Rock Tour 3 - Gloucester

After a good night's sleep the team met in Barry for a short meeting before moving off to Gloucester. As it was a Saturday it was wonderful to have quite a number of the Barry hosts with us for the meeting, and we were able to share a lot about the previous evening and pray together. It was also birthday time and Helen's turn to be embarrassed with a pink princesses cake and a bunch of flowers that unfortunately didn't quite make it through the next two days' performances.

We were to have two performances at Gloucester and the first of these was at 3pm, so the team quickly headed down the motorway. The venue was the Crypt School, which had a really good sized hall with a stage big enough to hold the large combined Gloucester and Pontypool choirs as well as the cast and dancers. It was an incredibly hot day, so hats off to the choir for coping in all that heat for two performances!

As we began the first performance we discovered that the men's dressing room had been locked shut, with some of the costume bits inside - part of Cornelius' armour and the outer jacket for Peter. Without it Devon looked like he was just wearing a big nightie! By the end of song 3 the problem was solved. Phew!

The afternoon performance went well. The audience were responsive, and the choir sounded brilliant. The tiering was quite high, so every person in the choir could be seen clearly, which was a huge bonus.

With the afternoon performance being so early, there was plenty of time for a lovely break in the afternoon. Some people had more of a break than others, with the choir, cast and St. John's ambulance people enjoying the sunshine together. Several of the team played some games including leapfrog and building human pyramids, while the rest watched...

We also had a lovely bring and share tea with the choir (including princesses birthday cake), and it was great to chat together and get to know each other. The Gloucester choir have been supporters of CMM events for a long time, and the choir trainer Pamela Dewick is quite a visionary force behind them - spearheading their own performances, events with the Christian Caravanners, and even a choir trip to India for Jailbreak where they performed for thousands. An amazing team.

The evening performance was special - both the Mayor and the Sheriff of Gloucester were present with their wives sat right in the front row! It was also great to see the bus driver for the Pontypool choir getting drawn in to watching at the back - he even clapped at the end! Please pray for the mayor as he seemed to be quite taken with the message, and when Simon walked in for the first time as Jesus, he said his heart skipped a beat as he was just how he imagined Jesus to be.

The St. John's ambulance people had a bit of a workout in the evening as it was so hot, but they were fantastically discrete, and did a wonderful job.

Thanks so much to Pamela along with her fantastic helpers, particularly Jane Broome and Frank Heggs. It was wonderful to be part of the event at Gloucester.