Rock - the end?

We're coming to the end of this CMM blog. There are a couple more Rock events to come - a trip to the Isle of Wight and one to Vancouver, but I'll cover those in the CMM blog.

Just one last thing to highlight the continuing ministry of the musical. We received this email a couple of days ago:

Hello Roger,

We enjoyed having you come and help with our first performance. We were able to perform it a second time in May at St. Isidore's Roman Catholic Church. It was a wonderful experience to perform with them at their church as a significant number of them were part of the chorus the night you directed us at St. Paul's.

We are planning on a November performance with yet another church here in Ottawa, Parkdale United.

Rev Roger Briggs, a semi-retired Anglican priest was part of our chorus the night you conducted. He served for nearly 50 years in the Canadian Arctic. He and I are feeling moved by the Spirit to take the Rock to Iqaluit Nunavut sometime in May of 2011. We would like permission to translate the Cornelius part into Inuktitut, one of the main dialects of the aboriginals. The plan at the moment is a very daunting one, we hope to take a total of 18 persons and stage the musical sometime during the Synod of the North.

Blessings,

Ann Faurbo,
Director of Music
St. Paul's Anglican Church
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

'Scotland Tour': Monday 21st June

On our final day away from home we spent the morning exploring Berwick, before travelling together to spend the afternoon on Holy Island. For many of the team it was a first visit to the island, so it was fantastic to take the opportunity to be tourists for a while!

We then went to Martin Colam's house for dinner - a wonderful buffet - an amazing job to feed us all.

In the evening we travelled back to Berwick Methodist to lead the regular Unisong rehearsal. It was great fun. Roger mostly led his talk on using musicals in evangelism and mission, and included a load of songs which are great fun to sing - from 'Jesus rode a donkey into town' and 'brothers and sisters' through to 'Come, see the beauty of the King'. We also sang 'Sitting at his feet' from the new musical which will be published in a few months time.

It was wonderful to visit Berwick for the first time, and we hope to go back.

You don't need to here about our journeys home - but thanks for reading about our wonderful Rock tour of Scotland and Northumberland in June 2010.

'Scotland Tour': Sunday 20th June

So, not really in Scotland any more, we reached the final venue of our tour - Berwick Upon Tweed.

Some of our team were staying overnight in some holiday appartments owned by Martin Colam, the choir trainer in Berwick. As Martin had been at a wedding the day before, arrangements were made for the team to have breakfast at Berwick Methodist, along with several people from Holy Island, who had to come to the mainland early due to the tide.

After breakfast we discovered that we had no space to rehearse at the theatre in the morning, so Andy Raines from Holy Island let us in to St Aidan's Peace Church to rehearse. The rehearsal was mainly for the dancers, as our two were joined by a group led by Andy, which was part of Unisong, the choir we were joining up with for the Berwick venue.

Eventually we got into the Malthouse theatre, and had a bit of a mad session trying to set up and rehearse before the audience came in. It was wonderful to be able to perform on such a big stage, and also great to join up with Unisong, who are doing such a great work among all the churches and also with non-Christians in Berwick.

For the first half of the concert we did a shortened version of Rock, missing out a few of the songs, and then in the second half we had a bit more of a worship event, with Roger leading some teaching about Peter, and various members of the team singing solo or dancing. We also included a couple of songs from Wildfire, which the choir had performed previously.

After the performance we had dinner with our hosts, and then most of the team went to Martin Colam's holiday appartments for a birthday party - both Aly and Simon had their birthdays on that day. It was a fantastic evening, and great to relax together. It was also the last evening we could be together as a team - a car bound for the East Midlands carrying Marilyn, Amy, Felicity and Laura were due to leave early the next morning.

Scotland Tour: Saturday 19th June

And so began one of the busiest and most eventful days of our Scotland tour. We began with a rehearsal in Beith in the morning ready for their early afternoon performance. The rehearsal was quite hard work - it took a long time to get the sound balanced with the microphones. Laura R had flown in to Glasgow airport, and she arrived just in time for the rehearsal.

It felt like the rehearsal was quite fussy and difficult, but in all the noise and bustle, God was working. We then had lunch with the choir and the performance began at 2pm.

It was not a big audience, but the weather was absolutely beautiful which probably kept a few people away on a Saturday afternoon. As it turned out, the size of the audience didn't matter - God really touched those who were there, particularly a few people in the choir, which contained quite a few non-Christians. There was lots of prayer afterwards, and one lady made a decision to come back to God after 60 years. Derek and Kathryn, the organisers, may well have been disappointed by the turnout, but all their hard work was worth it in the end.

We then got in the car to drive for 3 hours to get to Berwick, an honourary part of our Scotland Tour. Some groups found a Little Chef for lunch, but the lucky ones ended up with fish and chips on the beach in Prestonpans.

We arrived back in England and were met at Berwick Methodist Church by Kirsten Coulter and Keith Osborne, local Anglican and Methodist clergy. Berwick is also a new venue for us, so it was good to meet with our hosts and disperse to the different places for accommodation. Aly and Helen were staying with Kirsten and her two dogs, and also had to look after Annie and Sarah while they waited for their hosts to arrive. So five of us and two large dogs (a German Shepherd and a Collie) piled into Kirsten's car and headed to an incredibly cold and dramatic beach for a walk very late at night!

Scotland Tour: Friday 18th June

The day after our Logie Easter we had a complete day off - barring travel. We left fairly early, and began the long but beautiful journey down to Beith, which is just south of Glasgow. We chose to take the scenic route - along Loch Ness, through Fort William, through Glen Coe, over Rannoch Moor, along the side of Loch Lomond, and over the Erskine bridge. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful day for the drive.

We arrived in Beith at various different times and were greeted by Derek and Kathryn Turner and a few others. It was also great to see Kaitlyn Turner, who has grown up incredibly over the last 3 years since we were last there with Jail Break. They fed us lasagne, and it was great to be able to socialise with them for a while.

We then dispersed to our hosts, and the unfortunate ones among us managed to pursuade our hosts to allow us to watch England v Algeria in the world cup...

Scotland Tour: Thursday 17th June

Today we had nothing to do until the evening, and so we took advantage of the freedom and most of the team travelled to Dornoch, just to the north of Logie Easter. The only two that didn't come were Alan and Laura R. Laura had to fly back to Nottingham from Inverness airport ready for a friend's wedding, and Alan drove her there, taking the opportunity to visit some friends who lived close by.

In Dornoch we travelled straight to the beach and had a wander, enjoying the sunshine and the vast amount of space. While on the beach we managed to lose Devon, and no-one could get hold of him on his phone. Before we panicked too much we managed to find him back in the town. In the town itself we split up and explored, finding lunch, including haggis, neeps and tatties.

Later on we had a team meeting at Logie Easter church led by Alyson, and then had a lovely dinner again - I think this must be the first time I've ever been fed dressed crab on a CMM event!

The performance was great fun - the church was packed, which was fantastic to see. I think people were so excited that something so 'professional' had come to their area. Sheila Hay, the choir trainer received a present from the choir - a large piece of rock with 'Rock of Ages' engraved upon it. It was a well deserved present - she has worked so hard to make it all possible. The interregnum minister, Keith, was also in the choir, and it was fantastic to meet and chat with him about all the work going on in the area.

After the performance there was an incredible buzz around the church. No-one wanted to leave, and there was a fantastic array of cakes to encourage the chatter.

Visiting Logie Easter was an absolute delight. Please pray for the congregations there, for Keith the minister, and also for Sheila, who has started to do some excellent work with the Kildary Kroakers.

Scotland Tour: Wednesday 16th June

We spent the morning in Lossiemouth, meeting at Roger and Barrie's hosts for a quick meeting and a wonderful view from the balcony. We then wandered into the town to grab a spot of lunch - a few of us having the wonderful dish that is Cullen Skink.

Then after lunch we travelled over the bridges beyond Inverness to Logie Easter. There's only an Inn and a church in Logie Easter, and we were told it might be tricky to find. But when it came to it - there were two huge signposts showing us the way.

Logie Easter is a new venue for us, and we kind of invited ourselves. Sheila Hay ordered 30 vocal scores for a musical, and we spotted that she must have a choir, and so we gave her a call. Thankfully she was willing, and came to see us on her way home from London, and the rest is history! There were some concerns about being able to fit the dance on the performing area, but we ended up with the biggest space of all.

We were greeted with the most amazing buffet, and then we had a lovely rehearsal with Sheila's choir, the Kildary Kroakers - who didn't croak at all and were quite wonderful.

The evening was great fun, and we discovered that with the stage we were able to fit in quite a bit more drama than in other venues.

Scotland Tour: Tuesday 15th June

In the morning most of the Rock team met at the West Beach car park in Lossiemouth to stroll along the beach to the lighthouse. It was a bit of a cool day, but it was lovely to be out and about knowing that we had a whole day without having to travel. The beach was beautiful, despite the constant roar of jet engines at RAF Lossiemouth.

After the walk (which involved the finding of two geocaches - Bill should be proud) we met at St. James' church for lunch and then a team meeting which was led by Simon. He took his team meeting from his own book - Crackpots. Go to http://www.sliceinnovations.com/ for more details.

We had a free afternoon where some of the team went shopping in the town and others wandered along the beach and then evening meals with our hosts.

The performance in the evening was quite exciting. The church was very full indeed, with a huge contingent travelling up from Aberlour specially for it. The dancers didn't have a huge amount of room, and this was compounded by a small boy, Gabriel, running up and down to his dad!

The atmosphere was absolutely wonderful, and the event was introduced and finished off by the minister, Graham. His finishing remarks were great - 'We're here again on Sunday morning at 1030...' And there was loads of time for chatter and bookstall selling over drinks and cakes afterwards.

A fantastic day.

Scotland Tour: Monday 14th June

The following day we had plenty of time to drive the 45 minutes or so to Lossiemouth from Aberlour, so we had a lazy morning (including Annie visiting the Walkers Shortbread factory) and then a team meeting in Craigellachie church followed by lunch. Laura led the team meeting (hence the photo of her and Felicity looking particularly holy).

Kind of on route to Lossiemouth - well, not at all, a bit of a detour - is the Glenfiddich distillery. We decided to go there for its free tour, and we had a wonderful time, particularly at the end with the free samples...

Then we arrived at St. James' Church in Lossiemouth, which has one of the most amazing views from outside its front door, and the most amazing stained glass window inside. We met our hosts there and then went our separate ways for the evening meal.

In the evening we had a rehearsal with the choir, who had been wonderfully trained by Kathleen Robertson. The instrumentalists were once again supplemented, this time by Deborah Noble, a fabulous violinist from Elgin. She had also been part of the orchestra in Aberlour. Deborah has played with us several times in the past, including taking part in the string section for the recording of the Precious and Honoured album.

There was not a lot of space for dancers, but that is what rehearsal is for! We also had a good set of mics and were helped by Hamish with the sound from St. James'.

The highlight of the rehearsal was the lovely time of worship and prophecy we had after song 15. One of the choir even sang out a solo in response to the prophecies brought by the cast. God has been really using that section of the musical throughout the whole tour, and the team were growing more confident in listening and singing out what they thought God was saying. It is great to give God time to speak in whatever we do.

Scotland Tour: Sunday 13th June

On the Sunday morning we met in the church car park before it started filling up for the Davidson's Mains service, and then we travelled for 3 hours to get to Charlestown of Aberlour in Speyside - Distillery country.

Like the previous day, this was to be another busy time with both the rehearsal and the performance on the same day.

The rehearsal was quite frantic as there was lots to set up - as well as a choir there was also a big orchestra - an amazing feat in such a small town. The orchestra was made up of a flute, cello, trombone, cornet, 2 violins and a lad who played both violin and saxophone (not at the same time). The cornet player was Shuna Dicks, who was also the minister of the church. At the start of the performance we sang three hymns too, and even more instrumentalists supplemented the orchestra.

The choir were wonderful - 25 strong - trained by Maureen Anderson, who was our main organiser for the event. The choir were supplemented by a few singers from Lossiemouth, which gave them a good preview of what to expect over the following days.

After the rehearsal we had an amazing buffet dinner in the cafe at Aberlour station, which is right next to the church. The railway is now disused, but the station still stands and has been converted into a cafe and museum. Last time we came to Aberlour we played on the putting green just outside.

In the evening we had a good size audience and it was a lovely performance. Devon was wearing a lapel mic, which stopped working half way through with a big bang. A lot of improvising was required with the remaining hand-held mics afterwards, but we managed.

Once again, huge thanks to Maureen and all involved with Rock in Aberlour - it was wonderful to be with you again.

Scotland Tour: Saturday 12th June

We had a brief team meeting at Janette Tait's house and then left for Edinburgh. Barrie's car took the scenic route and ended up having a drink in a village fair before being stopped by a whole group of pipers at another village. All arrived safely in Edinburgh eventually though, including Felicity who flew up in the morning. We were also joined by Helen Moss, who is a flute player we regularly see on our Grange music week. Helen has just graduated from Edinburgh, studying music.

We immediately set to work getting sorted out with microphones and space for dancers. We were helped by Catherine, who knew her way around the sound system and who eventually cooked us our evening meal too. Amazing!

The choir trainer Philip Coad had done a fantastic job. The choir was not huge, but they made a wonderfully blended sound and were incredibly responsive to Roger's conducting. In the afternoon rehearsal we were joined by a very special member of the choir - a trainee guide dog.

After the rehearsal we had a wonderful meal of jacket potatoes, and then a few of the men disappeared - only to be found later asleep in their changing room. Obviously the schedule was far too much...

The evening performance clashed with England's first game, which meant there was a smaller audience than usual, but they seemed to really enjoy it - certainly they had a better evening than those who stayed at home to watch the football.

It was brilliant to share with Philip and the choir at Davidson's Mains in Edinburgh again. They are deciding at the moment as a church how best to use their fabulous buiding resources, so our prayers are with them at this time.

Scotland Tour: Friday 11th June

We had the morning and some of the afternoon free, so the team split up to explore the countryside surrounding Newton Stewart. Laura, Annie and Alyson's host went to the gem museum together, Roger and Devon stayed in Newton Stewart while the rest of the team travelled up to Glen Trool in the Galloway Forest. It was a lovely morning, and great to get some fresh air. We received a message from Roger at lunch time - Devon had suggested they have the senior citizen's special for lunch, with Devon pretending to be Roger's carer!

In the afternoon we had a team meeting - almost the complete team together as Laura R, Marilyn and Amy had arrived from Nottingham. Unfortunately Laura was unwell and not able to dance.

Jane, one of the Newton Stewart group, provided a fantastic tea of soup and sandwiches - all the more impressive as she arranged for Laura to go to her house and sleep during the performance and managed to organise food for the after-show party!

The performance went really well, despite Laura's illness and one of the microphones giving out. There was a really fantastic audience who were really receptive, and lots of great conversation afterwards.

Then all of the choir, team and some of the audience travelled back to Newton Stewart to Jane's house for the traditional after-show party. It was great to socialise and share with so many people. Thanks to all who were involved in organising this trip to Newton Stewart and Wigtown.

Scotland Tour: Thursday 10th June

On Thursday 10th June most of the CMM team for the Scotland tour gathered at the office ready for the big journey up the M6. It was a long journey so we made sure we had lots of stops - but there was one we didn't really want. The M6 around Preston was completely solid because of an accident.

But the journey was a good one and we arrived at Cinnamon in Newton Stewart only a little bit late. Cinnamon is a Christian Bookshop/cafe run by Janette and Angus Tait, who were our main contacts in the Newton Stewart area. We were given a lovely meal there and then traveled to Wigtown for our rehearsal- about 6 miles from Newton Stewart. The County Buildings were the venue for the rehearsal and the performance, and we had an exciting time setting up, with Simon, Laura and I becoming honourary technicians. This was in fact a bit of an introduction to the whole tour for Laura, who often found herself in control of sound as well as the powerpoint. So at Wigtown she had to press play and pause on the CD, make sure the projector slides had been moved on correctly, and control the mics, which would have been an easy task but for the buzzing which meant they had to be turned down completely between every song!

The choir were fantastic (trained by Colin) and it was lovely to get to know them during quite a hectic rehearsal. We were also put up by many of the choir members over the two nights we were in the area, so huge thanks to them!