ROCK - the story of Simon Peter

Rock - the end?

2010-07-16T11:37:00.003+01:00

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

2010-07-15T14:07:00.004+01:00

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

2010-07-15T13:52:00.005+01:00

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

2010-07-15T13:23:00.006+01:00

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

2010-07-15T12:49:00.005+01:00

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

2010-07-15T12:17:00.006+01:00

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

2010-07-13T11:00:00.003+01:00

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

2010-07-12T14:30:00.004+01:00

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

2010-07-12T13:59:00.005+01:00

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

2010-07-12T13:35:00.004+01:00

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

2010-07-08T14:57:00.006+01:00

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

2010-07-06T11:18:00.005+01:00

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

2010-07-01T15:13:00.003+01:00

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!

Pre-Scotland

2010-06-28T14:36:00.002+01:00

Rock is not finished yet! We had a bit of a reunion of the Rock Touring party for our trip to Scotland, but before we could head up north we had a practice performance at Selly Oak Methodist Church in Birmingham. Helen had trained a small choir for the day mostly made up of people from the Twenties group that meets at the church.

The Scotland Rock Team:

Peter - Devon Brown
Jesus - Simon Cooper
Cornelius - Alan Walker
Various - Jonathan
Miriam - Sarah Moreton
Zillah - Alyson Ottaway
Susannah and trumpet - Helen Pollard
Clarinet - Amy Carter
Flute - Marilyn Ellis
Viola - Annie Routley
Dancer - Laura Rhodes
Dancer - Felicity Norris
Bookstall/Sound/Powerpoint - Laura Cooper
Bookstall/Prayer/Driver - Barrie Renwick

Oh and Roger of course.

So for those of you who are interested, all the principle soloists from Rock were part of this tour except for Bill Carpenter, who was replaced by Alan Walker (he was team leader on tour anyway) and Ann Steer, who was replaced by Sarah Moreton. It was great having Sarah with us - she slotted in perfectly.

The performance went really well - it was a little rusty in places but we made it. Laura and Felicity did a great job re-choreographing just for two dancers, and Annie, Marilyn and Amy did well covering Carole's Oboe and cornet parts for Helen when she was singing or simply playing badly!

One of the highlights of the evening was actually the prayer time before hand. Roger often gets choirs to sing 'Spirit of the Living God' before a performance to get us all ready, but this time it was really special - the harmony was beautiful and there were no voices sticking out. God's Holy Spirit was clearly moving and blessing people.

Special thanks go to Martin, Tristan and Rebecca for setting up the AV.

An initial Canada review

2010-06-25T12:55:00.012+01:00

Richard has promised a full Canada write-up for the blog, and I'm pestering him, but in the meantime, here's Roger's brief report that he sent out in an email back in April:

KANATA (near Ottawa)

- a tremendous ROCK performance, over 300 present, they had to get extra chairs in! Very well received - "standing ovation" - many folk saying they were really blessed. It was a great joy to link up again with Craig Bowers, formerly of Clayton and Morrisburg. Craig's daughters Sarah and Eva also sang with us, Sarah singing the part of Zillah. Ann Faurbo trained the choir amazingly well. They were wonderful! Sunday morning (day after performance) - I spoke at THREE services, which felt a real marathon, ie 0800, 0915 & 1100. Again very well received - we did the music for the final one as well!

DEEP RIVER

- quite a remote community about 2.5 hours out of Ottawa, just about to lose their priest Lee Lambert. I introduced them to new music for the Liturgy, including using Peter Moger's version that we used at Willersley, then used it in a Eucharist. I talked about "The look of love". They really loved it and I think it opened a whole new concept for them. The next day we talked about using music in evangelism & mission, and then did an evening using most of the ROCK songs. A terrific time, with the locals really enjoying it and responding well. We loved being once again with Rhonda Turner, the director of music at St Barnabas.

OTTAWA - ST GEORGE'S

- It was a great joy to be re-united once more with Dave Crawley (rector), Archie Hunter, etc. This church has left the Anglican Church of Canada over current "issues". They are really spiritually alive and thirsty. We did a worship seminar with lots of praising. They were up for it and found it a great encouragement. I really felt it was right to be
with these folk!

OTTAWA - EPIPHANY CHURCH

- Linda Posthuma, the Priest, wanted us to introduce the concept and theolgy of psalms hymns & songs - this was entering fairly new territory for them, but it was amazingly well received and I felt a great freedom to teach and lead. There were lots of laughter, and I really sensed God's presence. It was also good to meet Chunson Park the director of music. I feel a great empathyy for her in her role.

MORRISBURG

- rehearsal then production of ROCK - great enthusiasm, and it went very well indeed. I think this was timely for them. Here, as before, the Choir was trained extremely well by Edie Sneath. Next morning, immediately after the Eucharist I shared my testimony and used "Let me see you face" (sung by Catherine) as ministry. It seemed to bless a lot of people.

DIXONS CORNERS

- right out in the farming area - a rehearsal then production of ROCK in a very spiritually alive church We gave "words of knowledge" at end. At least one was responded to there and then. Some quite powerful ministry followed, and overall it was a superb way to conclude the tour.

I think we led 16 sessions in the 12 days we were in Ontario, and slept in 4 different beds! I really believe we were in the right place at the right time. Our team (Roger, Mary, Richard, Amy, Catherine, Devon) worked incredibly well together, and of course we had a lot of fun! As a matter of encouragement to the Trustees, I am bringing back a cheque for over £3500 (sterling!) being donations to the ministry! We also sold well on the bookstall which should defray our costs.

I feel a deep grief and concern for the Church in Canda. There is much division, seemingly over the "same-sex" issue (but maybe really over authority of scripture and biblical concepts of creation, family, marriage, etc. Many evangelical/charismatics are considering their position, some having already left the diocese. I suspect there may be a "reformation-type" development happening, which will be tragic although possibly inevitable.

I am more convinced than ever about the need for the ordinary Christians-in-the pews to know their Bibles and understand basic and important biblical concepts and theology. Using MUSICALS goes a long way to meeting this need and "filling the gap". There is much "liberal theology" at loose in Canada and parts of UK, some of it blatant heresy, but my prayer is that as they experience the Bible story in song they will be learning the "Apostles' teaching", growing spiritually and being kept from error.

Cursillo and Alpha provide a great ministry but could the "Wholeness through Christ" ministry also play a major role? It most certainly has blessed me!

Some follow-up comments have already been received:

- "Thank you again for your amazing ministry. I know that yet again, more seeds have been planted, and many hearts have been touched by Jesus." (Jane - Morrisburg)

- "I am positive your work for God was all worth the trouble and thank you for including the Epiphany in your busy schedule. It certainly was an uplifting experience for all of us." (Chunson - Ottawa)

- "I feel really blessed by your ministry and excited about expanding our ways with making worship services more meaningful. Everyone here enjoyed your team and their enthusiasm. It was a wonderful experience!" (Rhonda - Deep River)

- "We really felt blessed to experience your ministry at Epiphany - what a joyful evening that was!" (Kelly - Ottawa)

- "I have had 100% positive reaction to your time with us. People so enjoyed and related to the humorous and serious ways you showed us all about more freedom and joy in worship." (Rev Linda - Ottawa)

- "Many thanks for including Deep River... the right people were there and received the blessing that they needed to continue in their ministries and continue to lead the church in the path of worship through music." (Peter - Deep River)

The final Roadshow

2010-06-24T14:07:00.002+01:00

On Saturday 17th April 2010 we held our last ever Rock Roadshow. This event was at the United Church in Bridport, and was organised by Molly Doughty and her assistants. It was wonderful to be able to hold a day in Bridport, as they were one of our new venues on the Rock Tour. We were really delighted with the turnout - there were over 40 there, which is impressive considering the Bridport choir didn't contain that many people.

The team for the day was Roger, Annie, Helen, Brian Johnson, Bill and Barbara Carpenter, and Carol Lawrence. Carol came over from Bournemouth and led our 'Working in the Family Business workshop'. Brian was without Gill due to some dental surgery, so he led 'This is the place' alongside Annie. And then Helen and Barbara together led 'The Look of Love' - Barbara had come up with all kinds of interesting and creative ideas for that one.

It may be our last official Rock Roadshow, but we hope in future to use the system of Rock teaching and workshops as often as possible. Let's see where God leads!

A Rock Letter

2010-03-31T11:11:00.003+01:00

We received this wonderful letter from a lady called Alison who lives in Suffolk:

Dear Roger,
Just felt I had to put pen to paper and to tell you what a blessing the Rock Musical has been to me.

Not only was I thrilled to be a part of the choir at Ipswich, but I have just returned from a wonderful pilgrimage to the Holy Land and as I travelled in the footsteps of Jesus the songs came flooding back and the story which was acted out took on real meaning as I stood on the traditional sites of Jesus' ministry.

Standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee early in the morning watching the sun rise the words of 'This is the place' were on my lips and on my heart and visiting Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked Peter who he thought he was, I recalled the words of 'You are Messiah' and suddenly it came to life and really meant something really special to me.

So thank you so much for blessing me through your ministry and may God continue to use you in His Service.

Rock in Chipping Sodbury

2010-03-30T10:18:00.002+01:00

We've just had a phone call from Frank Maude in Chipping Sodbury. Every few years the churches in Chipping Sodbury and the surrounding area join together to perform a big musical. In the past they have performed Burning Questions, Hopes and Dreams and two others by Paul Field and Stephen Deal as well as three of Roger's, including Jail Break. Frank and his helpers very graciously delayed their performances until after the CMM production of Rock at the Colston Hall in Bristol, for which we are most grateful.

They have just finished their run of performances at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall, and they went very well indeed. They held a concert version, but added in a few small bits of dialogue, such as Susannah's coming to faith.

As they had no dancers, they approached the song 'Were you there?' in an interesting way, showing a clip of Jesus' crucifixion from one of the Jesus films under the introduction and first verse, and then a photo of the tomb (digitally altered to have the stone in the entrance!) for the second verse, and then their own actor playing Jesus in a white robe for the final verse.

CMM's own Alyson Ottaway was part of the cast, reprising her role of Zillah, and it became quite a family affair with her mum Wendy playing Miriam for the final performance, and her dad John taking the part of John.

Many people were moved by the performances, and a couple of people owned up to having shed a tear or two...

Photos of the performance can be found here.

Well done!

Canada Maps

2010-03-17T14:03:00.004Z

Here's a couple of maps of where the team are going in Canada.

Canada is very big. Just Ontario alone is several times the size of the UK.

Top left - Deep River

Next from left - Kanata

Next - Ottawa

Bottom right - Morrisburg and Dixon's Corners

Canada Itinerary

2010-03-17T11:42:00.000Z

This is the itinerary for Roger's tour of Canada starting tomorrow:

Thu 18
0920 BIRMINGHAM to PARIS, then to MONTREAL
2215 (+5hr) arrive in OTTAWA - from MONTREAL - travel to KANATA
This is a long journey, and often many bugs and illnesses can be picked up on aeroplane flights. Please pray for protection in travel for the team.

Fri 19
KANATA - Rest day - get used to time zone, etc
Kanata is just to the south-west of Ottawa. Roger and team visited Kanata three years ago for a music and worship evening. But this time the vicar has changed, and they are going for a full on production of Rock. While at Kanata, the team will be staying in a lovely Christian house out in the countryside.

Sat 20
KANATA - Rehearsal & ROCK Production

Sun 21
Morning Services in KANATA then travel to DEEP RIVER
Deep River is a three hour drive from Kanata up to the North-West along the Ottawa River. It is a small town/village. Last time Roger and the team were there, the river was still frozen solid and there was lots of snow.

Mon 22
DEEP RIVER Eucharist led by CMM and Father Lee with praise & teaching

Tue 23
DEEP RIVER - Seminar teaching session based upon ROCK
Please pray for these two worship seminars. Last time CMM was in Deep River there was a production of Jail Break, so it is great this time to be able to contribute to local church life with some ministry and teaching instead.

