This was my third church service of the day after a morning visit to St Mark’s Unitarian Church and Choral Evensong at Old St Paul’s. I had fears of being a little jaded. Such fears were misplaced as this was a restful service of great simplicity but also beauty. It was candlelit and had an air of serenity.This service was part of a series by St Margaret Schola exploring the Office of Compline over four Sundays using different monastic traditions. I attended a service according to the Cistercian rite which was sung by four men. When chanting as an ensemble the voices blended well, but when they moved to antiphonal singing for the Psalms the lack of numbers showed that the voices were not perfectly matched. For me the highlight was the Marian hymn, Salve Regina, where the singers really warmed to their material. This is a service which was listed in the Fringe programme. As such I feel that some effort should have been made to make it accessible to all. I would make two comments here. The Order of Service was printed in a very small font, particularly when considering the reduced lighting. Similarly, at the close of the service the Angelus was said too quickly. I am sure that regular worshippers were very familiar with this, but for visitors it would be good to have all the words laid out in print.I was also disappointed not to hear an Angelus bell rung, as the order suggested it would be, as I looked forward to being part of such a historically significant moment. However, with this being a relatively short service at 20 minutes long, it seems a perfect way to close the day.
