Author: Jo Dawes

Don't miss Fadi Gaziri's special performance of music from his first solo album, 'Northern Lights', original music inspired by his travels around Scandinavia, on Sunday, 14 December at 7.30pm. Tickets cost €10 (concessions €8). See Fadi's website for more information or download the poster.

Get your presents, Christmas cards and much more at the St Thomas Becket annual bazaar on Saturday 22 November from 10.30 am till 4 pm. New this year is a special lunchtime auction. Shop till you (almost) drop for English preserves, homemade cakes, DVDs, CDs, videos and records, accessories, greetings cards, second-hand books, crafts and decorations. Our café in the gallery plus African and Indian specialities for lunch are guaranteed to perk you up for a renewed shopping burst. There will be a Grand Raffle with exciting prizes, a children’s corner and much more…

St Thomas Becket Church does not receive money from German Kirchensteuer or from the Church of England and so is completely dependent for its financial existence on donations and revenue-generating activities like the Church Bazaar.

Please invite your friends, neighbours, colleagues, distant cousins and, of course, come and buy. Click on the links to download a flier or a poster.

Everyone is invited to a charity concert and get together in aid of the Anglican Church of St Thomas Becket on Saturday, 8 November 2014 at 8pm. There will be songs by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbara Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Robbie Williams and many more performed by Stefanie Maria Nissen, soprano, Galathea B. von Meer, contralto, and Tetyana Szcessny, piano. In the second half there will be a chance to sing along. The event is also on Facebook, so please invite your friends.

The latest Becket News is available. Pick up your copy in church or, if you prefer to read it online, click here.

William Shakespeare would like to invite you to his 450th birthday party on Friday 10 October at 7pm. He has laid on food, wine, the Hamburg Players and musician Fadi Gaziri to ensure a lusty and merry evening at the Anglican Church, and all for a mere five ducats. Euros also welcome. You can find the flier here.

An exciting evening of Afro-Peruvian Jazz is on the cards when PERFEKTOMAT takes to the St Thomas Becket stage on Saturday 4 October at 7pm. Joscha Oetz's quintet fuses the sounds and rhythms of coastal Peru with European jazz-sensibility. Central to this endeavour is the cajon, a Peruvian instrument now popular in Europe. Entrance is by donation in aid of the church. Read more or download the flier here.

No, nothing to do with the vote on Scottish independence, but the next walk with the Church Wanderers, who are off to Fischbeker Heide on Saturday 13 September with the aim of enjoying the heather in bloom. There are two routes, a short one of about 5km and a longer one of about 9km. Please bring a picnic and travel on the S3 train departing Hamburg Hbf from Gleis 4 at 10.58 (dep Altona 10.44, Landungsbrücken 10.50). Try to get in a carriage near the front and get out at Harburg Rathaus to catch a relief bus to Neugraben and then the 250 bus to Fischbeker Heideweg, arriving soon after 11.30. Please let Cicely know by 12 noon on Friday, 12 September if you plan to come: cicely-hollingsworth (at) t-online.de, tel: 040/86 07 90, mobile: 0162 635 93 98.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is opening up Lambeth Palace to adults aged 20–35 to spend a year living, praying and studying together as a radical new Christian community. Read more on the Archibishop's website or listen to him talking about the project to Edward Stourton on the BBC's Sunday programme

A new feature of this year's Church Bazaar on 22 November will be an auction. We need some “interesting” items for auctioneer Manfred Struck to put under the hammer. If you have something “antique” or “collectable” that you would like to donate, please let Father Matthew know.

STB's new chamber choir, the Anglican Consort, will be singing choral evensong in the church on 11 September at 7pm. Music director Yotin Tiewtrakul says: “The Anglican Consort will sing pieces by Henry and Daniel Purcell. Father Matthew Jones, chaplain of our 400-year-old Hamburg parish, will conduct this distinctive Anglican service where beauty meets spirituality.” You can find details of the music on STB's Facebook page.