Rock Tour 4 - Wimborne

After a week back in the office the Rock team (back to full strength) headed out on the road again, accidentally most people meeting up for lunch at a garden centre just off the A34.

Wimborne is a regular part of our tours, but this time we are sadly without Peter Lawrence, who died earlier this year. In the past Peter has been a great advocate of the performances, encouraging many to be involved and to come and watch.

This time we had the wonderful assistance of Hilary Shenton, who made sure everything went to plan, and looked after us brilliantly. The choir was trained by Clive Allen, and they were a pleasure to sing with. They were also all very patient with the Rock team who had accidentally taken over their changing space to eat dinner!

The Tivoli is a lovely small theatre right by the centre of Wimborne, and as the weather was so lovely the team took time to explore. Many of the team could be found in the Fat Face trendy surfer clothing store, but even with 70% off, the clothes were still too expensive! The stage was a good size, and the techies used the starlight background to great effect!

The performance began in a special way. Roger presented Carol Lawrence with the first copy of Peter's book "Squidgy Bod at Easter" - the third and final edition in the 3 part series of Squidgy Bod stories. Peter lived in Wimborne for the last decade, and many of those in the audience will remember him.

The performance went really well, and the theatre was completely sold out, which was wonderful. It is a little difficult getting down from the stage at the end to talk to the audience, but many of the cast made it without too much problem.

Thanks so much to Hilary and Clive, who worked so hard to make the performance possible. It was a wonderful day.

Rock Tour 4 - Salisbury

After the morning meeting at Chandler's Ford, the team were on the road again. This time not for too long, just the short trip up the road to Salisbury.


We have performed with the Millennium Churches' Choir many times in Salisbury, and it was great to be back with the organisational skills of Grahame and Jennifer Chubb, and the musical talents of Andy and Alison Larkham. We had a fabulous welcome at the City Hall, complete with music stand in the passageway with a special message and instructing us where to go for the dressing rooms.


After the interestingly shaped performing area in Chandler's Ford, it was quite a suprise to suddenly have acres of space on the stage at the City Hall. Another big bonus for us was the collection of settees in the changing rooms, which quite a number of people made use of. Those of us that didn't want to sleep headed out into Salisbury, some even making it into the cathedral, which was great.


Just before the performance we met for choir prayers as usual, but this time we had the added support of a fabulous prayer team, and Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith. The Bishop has always been wonderfully supportive of Roger, and it was great to see him once again. After a lovely prayer time, complete with a prize for the choir member who had sold the most tickets, we went into the hall in front of a huge audience of over 700. Thanks go to the work of Grahame and all of the choir for making that possible.


One of the most thrilling parts of the performance was the chatter afterwards. God seemed to really have been working in people's hearts, and we understand a couple of people were led to Christ that evening. Praise God!


And then we all returned home to our own beds, ready to get up for work in the morning. What a crazy team of people.

Rock Tour 4 - Chandler's Ford

So tour 4 begins for real, and our first performance sees us at Chandler's Ford near Southampton. This was a new venue for the tours, so it was a brilliant opportunity to get to know some new people. But of course people are never properly new - Helen Cornick, one of the organisers, used to sing in the Salisbury choir, and Chandler's Ford Methodist was the venue for one of Roger's first ever ministry trips 30 years ago...

After what seemed like eternity on the A34, the majority of the team arrived. We were without Ann Walters for the weekend as her brother was getting married, and also Clair Rogoff was ill. Clair being ill led to some problems, as she is the understudy for the part of Zillah, and Alyson who played that part was due to be arriving late after a night shift at work. Several of the team were pretty under the weather too - Ann Steer was uncertain she'd make it on stage, which would have decimated the cast. But God is good. Alyson arrived before Helen had embarrased herself too much trying to play her part in the rehearsal, and Ann was well enough to perform.

Chandler's Ford Methodist is a lovely, large, modern building with plenty of space. The choir had been trained beautifully by Chris Warren, and they sounded absolutely fabulous. The stage was an interesting shape, with banks of choir diagonally on either side, and the instrumentalists filling the empty space at the back. This did mean that the instrumentalists couldn't see Roger when the choir were standing, and the cast had ample opportunities to pull faces at them, but they seemed to survive ok.

The performance went really well, with some interesting improvisation. Ann sang half of 'The Look of Love' from mid-way down the aisle, and then for the crucifixion, Simon walked slowly up the aisle before the music started - all very powerful. The audience was really large - people were being squeezed in with extra chairs most of the way through.

Huge thanks go to Ann Squire, Helen Cornick, Glen Shepherd and Chris Warren for making it all possible. A wonderful way to start the final tour.