From email announcement:
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is hosting Picnic and Prayers commemorating the life and legacy of Grace Eveyln Arents. Pack a picnic basket and bring a blanket, and we will provide drinks and dessert. At sunset we will have a candlelight prayer service in memory of Miss Grace. Saturday June 20, 2015, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm at the gravesite of Lewis Ginter and Grace Arents, Hollywood Cemetery, 412 South Laurel Street, Richmond Virginia. Contact Barbara Ambrose 804-648-7980
Excerpt:
The “Grace” in Grace-on-the-Hill is part tribute to Arents. But it’s also part tribute to “grace,” as in the work of God.
While the church is now more a destination than a neighborhood hub — most Sundays, the pews are filled with people who had to drive in — Bailey said St. Andrew’s still has an obligation to lift up its community, both immediate in Oregon Hill and spread across Richmond.
It also has an obligation to lift up the people who come to help.
That’s where Fado and the five others come in. For 10 months, stretching across a traditional school year, they call Oregon Hill home but spread out in the day to help the community.
Fado and James Post work at Anna Julia Cooper, an Episcopal school across the street from public housing in the East End.
Patrick Keyser walks a few doors down the street and works in the St. Andrew’s office.
Kate McPherson works at St. Andrew’s School, next to the church and still loosely affiliated with it.
Melissa Eadie works in the mission office at the diocesan office on West Franklin Street.
And Stephanie McCullough works at the Blue Sky Fund, which provides outdoor programs to children from the city.
The six also work in the church, perform community service in Oregon Hill and, one day a week, operate a laundry ministry for the homeless.
“It’s been a good experience so far,” said Keyser, a 22-year-old from the town of Burgess, on the Northern Neck. “It hasn’t been perfect, but what is?”
“I’d say it’s been real meaningful, being able to really dig in and make an impact,” McCullough said. “That none of us is from here, and that we may all go somewhere else later in our lives, I don’t think that matters. In this moment, this is right.”
To learn more on the Grace-on-the-Hill program, click here.
In what is sure to stir up music fans and parishes alike, St. Andrew’s Church and St. Andrew’s School announced today that they will jointly host an academic and music symposium on the small, mostly instrumental genre of modern music known as blip hop.
Although many details still need to be confirmed, including which August weekend has been reserved, exciting aspects are starting to take shape. Some big names in blip hop have already been invited (though their appearances still need to be scheduled), including German techno duo Mouse on Mars, Matthew Herbert, and blip hop enthusiast and Grammy-winning pop musician David Byrne (formerly of the Talking Heads). Local artist ENE (aka Scott Hudgins) has definitely committed and plans to attend the entire symposium. Regardless of the final line up, tickets will be free and offered first come first serve (reserve now by calling the church office at 804-648-7980)
In the spirit of community there will be several pieces performed in conjunction with the church’s choir and organist and the school’s violin, chorus and piano classes throughout the event. Workshops on blip hop dancing will also be offered. Live concerts will be held in the church’s Baldwin Hall, near the Grace Arents Community Garden, the William Byrd Community House, and Oregon Hill’s Riverside Park. Other sponsors are still being decided though possibilities include community alternative radio station WRIR, University of Richmond radio station WDCE, Plan 9 Music, Councilperson Parker Agelasto’s Office, Girls Rock! RVA, Richmond2015 UCI Bicycle Race, and Dinamo restaurant.
Asked why St. Andrew’s Church and School is so interested in blip hop, church leadership pointed to several factors. St. Andrew’s, of course, does have historic Welsh and Scottish links to the Northern European culture that David Byrne himself has praised in blip hop. “We realized that we do have tangible links to electronic music”, said one vestry board member. He mentioned the renovated St. Andrew’s House (236 S. Laurel Street) as previously being the starting place of the seminal band LaBradford. He also said that there had been some past confusion between the church’s EFM (Education for Ministry) group and EDM (a popular acronym for Electronic Dance Music).
St. Andrew’s School is still celebrating its 120 year anniversary,” gushed the St. Andrew’s Head of School, “and this symposium is another change to highlight how music has played an important part in our education efforts.”
St. Andrew’s rector, Rev. Abbott Bailey, herself a not-so-secret Zap Mama fan, said that she sees the blip hop symposium as “a way to engage with the lost children of the nineties.”
A member of Grace-On-The-Hill, a youth ministry of St. Andrew’s Church in partnership with the Diocese of Virginia, had this thought to offer:
“Instead of just rhythm pounding on like a soothing metronome, creativities and personalities layer atop it. Things meld together as strong but diverse parts join the score. Life departs what we’ve known and suddenly feels nothing like the squishy, germ-filled meat mush in the grind nor the innocent swing of habit; it transforms into a grand experience of unity within a beat. Different components add to the piece, and it is far too complex to brave its performance alone.”