Wed 24
Travel to OTTAWA
Music in Worship - St George’s, OTTAWA
St. George's is an inner city church in central Ottawa. It is always great to share with them.

Thu 25
Music in Worship - Church of the Epiphany, OTTAWA
This is a new venue for CMM, so please pray for good contact with the local congregation and no problems with the unknown logistics.

Fri 26
Travel to MORRISBURG
Morrisburg is the home of the organisers of the whole Canadian tour - Nick and Jane Lee. They are long-standing friends of CMM, right from when they used to live in the UK. Morrisburg is right on the St. Lawrence River, so over on the other side of the river is the USA.

Sat 27
Full Rehearsal, then ROCK at St James Anglican Church, MORRISBURG

Sun 28
Preaching at Sunday Service
Travel to DIXONS CORNERS - Rehearsal
ROCK - Christian Reformed Church, DIXONS CORNERS
Dixons Corners is a small village about 15 minutes drive from Morrisburg. But in this small village is a fabulous modern church building - an ideal venue for a performance of Rock!

Mon 29
Rest day for team

Tue 30
Return to UK -from OTTAWA, via MONTREAL, PARIS

Wed 31
1030 arrive BIRMINGHAM

CMM TEAM: Roger, Mary, Devon Brown, Richard Harvey, Amy Walters, Catherine Muggleton

Canada preparations

2010-03-16T15:35:00.006Z

And so it is time for Rock to go over the water for the first time (that we know about!). On Thursday Roger, Mary and a small team of soloists are heading to Ontario, Canada. And as Ontario is such a huge place, I should narrow it down - they are effectively going to Ottawa and its surrounds. As well as Roger and Mary, the team comprises of Devon, who played Peter on the Rock tour, Richard Harvey, who understudied the role of Cornelius as well as playing Andrew on tour, Catherine Muggleton, who understudied the role of Miriam and played lots of other parts including one of Philip's daughters, and one of the servants at the High Priest's house on tour, and Amy Walters, who trained the Keighley choir for the tour and has been involved with CMM for years. Over in Canada they will be joined by Sarah Bowers and David Black, who will sing the parts of Zillah and Jesus.

But in the last couple of months as preparation, the British part of the team have held a couple of practice performances - firstly at Richard's church in Nuthall, Nottingham (photos are from this performance), and then at Catherine's in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire.

It was really great to be performing Rock again, albeit in a very slimmed-down format. The last time Rock was performed by CMM it was at Symphony hall with over 1100 in the choir. For these two occasions we had 6 or 7 singers only and a couple of instrumentalists. Needless to say - the musical sounded completely different!

So please pray for the team in Canada and also for their friends, family and churches they are leaving behind for a couple of weeks.

Rock Roadshows

2010-03-15T11:50:00.002Z

Alongside our tours with Rock, we have been revisiting some of the venues to hold Rock Roadshows. At the end of November it was the turn of Ipswich, and in February we visited Croxley Green (Watford) and then Bristol. Sadly we had to cancel the Exeter roadshow in January due to the bad weather.

It was great to see so many from the different choirs, and also so many people open to the Holy Spirit.

Each Rock Roadshow begins with worship and then a teaching session from Roger based on the call of the fishermen from Mark 1. Roger manages to base a whole sermon around one tiny verse - v18 "Immediately they left their nets and followed him". Point 1: Immediately, Point 2: they left their nets, Point 3: and followed him. Cunning eh?

The second session is a creative/prophetic workshop, looking at music and how God uses it to bless us. Simple improvisation leads on to prophecy, by allowing people to be open to the Spirit and to sing out what God is saying to the people.

After lunch the group splits into workshops, one workshop looking at receiving the Spirit, another workshop focusing on ministry in the power of the Spirit, and the final workshop based around 'The Look of Love'.

Then the day ends with worship and teaching based around 'A Chosen People', the bible verses for which can be found in 1 Peter.

Each day so far has been great fun, and we have one more coming up on Saturday 17th April at Bridport United Church. If you are interested, contact events@cmm.org.uk for a booking form.

A Rock Testimony

2010-03-09T12:18:00.004Z

The following testimony comes from Verity Brayshaw, who, along with her husband Paul, found themselves involved in Rock by accident last year. They were collared by some members of the Gloucester and district Christian Choir and a few others from the CCCF. Read on for more:

Our journey with “Rock”, started in the Half term in May 2009, when we were away camping at the 40th Anniversary of CCCF, Caravanning and Camping Christian Fellowship, in Malvern. Paul had decided that we would stay the full week, finishing with watching some Rock show at the end of the week. At this point we had no idea what this was going to mean to us as individuals and a family.

We were welcomed into the CCCF and felt comfortable enough, that when someone mentioned that they were doing a number of singing workshops, we both decided to join in. For Paul, it was sink or swim, but the CCCF people were there to stop him drowning. We bought both a music score and a word book. I had the music score and Paul elected for just the words as he had no knowledge of a music score. “Do you sing, tenor or bass”, was the question, “I just growl” was Paul’s answer, “Excellent bass, and submerge yourself with these guys and they will help you.”; “Who is the main tune? – soprano; right that’s where I am”. Each song was played once or twice and we were to sing along. We thought everyone was rather clever, being able to read their music perfectly, until we realised that this group were part of the Gloucester Choir and other joining choirs and had been rehearsing for months, either waiting for their Tour performance, or has just performed on one of the previous Tours. We had about 5 hours of rehearsal time and we purchased the CD, so we could listen in the car outside rehearsal time. The spirit of the music caught us by the second number and we were hooked. It was fantastic and we looked forward to singing it when ever we could.

The musical, “Rock”, was the story of Simon Peter, starting when we first meet Cornelius, a Roman Solider, waiting to speak to Peter and then we hear all about Peter and his time with Jesus. Peter: first fishing for fish and then souls. The story continues past the crucifixion through to the beginning of Christianity. When we performed this musical at the end of the week it was done as a concert with some of the Gloucester choir singing the main leads. However Roger Jones the composer of “Rock” came to see it and spoke afterwards. My children, Edward and Gemma, sitting in the front row were mesmerised by what Roger had to say, which was amazing to watch and a great privilege.

This was our first part of the journey with this amazing musical, because we were told that Tour 4 was coming to Dorset and surrounding counties. This was fantastic, because it gave us the opportunity to really learn it and to sing again and again. Once home I contacted the relevant people and we managed to join the Choir at Broadstone performing at the Tivoli and also a choir at Chandlers Ford.

By the time we had our first rehearsal at Broadstone in July; we had listened to it for many hours and sung along to the CD. Paul and I were feeling quietly confident, however, Paul soon realised that singing Bass didn’t mean that you sung the tune an octave lower, but that in places, they sung a completely different tune. He needed extra help and luckily each section of the choir had their own specific tune on a CD to listen too and this helped him with learning it. Each choir was a mixture of different Christian denominations from Catholics to Methodists to Salvation Army. We all had a great time together, learning the music as well as listening to a Choir Talk, lead by Roger Jones on a CD. This brought what we were doing to a different dimension and led to more understanding and of course, closer to God. We were reminded; that we were God’s chosen people, not only to sing in the choir, but to spread the gospel and to feel Jesus’ love.

Paul and I performed at Chandlers Ford on the 10th Oct in Chandlers Ford Methodist church. We were conducted by Roger Jones and his cast and crew joined us for a most spiritual evening. The cast and crew were made up of actors, dancers and 4 instrumentalist, plus technical crew and support staff. The story was brought to life through drama, music and dance. The story was about Peter and his family life and how Jesus led him to develop the Christian Church. I learnt a lot about Peter and that he wasn’t prefect, often speaking before engaging brain, something I know I can relate too.

Edward and Gemma came to many of the rehearsals, enduring late nights and constant music tracks in the car. The Choir and cast welcomed them with open arms. Devon Brown, who played Simon Peter, spent a bit of time with them before the show, and Bill who played Cornelius, joined them in his full armour, during the performance. Everyone in the church had a great night and one could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Some of the Broadstone Choir came to see the show and others went to Salisbury, another location, the following night. Paul and I looked forward very much to the Wimborne performance at the Tivoli. Each performance that the cast do is unique, because at each location there is a different choir, each time being lead by Roger.

On the 17th October, we sung at the Tivoli in Wimborne. This time in a theatre, a very different setting for Worship, but with a larger stage there was more room for all the performers. This performance was even more special for me, because my mother and her sister came to see the show, as well as a few other friends. The great thing about the Tivoli is that people who wouldn’t normally go to church would be able to witness the message of Jesus and possible feel the Holy Spirit for themselves. The people in the audience that I spoke to, said that they felt spiritually uplifted.

I have never had the opportunity to be able to go on an Alpha course and feel the Holy Spirit myself, but performing “Rock” has brought me closer to God and I feel that I was touched by the Holy Spirit in these performances. The music and lyrics for both Paul and I was so amazing and uplifting, that we were able to reach out and feel the presence of God for ourselves.

Our journey with “Rock” had not ended yet. Paul and I went off to Birmingham, to the Birmingham Symphony Hall on the 14th November 2009, for two more performances in their Grand Finale with over 1,500 people singing in the choir. The spirit of God was with us the whole weekend, keeping us safe in the car despite someone trying to crash into us on the A34. The weather in the south was appalling, but the sun shone and the roads were mostly dry. We stayed dry the whole day despite heavy rain shower. It stopped when we wanted to go outside. We found food, and hotel with ease and the journey home was straight forward too.

The shows were an awesome experience. The spirit of “Rock”, I hope will continue with us, forever. I have personally performed in many shows, but nothing has ever touched me like this. For Paul, a non singer, he has found his voice, stood up in front of hundreds of people and performed like a pro. The fellowship with everyone involved with “Rock” has been uplifting and will be held close to our hearts. “Rock” is an unforgettable experience, thank you God.

Cornelius 2

2010-03-08T12:37:00.004Z

Our understudy Cornelius came up with a poem. See what you think of this:

'The End of an Era'

Notes to reader(s):

This fine work of art received its premiere reading at Burney Lane on 15th November 2009

If you have difficulty with certain aspects of this 'modern classic', please refer to the previously published notes on 'Northern Rhyming' and the 'Scanning is for wimps' Rule, and if you experience problems in getting some words to rhyme (e.g. 'muddle' and 'Fuggle'), just accept - once again - that you're not as bright as the poet

Most of this artistic masterpiece is factually based, however some lends itself to poetic licence (a copy of the author's poetic licence is available on request, if required)

An aged Rocker from Birmingham way
decided again he'd got something to say
He started to pen; he worked round the clock
In his head were a soldier, a disciple, a Rock.

He took trips to the seaside to find inspiration
It took hours and days (and some perspiration!)
And so that he could make sense of this muddle
He enlisted the help of the one they call 'Fuggle'!

And carefully, prayerfully he started to find
A piecing together of the thoughts in his mind
And even when it was far from complete
He started to put the word on the street

With the help of the slaves in the CMM office
(he plied them with copious biscuits and coffees)
He soon built up a list of dates
And places who were willing to open their gates

Next he needed a cast of actors and singers
He scoured the country for lookers, not mingers
He found dancers, producer, costumiers, sellers,
Musicians and wardrobe and great techie fellas

Prayer warriors soon volunteered their skills
To ensure that the tours passed with minimal ills
What he got was a team that was best in the land
A talented, God-loving, number one band.

They all practiced hard. Many hours they invested
To the limit their talents were prodded and tested
The musical ones laid down a CD
With the help of Chris in his conservatory!

Eventually after much preparation
The musical 'Rock' was released to the nation
On the first of November two thousand and eight
And the crowds they all loved it; they thought it was great

If I told you the tales of every last tour
I feel I'd become a bit of a bore
So I'll precis (sum up) in a real simple way
So that even the Leicester folk hear what I say

We travelled the country, with the devil we'd duel
Never late on the stage, despite lack of fuel!
Most days would start with a worshipful meeting
Commencing with Alan's traditional greeting

Then we'd eat, then we'd meet our wonderful choir
And we'd pray that the dressing rooms weren't too dire
And then after rehearsal did finally break up
We'd slip into costume and slap on our makeup.

After prayers with the choir (and a bishop or two)
And a final chance to nip to the loo
Our Roger would stand up to speak to the masses
And wiggle his bum to the delight of the lasses

The band would strike up, the choir would sing
The dancers would come on and do their thing
Followed closely by cast who'd deliver their lines
Sticking fully to the script all the while, every time...

Backstage would be peaceful and tranquil and still
No giggling from dancers, no-one falling ill
No tears from Alan, no clanking of chains
No-one messing about, or being a pain

Some two hours later (unless there's a break)
We'd bow, and rapturous applause we would take
We'd meet and we'd greet, and we'd pray where we could
And if we could find our hosts it'd be good

With a bit of luck, when we got back to digs
They'd insist of supper of soup or of figs
Or plates full of sandwiches piled up high
Or cakes, or pudding of hot apple pie

Then (very often at something past one)
We'd crawl upstairs and get our 'jamas on
But no need for gloom, no need for sorrow
They've said they'll do us a fry-up tomorrow

So after more food and some great fellowship
We'd get back on the road to continue our trip
It's off to a church for some quiet contemplation
With a belly jam-packed with eggs and with bacon

Then back in the car with a lovely new bunch
And we'd get there in time for a nice slap-up lunch
Then back to the meeting and back to the show
And back home for supper (the waistline doth grow)

So that's the tour for you (boy, I don't half rabbit)
But it's gonna be hard to get out of the habit
And it's gonna be harder waking up in the mornin'
All bleary eyed and tired and yawnin'

Knowing never again will we all go on tour
We may never witness the 'Walker snore'
We may never see Margaret or Viv wave a flag
If we're not very careful, it could end up a drag

Except for the fact that we'll all still be friends
United by God's love that will never end
Inspired by the Rocker from Birmingham way
Who decided again he'd got something to say.

After-show poetry...

2010-03-08T12:12:00.003Z

During our after-show party, we had two contributions of poetry from our Cornelii (is that the plural of Cornelius?)

This first offering came from Bill, and it is set to the tune of In Caesarea beside the sea (song two from Rock). It is based mostly upon the jokes that Roger tells at his choir previsits, so if you can stretch your mind back that far...

In Weston-super-Mare (Hey, I've written a musical)

Women: In Weston-super-Mare by sea, composer Roger W Jones

Walks Poppy miles along the beach, despite his creaky aching bones

Men: Although he comes from Birmingham, his accent isn't very thick,

And all the cast ignore him when he waves his little stick.

All: Oh Roger Jones, you make us laugh, with jokes so not fun-ny;

like telling us Acts chapter 2 leads on to chapter 3.

M: Hey I've written a musical

W: I bet the songs sound just the same.

M: Um, sing it like painting.

W: Oh, you mean a wall of song.

M: Yes, you might paint smoothly.

W: Uh, I wonder how that sounds.

M: Or you might try dabbing.

W: Ah, that makes it jump around.

W: are you ready for a gossip (make gossip sign), 4 bars, not one less (speak) Not a beat.

M: Men can carry on for 4 more, we can make the most of it.

W: Make it up when I do this (planned spontaneous happening sign), no, it's not one of those (make gossip sign) (speak) It's not.

M: 3 siblings and then a wake? That's not the one I chose! (speak) Isn't it?

W: Now here's a man who's suave and dapper,

M: He's so elegant and smooth and

W: Here's the man who says all this;

All: It's Alan, the truth it is.

W: Our Alison writes words aplenty,

M: And to Roger they get sent

W: He messes up the rhyming scheme.
All: Send for help - Or else I'll scream (scream) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

S: We start this bit

A: We join with it

M: We try to fit

All Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

S: We sing in key

A: We're harmony

M: O deary me!

All: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

All shout: ALL TOGETHER

Sing random note followed by "Happy Birthday to you"

rofl!

(Just in case you didn't get a couple of jokes... At every venue Roger would introduce our team leader Alan by saying that he calls himself suave and sophisticated etc. The final joke about 'Happy Birthday' relates to our Bridport performance, on which day it was both Rachel and Ann's birthdays. Alan started off the singing by pitching a note, and then coming in on a completely different one. He has been ribbed ever since.)

The after-show party

2010-01-20T15:09:00.004Z

As with Jail Break 3 years ago, we decided it was really important not to end the whole Rock experience with Symphony Hall. There is enough pressure on the Rock team for two huge performances, without it also being the last time the team will ever see each other. Providing something the following day for relaxation lifts some of the emotional pressure and allowed the cast to simply enjoy the moment.

So the following afternoon, the Rock Touring Party, as well as quite a number of family and friends met at Christ Church, Burney Lane, which had been the venue for all our rehearsals. We began the afternoon with some chat, and then held a simple service consisting of worship, liturgy and a symbollic 'cutting off' of people from the experience, enabling them to move on with their lives.

After the service, we shared in some drinks and snacks, enjoying each other's company as a complete team for the last time.

Rock Finale - Symphony Hall 14th November

2010-01-11T11:09:00.002Z

So, the national tour is over, and all that remains is to finish with a bang. And what better place than Symphony Hall in Birmingham - one of the finest concert halls in the country.

On Saturday 14th November the Rock team descended on Symphony Hall, along with 1080 choir members, made up of groups from across the country, filling the entire ground floor of the auditorium, including the stage and the choir seats behind the stage. So many singers in their white shirts and red scarves/hankies looked absolutely fantastic.

The team were understandably quite emotional, but the excitement of the day took over. With at least 1200 in the audience across 2 performances, we were thrilled with the turnout, and groups were arriving in coaches from 11am.

Malachi Theatre services did a wonderful job in such a huge venue, as did the sales team in the foyer of the hall, coping with ticket sales as well as programmes and merchandise. We managed to get rid of all the remaining programmes except for a handful - so if you didn't get hold of one, do let us know!

One of the highlights of the day for me was seeing so many familiar faces both in the choir and in the audience. It was almost impossible at the end to get home because there were so many people to meet and greet. The support for CMM and for Rock was wonderful to see.

The performances both went well - the afternoon was introduced by Bishop Michael Whinney, a long-standing friend to the ministry. The evening performance was introduced by Nikki Tapper of BBC Radio West Midlands.

We were also priviledged to be joined by two signers, one of whom had taken part in the performances in Penrith in November 2008. They add such a huge dimension to the drama and worship of the event.

So huge thanks go to all involved in the finale of Rock - group organisers, programme sellers, merchandise sellers, signers, as well as all the CMM and EBRG team.

Rock Tour 4 - Exeter

2009-12-17T12:23:00.005Z

And so on to Exeter - now historic as the last ever CMM jumbo tour venue.

This time we were at the Salvation Army Citadel - a challenging spot parking-wise, but a lovely venue. We were welcomed by Phil Jones, one of the officers, and the team that had gathered around him to organise the event, including Margaret Pope and Chrissie Taylor.

Hospitality at the Salvation Army in Exeter was excellent and we were well looked after with a lovely lunch ahead of our matinnee performance. Unfortunately Clair had to leave us at lunch time to get back to Birmingham, which was a little worrying with Catherine suffering from a migraine, but thankfully Catherine recovered. God is good.

Salvation Army Citadels are purpose built for choirs and brass bands. This is great for us, although it did mean the large Exeter Choir had to squash in tight. The choir was made up of a huge number of areas - Exeter, Bradninch, Collumpton, Crediton, Okehampton, Lauceston and Stoke St. Gregory - the home of our Cornelius.

Specially to mark this final tour performance, a few of the cast had learnt the dance to Rock of Ages and usurped the dancers in the choir rehearsal. Results were...well... interesting.

The audience was pretty full, which was great to see, and the cast and dancers made the best use they could of the narrow, but quite high stage. The narrowness wasn't a problem until right at the very end, where Sally was kicked in the neck during the reprise of Rock of Ages. Like a pro she kept going right to the end of the dance before making a quick exit. It's amazing that the dancers have performed that dance so many times without this happening before - the chorus with the handstands in comes three times in each song, we perform that song twice in every performance, and once in every rehearsal. That's 45 choir tour rehearsals, 55 performances, as well as all the dance rehearsals leading up to the tour - 475 choruses, each with two handstands.

And this time, Richard sang in the prophetic section, which was lovely. This came after the instrumentalists had played for a minute or so - all four of them improvising at once in beautiful harmony. When God inspires people, the results can be absolutely amazing.

And then it was the long journey home (for some of us - Bill didn't have so far to go for once). Everyone arrived home absolutely exhausted, but thrilled with what has been a fantastic tour. One of the best I've been involved in, I think.

Thanks so much to Phil and all his helpers at the Salvation Army Citadel. It was a fantastic day, and we look forward to being back at the citadel for the Rock Roadshow in Exeter on January 16th.

Rock Tour 4 - Truro

2009-12-17T10:15:00.007Z

After a night of chatter, swimming and table tennis, the team reconvened for a fantastic breakfast in the dining room at Specott Barton. Some of the team from Bideford had arrived to help - and it was much appreciated - a fantastic breakfast.

This was also the day selected by Richard prior to the tour to be our breast cancer awareness day - so we all wore pink in various guises - some trying harder than others...

After a team meeting in the lounge, we travelled through the rain to Truro Methodist Church, the venue for our Cornish production. The church is a typical large Cornish Methodist Chapel, with a huge pulpit and a balcony. This created some interesting logistical problems. A stage was built over the communion rail, but it didn't lift the action up quite high enough to be seen by all of the balcony. The choir were to be in the balcony at the front, and the musicians in the pulpit. The problems with the choir and some of the audience seeing were therefore solved by a huge network of screens and projectors. These were controlled by an excellent camera man - Tim, who managed to film the performance, and even occasionally put inserts into his projection of Roger conducting. It was amazing - particularly since he hadn't seen the performance before. It was also quite weird for the cast, who could see themselves performing in a projection on the back wall - with a second or so time delay.

The stage was incredibly loud to walk around on - so while the cast and dancers were trying to be as gently trod as possible, Bill was relishing every moment as Cornelius, crashing round and making as big a noise as possible!

The choir was made up of quite a few groups - the Threemilestone group conducted by John Harris (who along with his wife Gill also organised the event). Then there was a group from St. Austell trained by Hilary Balsdon who had themselves performed Rock a couple of months ago, and so knew it by heart already. And there was also a choir from Helston trained by Stephanie Gordon. They made a fabulous sound, and it was great to see so many young people among the choir.

Before the performance we had a shared tea with the choir. It was lovely to chat to them all. There were even a few from Weston who were visiting friends. I wonder if they win the prize for the record number of performances for choir members...

A feature of this tour seems to have been the prophetic section at the end of song 15. This is the moment where all the cast are open to God to hear what he is saying. This time, Brenda had felt God really speak to her while she was ironing and preparing the costumes. So she obeyed God and came on to the stage and sang out a prophecy. It was an amazing moment, and Anna responded in dance. God uses everyone and anyone - if we are only open to him.

God clearly used Brenda's word, and there was a lot of prayer and ministry afterwards.

Thanks so much to John, Gill and all their helpers for making it happen. It was a wonderful evening. We raised quite a decent sum of money for breast cancer too - thanks to the choir for their generosity.

Rock Tour 4 - Bideford

2009-12-15T11:08:00.006Z

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.

Rock Tour 4 - Minehead

2009-12-08T13:00:00.004Z

After our day off, the team was fresh and ready to begin all over again in Minehead. Roger and Mary have been connected with Minehead for years through their friends Colin and Mavis Mee. The last couple of tours were organised by Ian and Margaret Nevell, but sadly Ian died last year. Margaret was still able to be part of Rock, singing in the choir.

