Cambridge

Cambridge is a fine city. Its problem is that it isn't Oxford (where Kathryn and I studied and met).


We had arranged to visit the East Midlands on June 23rd to meet up with friends made on holiday in Turkey last year. I had looked for a suitable occasion to collect a set of Simeon's Horae Homilaticae, which had been donated to the Trust by a clergyman on his retirement and were now in the care of another Simeon Trustee near Cambridge. The trip to the Midlands gave the chance of continuing on to Cambridge and enjoying a two-night break in  the famous University city, exploring some of Simeon's old haunts.

Simeon's Church - Holy Trinity, Cambridge

The trip to East Midlands passed very happily and we checked into a B & B (convenient for the 'Park and Ride') on Saturday evening. The plan for Sunday was to worship at Holy Trinity, Cambridge, where Simeon served as Vicar for 54 years and we turned up in good time for the 10.30 service, on the first Sunday after the end of the University term. Holy Trinity's current vicar is Rupert Charkham, who has just 45 years to go to match Simeon's tenure. He preached in the communion service in which the Associate Pastor, Diana Nairne, shared the leadership. Under Rupert's leadership Holy Trinity has re-established itself as a significant student church and even though term had ended there were plenty of students and other young people around and many signs of lively ministry amongst all age groups.

Simeon memorial in Holy Trinity

We really enjoyed the worship songs and, especially, Rupert's expository sermon on Psalm 23: 'God will meet our needs'. Simeon would have been delighted by that, I'm sure, but as a champion of Anglican liturgy might have preferred to hear the full text of the communion service used!


We stayed for coffee and conversation afterwards, and took the opportunity to photograph the memorial erected to Simeon by his parishioners after his death. It was an uplifting and encouraging morning.

St John's College

The Caribbean food stall in the open-air market (highly recommended!) provided some delicious snacks for lunch, and then we decided to try the Christian Heritage walking tour of the city, which we had heard about over coffee at HT. We enjoyed this. Christian Heritage is an interesting organisation, based in the city, with a particular conservative theological position, but its walking tours give some really helpful insights into the history of the University that might otherwise get overlooked. We visited three different colleges and a number of other buildings of interest. Our guide took us to Holy Trinity and talked about Simeon, of course - but I was able to set him right on a couple of details after we had finished!


We returned to Cambridge the following (Monday) morning after I had collected the Horae Homileticae from fellow Trustee, Mike Booker, in Comberton. I wasn't able to follow much of the 'Charles Simeon Tour' of Cambridge because King's College Chapel (where he is buried) closed early and I couldn't get access to see a famous bust in the Senate House Library (I'm hoping that the copyright holder of a fine photograph of that will allow me to post it here). But it was a very good weekend indeed, and a greater familiarity with the places where he lived and served in the city will be helpful as I continue to read about his life and work.

The Horae Homileticae

Give instruction to the wise and they will become wiser still; teach the righteous and they will gain in learning.

Proverbs 9:10