St. Olave’s has been a parish I’ve known all my life.
When I was little, we were members of St. Jude’s Anglican on Roncesvalles. Each week when we drove to church along Bloor Street from our house in Etobicoke, we would always pass St. Olave’s and our parents would tell us about some of the churches on the way to Sunday service.
The rector of St. Jude’s was the Rev’d Canon Warren Turner, whose grandson David Harrison is currently the rector at St. Mary Magdalene. David’s paternal grandparents, Ralph and Ruby Harrison, were long-time parishioners of St. Olave’s and I even attended both their funeral services here. David and I had a very lovely Sunday school teacher, Margaret Roze. Yes, the very Margaret Roze who attends St. Olave’s. Feel free to ask Margaret how “good” a boy I was in Sunday school. It’s always lovely to see Margaret each week here!
St. Jude’s closed in June 1977 due to a decline in parishioners. Our family lived a kilometre from All Saints Kingsway and decided to attend there, and stayed a good number of years there. I was confirmed there and sang in the parish choir for 38.5 years. After retiring from St. Olave’s, All Saints was happy to have the Rev’d Canon Versey Wigmore and his wife start attending. Versey assisted in services there, too.
I started singing at St. Olave’s in June 2017 and was hired as the regular (and, primarily, only bass) for the wonderful choir here that fall.
One major part of attracting me to St. Olave’s was the Book of Common Prayer. I have always loved the BCP. It is simply part of my DNA. I want to thank the members of the choir, clergy and parishioners for making me feel so welcome here at St. Olave’s. It truly is a welcoming family parish and I can’t wait to see the bright future this wonderful house of God holds.