Rock Tour 2 - Banbury

Following the two performances in Chorleywood, the team had a bit of a lighter day for Mother's day in Banbury. Well, at least the cast did. The techies instead were facing an interesting time at St. Mary's church in the centre of the town. This is a beautiful church whose facilities are increasingly being used for concerts. Classical concerts generally that don't require any amplification. There is a domed gold leafed ceiling that creates the most glorious echo - not so good if you're using PA. But they did a fantastic job, and everything was ready when we arrived from our morning meeting in Hemel Hempstead.

The Banbury performance of Rock was organised by Jenny Smith. Jenny and her family have been involved with CMM for a long time - Eddie, her husband, has been part of the cast in several of the tours, including Jairus' Daughter, Pharisee, Snakes and Ladders, and Wildfire. Eddie trained the Banbury choir for Jail Break, but this time took a back seat as he is training for the Anglican Priesthood in Oxford. So Jenny took over, and enlisted the Oxford choir and their choir trainer, Alan Roberts to join them. This was a fantastic answer to prayer, as there had not been enough room for the Oxford choir to join up with Witney. The Banbury/Oxford choir was also augmented by a group of singers from Daventry on the night, who were trained by David Brierley.

The cast arrived in plenty of time to hold extra rehearsals - the instrumentalists wanted to practice how to manage without Amy, as she still hadn't recovered, and the actors needed to put the understudies through their paces. It was a wonderful opportunity for the understudies to have a go at songs the choir don't really sing in, such as Surely you must have been with him and The Look of Love.

We also had time for a team meeting that afternoon, so we got plenty done. Following the team meeting and while the cast and instrumentalists were rehearsing, Margaret enlisted Jenny, Eddie and their two sons Michael and Stephen to join the team praying round the building. The boys took to it with particular relish, waving flags and praying in every nook and cranny of the building - even the balcony that was not going to be used!

The choir arrived to share in dinner with the team, and then we had a quick rehearsal together. This gave Carol, Annie and Marilyn time to discover what it was like performing behind a pillar where only Roger and the audience could see them. It was hard for the instrumentalists to be detatched from the action.

The performance itself went very well, and the cast did a good job being quiet, as the only backstage was in the stairwell by the fire exit. The audience seemed to enjoy it, and it was lovely seeing the front row full of people in wheelchairs and their carers. Some of the members of the team were able to talk and pray with them afterwards, which was great.

Thanks so much to Jenny and all her helpers - Mothering Sunday was a difficult one to sell tickets for, but they did a fantastic job.