Mouse on Mars on YouTube:
From email announcement:
On Sunday, March 15, at 12:30 pm, we will be organizing a neighborhood-wide storm drain marking project to help raise awareness about the importance of keeping pollutants out of our storm drains and protecting the James River. We’ll gather for a light lunch at 12:30 pm at St. Andrew’s Community House (236 S. Laurel right beside the church) and then head out from there. All are invited to join us; please RSVP if you plan on volunteering by emailing me (abailey at standrewsoregonhill.org) so we will have enough food.
Click here for the event posting on the St. Andrew’s Church website.
Also, there is a MeetUp.com page for an Oregon Hill cleanup organized by RVA Clean Sweep for the morning of March 15.
We’ll be cleaning up surrounding streets and alleyways and will split up into groups depending on attendance. RVA Clean Sweep will provide trash bags, pickers, and gloves, but please wear sturdy shoes and bring water.
From email announcement:
This Sunday at St. Andrew’s Church (March 1), Ana Hernandez will be leading a mini-workshop in the sacred art of chant at 10:00 am and then leading the music at the 11:00 am service. All are invited (there is no charge). For more on Ana, click here.
Ana invites us to use our voices to create sacred sounds — no matter our religious background or vocal ability. Her work also encourages people to explore the effects of rhythm and chant on their bodies. She will be delving into this art more thoroughly at 2 workshops on Saturday, February 28, at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, who is co-sponsoring this weekend with us. Information and registration for this workshop is found here: http://stthomasrichmond.org/article/ana-hernandez-is-coming-to-richmond
From the announcement:
St. Andrew’s is holding its First Friends and Family Day to let you, our friends, family, and neighbors, know how important you are to us. Please join us for morning worship and/or lunch; we’d welcome the opportunity to share the day with you.
February 1, 2015
Morning Worship: 11:00 am
St. Andrew’s Episcopal ChurchLunch: 12:30 pm
Baldwin Hall, St. Andrew’s School
From Rev. Bailey’s email, mentioning a St. Andrew’s Church event:
This Sunday, January 11 at 5:00 pm, St. Andrew’s Church (240 S. Laurel) will be offering an Epiphany Lessons and Carols Service. The service includes stunning music by the choir and musicians from around Richmond, including a piece commissioned especially for this service. Reception to follow in St. Andrew’s House (236 S. Laurel). Childcare available.
From Rev. Abbott Bailey of St. Andrew’s Church:
Everyone is invited to join us for our annual celebration of the Nativity on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 at 7:00 pm. The candlelit service includes beautiful music and carols, the Christmas story, and Communion. Child care is provided.
Also, if you need a ride or would like to provide one, contact the office for ride-sharing information 804-648-7980.
From the St. Andrew’s School FaceBook page:
Violins, violins, violins – we just can’t get enough! Our small Ensemble group will play during the 11:00am service at St. Andrew’s Church this Sunday. 236 South Laurel Street – right next door to the school. Come on out and support our musicians!
There was recently an estate sale for The Oaks, a house in Windsor Farms…
From the sale description:
The Oaks, one of Richmond’s most historic and unique homes, was built in Amelia County around 1745. It took English craftsmen and native labor three years to construct. All of the bricks were handmade on the property. The wood was cut on the estate and allowed to season for a year before construction began. This remarkable architectural gem might not have survived to the present day had it not been for the vision and determination of Richmonder Lizzie Edmunds Boyd, who had the house moved to Richmond’s Windsor Farms in 1927 by train. Its faithfulness to the original structure is testimony to the care with which it was taken down and reconstructed. Miss Boyd was far ahead of her time as a preservationist, a community activist and philanthropist, as well as a serious collector of early furniture. While she was sponsoring Richmond’s first soup kitchen on Oregon Hill and helping found the Community Foundation, she found time to fill The Oaks with a notable collection of early American and English antiques.
It sounds like this soup kitchen may have been based in the building that appears in a Times Dispatch photograph (click here for link to RTD archives blog).
Reverend Abbott Bailey at St. Andrew’s Church was able to find out more from one of the church elders, Cyrus Field… “It was located at Maiden Lane and Belvidere Sts. This was beside St Andrews Mission, which was [the church’s] original Parish House, moved from the Baldwin Hall Location.” It was directly opposite of the house his wife Ellen grew up in.”
Neighbor Charles Pool located what he believes is the building on the 1905 Sanborn map:
