Rock Tour 4 - Bideford

Following our day in Minehead we travelled further down the coast to Devon, and more specifically, Bideford. We were performing this time at the Kingsley School Theatre, formerly known as Edghill College.

Bideford is the home venue of Bob Deakin - he sang the part of Joseph of Arimathea in Pharisee and also toured with Angel Voices and sang on the Precious and Honoured album. Bob, supported by his wife Eve, trained the Bideford Choir, including huge amounts of warm ups that the choir were delighted to put to one side for the previsit. Bob also took the liberty to add some extras - in song 15 the men added an extra line at the beginning so that they could be 'shhhhed' by the soloist. (Hard to describe, but makes sense when you look at the score...). The choir were brilliant, and had to cope with some very bright lights shining directly in their eyes from the low balcony in front.

Bideford is also the realm of John and Liz Kelly and Eric and Carolyn Moore - the fearsome foursome who together worked on the administration for the event - mostly led by John.

For the last couple of tours the Bideford performance had been a sellout, but this time they had really struggled to sell tickets... until the night itself when a huge number came on the door and almost all the seats were full.

The auditorium at Kingsley School is interesting. The choir and cast were on the floor at the front, and then the ground floor audience seats are also on the floor with very little tiering. Then up above is a steeper balcony where most of the audience sit. This created some issues with the audience being able to see some of the action that is lower down towards the floor. The cast, and especially the dancers, had to work hard to lift the action up so that they could be seen. This involves avoiding kneeling down or sitting on the floor. This was especially the case in the dance for Just as I am, where Sally changed the entire first part of the dance which would normally involve mostly movement low down to the floor.

Another memorable feature of the Bideford performance was the heat in the auditorium. Keith and Laura on the bookstall found themselves opening and closing the doors at the back to let some cool air in.

At the prophetic section at the end of song 15, Martin felt led to sing for the first time this tour. He described it as having had a feeling about it during the whole performance and then when Ann said Miriam's line "Don't put it off", he says he felt his stomach 'dropped out'. So Martin followed God's lead and sang a lovely prophesy, that spoke to several people in the audience.

Bideford is always a highlight on the tour for the overnight accommodation. Thanks to the astounding generosity of Debbie and Mark Kimber, the entire touring party were able to stay at Speccott Barton, a Chrisitian Farm equipped with self-catering holiday cottages, a swimming pool, trampoline and games room. The team were able to rest and relax together, and generally have a great time. Most of us got some sleep...

So huge thanks go to John, Liz, Eric, Carolyn, Bob, Eve, Debbie and Mark for all their hard work. It was a wonderful day.