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We offer daily services and a creative programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
Thur 24 Oct 6.30pm
Fact, fiction, faith: AI in an uncertain world – a conversation with Jocelyn Burnham, and Dr Shauna Concannon.
St James’s hosts inclusive services and a cultural programme. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
St James’s is a place to explore, reflect, pray, and support all who are in need. We are a Church of England parish in the Anglican Communion. This is a place for everyone who’s wondering about life’s big questions and striving for a better world.
We host a year-round cultural programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word, drawing on St James’s rich cultural history including artists, writers and musicians Mary Beale, Mary Delany, William Blake, Ottobah Cugoano and Leopold Stokowski.
We try to put our faith into action by educating ourselves and speaking out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, earth and racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
We aspire to be a home where everyone can belong. We’re known locally and globally for our unique history and beauty, as well as faith in action, creativity and the arts, and a commitment to social and environmental justice.
We strive to be a Eucharist-centred, diverse and inclusive Christian community promoting life in abundance, wellbeing and dignity for all.
St James’s Piccadilly has been at the heart of its community since 1684. We invite you to play your part in securing this historic place for generations to come.
It costs us £3,500 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us
Your donation will help us restore our garden in Piccadilly as part of The Wren Project, making it possible for us to welcome over 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seeking tranquillity and inspiration each year.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
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The Sixteen and St James’s Piccadilly reveal new composition by Will Todd in celebration of Chelsea Flower Show.
The Sixteen and St James’s Piccadilly today reveal the world premiere performance of a new work written especially to mark St James’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show ‘Imagine the World to be Different’ garden this May.
‘Imagine the World to be Different: The St James’s Quartet’ is written by Will Todd and was performed by The Sixteen and the choir’s founder and conductor Harry Christophers for the first time at St James’s Piccadilly on Monday 13 May.
The song was commissioned to reflect and resonate with the history, as well as the character, of St James’s – associated with its presence at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 – through ‘stories’ taking inspiration from the church’s lime wood Grinling Gibbons reredos, visionary people like artist Mary Beale and abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano (celebrated with a new commission by Che Lovelace in 2023), and the Magnolia tree which dominates the courtyard. The words were written especially for the occasion by Associate Rector The Revd Dr Ayla Lepine.
‘Imagine the World to be Different: The St James’s Quartet’
Music: Will Todd
Words: The Revd Dr Ayla Lepine
1. Grinling Gibbons, Reredos
Perpetual spring, hand-carved. Feather, fruit, blossom, branch. Gravity-defying, above the sacred heart of Love’s feast. We gather.
2. Che Lovelace, The Vision of the Birds
Swift sunlight’s glory claims swaying palm symphonies. A kaleidoscope of flight transforms air’s inrush of freedom. We imagine.
3. Southwood Garden
Peace-pocket shaped by struggle, root-tangled refuge, declaring the Divine in weightless dew’s arrivals and departures. We rest.
4. Magnolia Tree
Fragments of all-weather sky, framed by lavish fleeting flamboyance. We hope.
This musical commission continues St James’s long relationship with Will Todd, which has included new works for the St James’s Song Book last Christmas.
The Revd Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s said, “Creating this new commission, with words, music and performance centred on this historic place is a privilege for St James’s. It speaks to the best of what the church can do: honouring the traditions of the past at the same time as making a new future together. With great thanks to Will, Ayla and Harry, we hope that this piece will be sung for years to come, not least in the restored church and garden of St James’s when the Wren Project is complete.”
St James’s RHS Chelsea show garden pays homage to the revitalising influence of urban green spaces, symbolising a message of hope and recovery while igniting the imagination of future generations to envision a different world. It has been sponsored by grant-giving charity Project Giving Back and designed by landscape architect, Robert Myers, as part of the church’s transformational ‘Wren Project’ fundraising campaign to raise £20 million to increase its social and environmental impact.
Here are just some of the people who came to say hello – you might spot some familiar faces.
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Sonia Lee reflects on her enriching experience as an ambassador for St James’s Piccadilly Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, highlighting the garden’s Gold Award, the enthusiastic public reception.
Find out about the special, handmade birdhouse featured in St James’s RHS Chelsea garden this year, as seen on the BBC.
Lucy Winkett reflects on the power of birdsong to bring hope, even in the middle of a city.
Discover how St James’s show garden ‘Imagine the World to be Different’ has been created with this short film by our sponsor Project Giving Back.
D.R. Harris & Co has developed an exclusive new fragrance to celebrate St James’s participation in RHS Chelsea Flower Show to raise funds for The Wren Project.
Luke has created this special edition print for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to raise funds for The Wren Project.
Lucy reflects on Maytime traditions, the politics of being English and the origins of the Spring Show in west London that has become RHS Chelsea
From the initial ground-breaking to the final flourish of blossoms, see our RHS garden come to life with this timelapse of the installation on the main avenue at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Online coverage of the Imagine the World to be Different garden designed by Robert Myers for St James’s and sponsored by Project Giving Back.
Robert Myers, St James’s Chelsea Show Garden designer, explains how prioritising sustainability throughout the projects lifecycle sets a new standard for ecologically-driven practices.
Landscape architect for St James’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden 2024, Robert Myers, talks about the importance of trees in our show garden design.
Award-winning landscape architect Robert Myers will create a pioneering vision of change in our show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, sponsored by grant-making charity Project Giving Back.
After the war of 1939–45 Viscount Southwood provided money for the ‘green’ churchyard to be made into a garden of remembrance ‘to commemorate the courage and fortitude of the people of London’.
The grant-making charity Project Giving Back has awarded St James’s Piccadilly a show garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, called ‘Imagine the World to be Different’.
