Category: News

It’s a proud day for me. The Mirrors album that I’ve been working on with a huge group of friends and accomplices for over a year, is out now. Check it out below. You can listen and download it from my Bandcamp site now

So many people have played a part in this album, either directly in recording parts, artwork and that kind of thing, or in encouraging and challenging me over the years so that I got to this point. It’s so trite to say thank you to all of you, but I want to anyway. You can read a fuller list of album credits here

Writing songs is great, but it’s better when other people hear them, and it’s a joy and constant surprise to me that I’ve ended up listeners all over the world. I’m grateful for all of you.

I’ll be working on getting the album up on Spotify and other places in the coming days. Perhaps, if I come in to some money, there’ll be CDs for this record too. We’ll see.

This might be my last album. You never know. If it is, I’m really happy to be releasing such a rounded and exciting piece of work into the world. Enjoy this album.

Haydon

[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=3869424272 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false]

I lack discipline. I’m an ideas person and I’m always coming up with new ones. I’m not always so good at seeing them through. Part of my commitment when getting ordained is to say the Daily Offices of the Church of England (Morning, Evening, perhaps even Midday Prayer) every day. They don’t take too long, but as part of my role is to pray for, with and about the parish I serve, the Church and the World, it’s a pretty important thing to do. Problem is, it’s a lot easier to be under that discipline when another organisation or body (say, theological college) puts on the Offices for you. When it’s down to me, I can find all sorts of reasons not to do it. Hence putting this on the internet to challenge myself, for one thing.

Last week, I had the great privilege of tweeting as @OurCofE – a really exciting and intriguing initiative from the Church of England. One of the things I found myself doing was drawing attention to the Gospel Reading for the day, making a few quick comments, or asking a couple of questions, and then watching the debate unfold. It was a lot of fun, and people seemed to really like the opportunity to discuss the Bible. As a result I said I’d try and keep it up on my own Twitter feed (@haydonspenceley). As I thought about it this morning, I’ve come up with the idea of adding a new section to this site, Lectionary Ramblings. There, I will commit to attempting to present a few thoughts on the gospel reading each day. They won’t be long reads, just whatever I come up with first thing in the morning/last thing at night. That way I’ll be ensuring I’m doing the reading/praying I’m meant to do, as well as hopefully stimulating you to think. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll try not to chicken or flake out!

Hope it’s helpful

The first track released from my new album Mirrors, “Rise”, is now available to stream. You can hear it here, or on the Mirrors Album page. Please do share the track around. The album will be released for download on August 4th. I am still working on the best way to release a physical version.

[bandcamp album=[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=3869424272 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false track=1723440097]

I’ve updated my Speaking page to include various talks from various places. Enjoy listening to them!

If you’d like to hear my talk from the recent Enabling Church Conference (I was pretty good). you can now. Just click here. You’ll be taken to the Churches For All page for Enabling Church. From there, all the talks seem to be listed. If you want to hear me, click on Disability Stream, a bit of a way down the page. I was the first speaker after introductions in the stream, so you shouldn’t have to wait too long!

I know that transcripts of the talks are being worked on, but if you would prefer to read the text of my talk, you can do so here.

The direct link for the audio from my stream is here

Looking forward to speaking at Enabling Church tomorrow in West Bromwich. If you are coming, look for me at 12.05 and 2pm. Should be a great day. See you there!

You probably know that I have a new EP out soon, Mirrors, which I’m very excited about. If you’ve sent some time on this site you’ll also know that I have old music. You might even have listened to it. Well, how about downloading it and listening to it some more, for free? What a splendid idea. If you want to do that very thing, all you have to do is head to my Bandcamp site. From there you can grab either the restrained synth-pop of Circles, or the slightly more urgent and rambunctious Heart Strings. Why not brighten up your dreary office day with some sumptuous grooves?!

Maybe I’ve gone too far now….