Andrew Westh & Simon Gates
On Saturday 19th September, we had the joy of honouring a milestone few in any parish ever reach. For 62 years, our organist Mr Andrew Westh has been at the console — Sunday by Sunday, season by season, through the quiet weeks and the great festivals alike.
Archdeacon Simon Gates presented him with the Lancelot Andrewes Medal in recognition of a lifetime of faithful service. It is a particularly notable award: this is only the fourth time it has been presented in the Archdeacon’s service. Andrew said “It was an enormous honour to receive this prestigious and completely unexpected award. St.Paul’s Brixton is a place where the old meet the new. Music included. It’s been a privilege to work there for all these years”.
That number is worth pausing on. Sixty-two years of music, weddings and funerals, carols and Easter alleluias—decades of arriving early, staying late, and giving the congregation a voice it could sing with. Behind every hymn we have sung without thinking about it have been years of quiet, patient, faithful work.
Our thanks go to him, and to all who have supported him along the way. We are grateful to Archdeacon Gates for recognising a service that has shaped the worship of this church for longer than most of us have been here.
Mrs Angela McFarlane, Church/Hall Administrator, St Paul’s with St Saviour’s Church, Brixton
