Dozens of people gathered in the Parish of North Stoneham and Bassett last month to thank Malcolm Harper who retired after 25 years as an LLM/Reader. He and his wife Rachel have worshipped in the parish since the 1970s when they met as university students.
Malcolm was licensed in Winchester Cathedral in October 2000, accompanied by Rachel and their children Katherine, Simon, and Louise, who all sang in St. Michael’s choir as children and teenagers. Although they have now moved away, they were reunited with the choir to sing at his last service.
We spoke to Malcolm who told us about his role and why it has it has been such a valuable and valued ministry…
How did you first become involved in the parish?
I came to Southampton University as a law student in October 1974 and I was looking for a church to go to for Evensong. I found the 6.30pm service at St Nicolas in Stoneham Lane and it was just what I wanted.
And when you left university, you stayed in this area.
That’s right. I worshipped mainly at St Nicolas but also at St Michael’s, Bassett. I sang with the choir at St Michael’s because they were short of a few voices and they discovered I could sing. I married Rachel in 1980 (we met through the university choral society) and all three of our children went on to sing in St. Michael’s choir, joining from about the age of 6 or 7.
And what made you want to become an LLM?
I was brought up as a Methodist, and it was choral music which brought me into the Church of England. When I came down to Southampton University, I was looking for churches that had choirs that I could sing in. I enjoyed the music but began doing other things as well, serving, reading lessons, leading intercessions and I was church warden at St Nicolas too, for three years. A friend, who was a Reader in the parish, encouraged me to think about it. I wanted to be able to help in the church at a time when we had fewer and fewer priests in the parish.
There’s a lovely photo of you and your children at the licensing service at Winchester Cathedral. What did that day mean to you?
The service was wonderful with my own church choir singing and my brother was playing the organ, so the whole family was involved one way or the other. I’ve still got a copy of the order of service, which I got autographed by all the choir, which I thought was lovely because it reminded me of what they did. It was an incredible day because we had a party back at our house for all our friends who had supported me, and family as well.
And how important do you think the role of an LLM is?
It’s more important than a lot of people think and some don’t realise how much we can actually do. I’ve been lucky that I’ve done lots of things as a Reader. I was able to play an important role, not only in this parish, but several years ago I was attached to Freemantle Parish for a while as well.
At that time, I was thinking about ordination and I thought it would be good to have experience in another church. I preached one Sunday and led an evensong, and then very soon I found myself helping there two Sundays a month. When the Rector went off for three months sabbatical, I stepped up. I was doing most of the services, getting the bread and wine consecrated at St Michael’s at the 8 o’clock service and then taking them down to Freemantle to do communion by extension there.
Shortly after his return from his sabbatical, the Rector announced his retirement, and I found myself filling a gap during the vacancy. There was no incumbent there for about eighteen months and I wanted to do everything I could to keep the worship going in the church and do the things that people wanted doing.
You learnt a lot and gave a lot during the 25 years, and did you find that your faith grew as well?
I think my faith has always been growing in some way by learning more and feeling I was being called to do these things. I’ve seen it grow from learning more about what the church means and learning to be more prayerful and to read the scriptures more regularly. I studied the Benedictine code as part of my training for lay ministry and have never forgotten the basics of it; and how the code encourages us to look for Christ in everything that we do, whether it’s the washing up or peeling the potatoes or whatever. We must try to find Christ in everything we do.
What has it meant to you to be an LLM for the last 25 years?
It’s been a great privilege to do a lot of things, leading worship, preaching, assisting with the Eucharist. I’ve taken many funerals which has been one of the main parts of my ministry, meeting the family and discussing the services and what they wanted. I’ve found that, because of my knowledge of church music, I was able to give them advice and guidance on the music for the funeral. Quite a few of the funerals were people who I’d known in the parish for a long time. That has made a difference to me because it is a great privilege to take someone’s funeral.
I retired from being a solicitor in 2020 and have been able to do more for the church in the five years after I retired from work. That was important, especially on this new estate.
I was also able to get involved in ‘The Living Room’, which meets at St Nicolas Church every Tuesday morning. We provide coffee, tea, cakes and toast and marmalade. It’s amazing. It’s a sort of a wellbeing group and we’ve built up a number of people who come along. They feel safe and loved and looked after, which is very important. It’s an outreach for the church which we’re determined to keep going.
I’m also involved with an over-60s group and occasionally some of them will come over to the church for a service, which is nice. It’s good to be able to show the face of the church in groups which are quite secular. I think people like to know that there’s someone around who can give them spiritual help if they want it.
The family photo taken at your licensing service was re-created 25 years later, on your retirement. That must have been a special moment for you.
The photo was taken after the Evensong on my last Sunday. I preached at the morning service and then at Evensong, I sang the Office and I also sang with the choir. It was music that I’d chosen, and our three children were all involved. They came back to sing in the choir for both services. In the Nunc Dimittis, there’s a tenor solo, which my son, Simon, sang. The anthem was S. S. Wesley’s ‘Blessed Be the God and Father’ and Louise, our youngest daughter, sang the soprano solo in that and my other daughter, Katherine, sang the morning anthem. It was so special as they had started at St. Michael’s in the choir.
Then we had a bring-and-share lunch and people came from all over the parish, there were probably around 60 to 70 people. I’d been round to each of the churches in the parish during October and I was able to say a sort of goodbye to the congregation there. The parish presented me with a card and a garden bench. It was a lovely occasion and very overwhelming actually.
And you are now an LLM Emeritus! Is that right?
There’s a limit to what I can do now. I can still do intercessions in services, read the lesson and I’ve been doing a little bit of serving again, going back to my roots as a server. I lead Morning Prayer on Tuesdays and stay on to help with the Living Room. I’m on the pastoral team and do a few home communions so there’s enough to keep me going.
I think there’s so much that LLMs can do within their parishes, especially those where there’s a shortage of clergy. We can fill a role which supports the clergy and helps them to do the things that they have to do and pick up things that they haven’t got time to do.
What would you say to encourage others to think about becoming an LLM?
My experience over the last few years has been that clergy can often be overworked and stressed, because of the pressures that are on them and they need people who can support and help them. I’ve possibly done more than an average LLM would do but it meant that I could give real support to the clergy and make a difference to the parish generally.
I did apply for ordination. I went to a Bishop’s Panel and was unsuccessful. It was disappointing at first, but I realised that perhaps I wasn’t being called to the priesthood. I was being called as a Reader because I could do so much more. I could do things which needed doing, which the priest hadn’t got time to do.
Readers are still members of the congregation, and this was something I got wrong when wanting to go for ordination. If I’d been ordained, I would no longer have been a member of the congregation and as part of the congregation, I could do an awful lot more by supporting people and helping people than perhaps a priest can sometimes do.
The last 25 years has been very rewarding. I was just thinking of the number of sermons I’d written. They are all on my computer still, about 560 sermons over 25 years!
