So the tour of Rock began properly on Saturday 14th March. For this weekend we were sadly without Ann Walters, one of the dancers, who had been taken ill after the Hinckley performance. The rest of the touring party made their way from the different corners of the country to the Princes' Hall in Aldershot. The hall, perhaps not the most beautiful building from the outside, had excellent facilities inside, including a large auditorium and a good sized stage. The Hall was in the main town part of Aldershot, and not the military town. I understand a few members of the touring party were disappointed at the lack of men in uniform...
Aldershot is one of the two new venues on the second tour of Rock, but there were many connections with previous performances. Many of the choir had taken part in the Eton performance of Jail Break back in 2006, and some had even sung in the Wildfire performance in Camberley in 2003. Derek Wade, who bravely agreed to take the event on, has been known to us for some years through MWF - the Music and Worship Foundation.
Two choirs had been trained for the occasion - one by Derek himself, and another by Eric Moore. There were about 50 in the choir in total, and they did an excellent job. Derek had been very brave and had decided to go for a matinnee as well as an evening performance. This left a choir of 50 nearly 1000 tickets to sell. Both performances felt comfortably full - it was well worth performing twice.
Another of the joys of matinnee performances is that the cast and crew get plenty of time to mix with the choir between performances. Our tea was served in a church 2 minutes walk away, and we were very well looked after - and I was amazed at the remarkable speed with which the meal was tidied away afterwards!
It was brilliant to be able to perform Rock in Aldershot. It is always fantastic to have a new venue and new people to meet. As well as Derek and Eric, huge thanks also go to Sue and Trevor Smith, and Denise Williams for their help with tickets and accommodation and no doubt numerous other little jobs.
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