Rock Tour 3 - Macclesfield

Quite a number of the team had travelled back to their homes overnight, so only a small group gathered bright and early the following morning in Gloucester. We made a quick getaway as the room we were in was needed for Sunday school, but still managed to fit in a good time of sharing with some of the overnight hosts.

On our way up to Macclesfield a few of the team stopped off at Tescos and bought a variety of food including hot roast chickens and salad for a big picnic. We intended to eat it outside, but the weather had other ideas and we ended up in a side room at the Macclesfield venue - St. Michael's in the Marketplace.

It was an absolutely stunning venue - an old Anglican church that had been completely transformed in parts with a very imaginative building plan. The problem as always with old churches is pillars, but I think the audience coped fine! The choir sat on or in front of the chancel steps, and the cast performed on a kind of octagonal platform just in front of them. This was perhaps one of the most challenging stages we've had to deal with. It was quite small, and not very tall, so we had to make sure all the action was as high as possible. We also had audience on three sides, so we had to keep turning outwards to make sure everyone was included. Ann Steer perhaps did the best bit of adaptation to the stage by leaving it completely during the song 'The Look of Love' and walking up the aisle through the audience!

After not being able to be present at Barry or Gloucester, we were delighted to have Annie back and the musicians complete once again. It does make a huge difference when they are all present, although Carole, Amy and Marilyn did cope admirably in Annie's absence.

After a gentle afternoon spent mostly in the church or exploring Macclesfield, the rest of the team arrived and we had a good team meeting. Several of the team had physical injury niggles that we had a good pray for, and made sure that we were Spiritually ready for the evening ahead.

We were served a wonderful meal of jacket potatoes and fillings (including spare roast chicken) and then the choir started arriving. The Macclesfield choir was fairly large, trained by Dot, and it was supported by a group from Bramhall trained by Louise and also some from the Manchester choir who had performed it so many times already they knew it backwards! Quite a number of the choir are regulars on our music week, including Wendy the Macclesfield venue organiser - so it was great to see them all. Wendy's daughter Jenny played the part of Helena in Jail Break and her sister Sheena has often played flute for CMM.

After a challenging rehearsal getting used to the stage and hunting for the makeup brushes, we prepared for the performance. As the cast was cut off from the choir by the audience, not many of us made it out for choir prayers, which were outside the main entrance of the church - perhaps the most public of our prayer times!

It was a hot, challenging performance technically, but God really seemed to use it, with a number of people prayed with afterwards. The audience was crammed in and very responsive, including some children sat right at the front - almost part of the fireside scenes!

Thanks so much to Wendy, Dot, Louise and all their helpers who made it such a wonderful occasion.