So this time we needed a new organiser, and we twisted Mavis' arm. She then managed to twist some more arms, including that of Jean Armin, who took over the organisation when Mavis became ill. Jean did a fantastic job, alongside Gordon Nichols who trained the choir. It was one of the smaller choirs on this tour, but they made a fantastic sound, and Gordon had also included a large spiritual dimension to the choir practices too.

The venue for the Minehead performance was the Regal Theatre, on the main shopping street in Minehead. The manager of the theatre, Lewis Lintern, is a Christian, and has been hugely supportive. The theatre is currently raising money to be refurbished, so we pray for them that the money is forthcoming and that the modernisation is a success. It is a lovely little theatre, with a decent sized stage. The audience is raked quite steeply, which means that every seat has a wonderful view. We did feel very close to the audience, and could see them all quite clearly, including the goths on the front row and the lady with the loudest bag of sweets in the world.

We were looked after amazingly well - even fed shepherd's pie at the church over the road, which was a huge hit with the team.

The performance went well. We were without Amy on clarinet again - it seems Minehead is an area that is particularly bad for asthma and Amy's flared up quite badly. She had to go over to the hospital halfway through the performance to be checked out.

One of the performance highlights came at the end of song 15 for the prophetic section. For the first time in a performance, Alyson felt God really move within her to sing. So she went forward confidently to the front of the stage and sang some really powerful words. Then God also moved Ann and Devon. So we were left at the end of the song with a tableau of Peter, Peter's wife, and his mother in law. An amazing moment.

Annie's family are from the Minehead area, and so her dad came and watched. He has seen a lot of the performances over the years, and he really loved this one. He said the costumes and drama particularly were excellent.

So huge thanks go to Jean Armin for stepping in to the breach, and also for Gordon's wonderful work with the choir. Our prayers are with Margaret Nevell and with Colin and Mavis Mee.

Rock Tour 4 - Bridport

2009-12-07T13:34:00.005Z

And so on we move to a new venue, but not an entirely new choir. In the past we have travelled to Dorchester or Weymouth to perform the musicals, but this time, thanks to a performance of Wildfire in Bridport in June 2007, we managed to twist the arm of Steph Frampton from Dorchester to administrate it, and the wonderful people of Bridport to have us.

The performance was in Bridport United Church, and can safely be said to be one of the most intimate venues of the tour. The choir were on every side of the stage and pushed the instrumentalists up on to the balcony. With the close proximity of the choir, sometimes the cast found themselves nearly sitting on a poor soprano's knees. But we managed with the small space, and several of the audience said they preferred that intimacy to some of the larger performances.

The choir was made up of 50% Dorchester people and 50% Bridport. They made us feel very welcome with a lovely dinner of lasagne and chicken casserole. There was also a wonderful prayer team who were a huge support to Margaret as they prayed around the building for the cast, choir and the audience.

It was a birthday day among the cast - both Rachel and Ann. Alan created the funniest moment of the day by attempting to start off the singing of happy birthday. He sang one note to give us all the pitch, and then started off the singing on a completely different note! He'll never live that one down.

The performance was slightly delayed in the evening - the main road through the centre of Bridport was closed overnight for maintenance, so that meant no-one could get to the church after 7pm. But they made it somehow.

There was also a wonderful signer down at the front on stage right. The instrumentalists up in the balcony couldn't see any of the drama, but they could see the signer. Amy, on clarinet, mentioned afterwards that she was amazed with the signing as for special sections of the music the signs used were special intimate ones - for moments like 'The look of love' or 'Simon Peter do you love me'.

The following day was our day off. The team had a wonderful day divided between Weymouth, Bridport and Lyme Regis. And the weather held out for us too, which was great. Thanks so much to the people of Bridport for their wonderful hospitality. We had a great time.

So huge thanks go to Steph Frampton, Molly Doughty, and all those who helped make it possible.

Rock Tour 4 - Bristol

2009-12-04T11:01:00.004Z

After our morning meeting in Taunton, we travelled the short distance up the M5 to Bristol and the newly refurbished Colston Hall in Bristol. I say newly refurbished... Since we last visited for Jail Break they have built a beautiful enormous foyer area on to one side, which was fabulous for Keith and Laura with the bookstall. Not a great deal more than that has changed - the backstage areas are still... er... interesting. The cast had plenty of space in lots of little dressing rooms, but the poor choir found themselves in the basement again.

Despite this, the Colston Hall remains one of the most impressive venues on the tour. The auditorium seats well over a thousand, and there is loads of room for a fabulously big choir. Huge thanks go to the wonderful Brenda Munden, without whom none of this could have happened. She not only trained the Bristol section of the choir, but she handled all the administration too.

The other choir trained specially for the event came from Thornbury just north of Bristol. The choir there was wonderfully trained by Heather Staley. Then the two choirs were joined by singers from Weston, Gloucester, Exeter and Taunton - an amazing bunch.

What was so fabulous about Bristol was it was like a mini Symphony Hall finale, with loads of familiar faces and friends among the choir and audience. Richard Harvey had his usual supporters travel all the way down from Nottingham. Then there was Barbara Carpenter, Bill's wife, and many familiar faces from our music weeks. It was also great to see some other CMM people - Caroline Finney (the original Mary Magdalene) was there, and also Ruth Butler and Kaye Cooke (who also sang at Weston) who were part of our Wildfire touring party. It was also Alyson's home performance, so she was understandably very nervous, but you couldn't tell. She had many supporters, including work colleagues as well as family and friends.

In the afternoon in the team meeting we had a long time of prayer for any who were ill or in pain amongst the touring party. In the end we found that it was at least 1/3 of the group, one of which was Rachel, who was asleep in one of the dressing rooms suffering from a migraine. The prayer time was immensely powerful, and God did quite a lot of work amongst us. Rachel wasn't quite well enough to perform that evening, but she was considerably better.

Just before the performance when we prayed together with the choir, someone had brought along some oil to anoint people with. This is what Brenda said in an email afterwards: "One of my choir men actually said on the second rehearsal that he felt the Lord telling him He would really anoint this whole tour and our part specifically. Then we were all anointed before the performance!!! Now how about God telling us He was and is with us?"

