Fetter Lane, London – Summer update 2026

June and July flew past with the grass on the Fetter Lane burial ground turning from lush green after ‘no mow May’ to a crispy brown, following days of 30C+ heat. We began the summer by joining with sisters from Hornsey, Harlesden and Harold Road to welcome to Sr Gillian Taylor, the Moravian Women’s Association President. Before her interesting talk linked to the MWA theme of Jesus the Storyteller, many of the sisters met to share a convivial lunch and catch-up. We London sisters agreed that we should get together more often.

Later in the month we had the second of four talks in our series, ‘Across Seas and Centuries’, this time delivered by Br Livingstone Thompson whose talk was entitled ‘Planting in Bogue; Sugar and Moravian Settlement in Jamaica’. The talk attracted 25 attendees, some with links to Jamaica and others simply with an interest in Caribbean history and some of the issues that remain current.

At the end of the month, we tried our own version of Messy Church, examples of which have featured in the ‘Moravian Messenger’. Br Michael Newman developed a children’s talk around the story of Daniel and the lion, asking us all to think about times when we’ve been scared and what has helped us. We combined this with some crafts activities and a few songs. The feedback from the families who joined us was positive and gave us some ideas for the future.

Finally, at our regular Friday openings when we welcome local regulars for tea and chat as well as tourists from all over, we got a surprise visit from Felix Graf (Count) von Baudissin-Zinzendorf and his young nephew Max, aged 19, who was on his first visit to London. Moravian Close is full of historical links as our history talks show, but Felix and Max took us right back to the beginning of Moravians in London.

Best wishes for the rest of the summer from all at Fetter Lane.

Sr Cynthia Dize