Accommodation for Synod

St. Edward's House on the right; Church House on the left;
Dean's Yard Westminster through the arch

Daily Services at St. Edward's House

The stained-glass panel with the eagle emblem of
St. John the Evangelist in the Refectory

Members of General Synod have a suggested living allowance for London sittings of the Synod, which will cover modest accommodation in the heart of the capital. An ex-Chichester General Synod member had informed me of one of the best kept secrets as far as local B&B was concerned. St. Edward's House, the London base of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (also known as the Cowley Fathers). This particularly appealed, as 'a church I know' is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist too.

St. Edward's House couldn't be closer to Church House Westminster, the London base of General Synod (just the width of Tufton Street), and couldn't be much more simple. Always rather frugal, (breakfast - cereal & toast - is always silent), they are even more so during the season of Lent, and it appears the February General Synod seems to rather regularly fall in the middle Lent. And about as inexpensive as any church accountant, or Common Fund or Parish Share paying parishioner could hope for.

But they are also a house of prayer, and over a number of years have had a number of key folks from that other 'House' in Westminster as members of the Society, regularly attending, praying, and being prayed for, in the chapel at St. Edward's House, as the list of daily service times shows.

Members of the community in London are now very few, (there are others elsewhere), but their work remains important. God bless them.

Alastair, GS101