other like-minded organisations (https://hymnsocietygbi.org.uk/external-links/). Happy browsing!”