2009 Choral Evensong for the Commemoration of Charles, King and Martyr.
There is a saying, 'Two swallows do not a summer make', and we mustn't jump to the conclusion that this second consecutive such Evensong in living memory represents the start of a new tradition for the Association, but it is a step in the right direction.
In the early evening of Sunday 25th January 2009, a small collection of Old Carolians joined the usual congregation at St Mary's and All Saints Church for a choral Evensong commemorating the death of Charles I on 30th January 1649.
Canon Owain Bell, Vicar of St Mary's and All Saints Church, led the service, and Tim Gulliver, Head Teacher at King Charles I School, read the first Lesson, Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 2, Verses 12 to 17. Association President Colin Lloyd read the second Lesson, St Matthew Chapter 20, Verses 25 to 28.
Association member and local historian Don Gilbert read Charles' letter to his son, written shortly before the execution.
Canon Bell delivered a thought-provoking sermon, comparing Charles I with Oliver Cromwell, and concluded that both men had a great deal in common: they were both devout Christians and men of the Church, and both were convinced that their views and actions were the correct ones in the eyes of God. Canon Bell pondered: 'How can we reconcile this?' He concluded that all of us, including Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, should have some humility, and quoted from a letter that Oliver Cromwell wrote to the synod of the Church of Scotland on 5th August 1650, in which he said: 'I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, consider it possible that you are mistaken'.
The final hymn was chosen by Association member and Director of Music at the Church David Morgan; it was written by Stopford Brooke while still at the School.