The performance went very well, and was really blessed by God. Margaret, our prayer coordinator, noticed some of the hall staff who should have been standing on guard at the doors peeping in through the curtains so they could watch. We pray that God can break through there.

So once again, huge thanks to Brenda for all her hard work, and also the many choir trainers who have made the Bristol performance so wonderful.

Rock Tour 4 - Taunton

2009-12-03T15:13:00.003Z

The first venue in our week long tour of the South-West was Taunton on Saturday 24th October. It was a brilliant way to begin our tour week, as I'm sure you will see below. God was piling us high with encouragement before we started our long journey.

The venue was Wellsprings Leisure Centre on the outskirts of Taunton, and it had been brilliantly organised by Veronique Hart, with help from her husband Tim and a number of others. Above all this event had been surrounded in prayer - there was a fabulous prayer team who had even visited the venue a week or so before and walked around it 7 times proclaiming Psalm 150. Thankfully it didn't fall down...

Despite the huge amount of prayer, there were still some logistical issues. The stage was a very long way from the entrance to the hall, which meant that the cast had to perfectly time their entries to add an extra 10 seconds on to the journey time. Rehearsals are so important! The technicians also couldn't get into the hall until much later than usual due to a judo event, but they made it in the end.

The performance went really well despite the time delay, and the audience was a complete sell out. There was a member of Leisure Centre staff sat near the door and she was completely transfixed by the whole thing - so transfixed that she didn't notice the latecomers among the audience, and so Laura and Margaret from the Rock team ended up sorting them out with chairs in front of the bookstall. Needless to say, that girl was given a leaflet!

There was lots of ministry afterwards, which was really helped by a nice big gap at the side of the stage where people could mingle and chat. Alan, our team leader, found himself praying with someone for the first time on the whole Rock tour - and not just one person - three people. Bill (Cornelius)'s postman came to watch, and his son was prayed for afterwards.

A man spoke to Roger about a small village performance of Saints Alive years ago. Completely unknown to Roger, this performance had started his faith journey. What a great story at the start of a tour to raise our faith.

As if that wasn't encouraging enough, one choir member said afterwards, "Thanks for enabling me to find a part of me I never knew existed." This shows just how important it is that we spend a lot of time visiting and working with the choirs. It's amazing what fellowship and singing can open up in people's lives - especially when the Holy Spirit is behind it all.

Thanks to Veronique who worked so hard not only organising, but training the wonderful choir. Thanks to go to all those who helped her.

Rock Tour 4 - Weston-Super-Mare

2009-12-01T13:03:00.006Z

After being looked after brilliantly overnight in Wimborne, we travelled to the Playhouse in Weston-Super-Mare for an afternoon performance. This meant that things were a bit rushed for the technicians, and for our ironing wonderwoman Brenda, and traffic wasn't great. But we made it ok. Most of the team went to Paul's house where his family brilliantly fed everyone soup or fish and chips.

The Playhouse had at the last minute had a problem with the number of chairs we could fit on the stage for the choir, which was a big headache for the local organiser, Jo Buchanan Hay. She had her own choir arriving, but was also expecting singers from Gloucester and Bristol to help out, and now didn't have enough seats. But God is good, and seats were found from around the Playhouse, and we had exactly the right number.

The regular afternoon team meeting was unexpectedly altered as the choir arrived half an hour earlier than expected. So instead of a private team meeting, we held a time of prayer and worship on the stage with the choir. I think everyone enjoyed the chance for a little bit more fellowship together.

Jo had organised the event wonderfully - so wonderfully that as you walk along the sea front at Weston every few metres there was a poster advertising Rock. This was brilliant, and meant that the Playhouse was almost completely sold out - a fantastic achievement for such a big venue. Roger and Mary managed to get all of their neighbours in Weston to come - every one of the small block of flats was represented.

As well as the Gloucester and Bristol choirs, the Weston Choir itself was a bit of an amalgamation, with singers from Weston churches together, from the Caprione choir, and from the churches in Brent Knoll. All were expertly gathered and trained by Naomi Russell and they sounded fantastic.

The performance itself went very well, but with one anomaly. During the prophetic section at the end of song 15, Laura danced, but no-one at all sang, which hasn't happened for us before. It was suprising, but actually we were quite thrilled as it shows that all of the Rock team are listening to God, and if he doesn't give anyone the nudge, no-one tries to fill the gap with empty words. Roger then spoke for a minute, and several of the cast said that his words summed up the feelings they had not been able to express in song.

Thanks so much to Jo, Naomi, Peter, and all those who helped with Rock in Weston. It was a brilliant day, and a pleasure to perform where several of our touring party consider to be home.

Rock Tour 4 - Wimborne

2009-11-30T12:03:00.004Z

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

2009-11-27T15:36:00.006Z

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

2009-11-26T15:28:00.007Z

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.

Rock Previsits

2009-10-19T13:30:00.001+01:00

In the weeks following the Tamworth performance of Rock, Roger had his last ever three previsits - Exeter, Weston and Bristol.

Roger has always said that he would write a musical just for the previsits alone. These are wonderful evenings where Roger and a team of soloists get to rehearse Rock with the choirs. These choirs have already been practising for 8 or 9 weeks, they know the music, and many of them have also experienced the Bible teaching.

The previsits are a lot of fun, with plenty of joking. Roger intersperses going through the songs with anecdotes and serious bible teaching. It gives the cast a wonderful opportunity to revise the music, and to sing one another's parts...

This is one of the aspects of touring that will most be missed. But we know God has it all in hand, and there will be plenty of opportunities for fun, fellowship and teaching with choirs in the future.

Rock in Tamworth

2009-10-19T13:29:00.003+01:00

On Sunday 4th November we held our 'Pre-Season Friendly' at Tamworth. Tamworth has been the venue for a pre-tour performance for the last few years, and it was great to visit again. Once again Pam Griffiths was the inspiration for it all, and this time we were greatly helped by Brian and Gill Johnson, members of EBRG and Coton Green Church, where we performed.

Pam Griffiths trained the Tamworth choir ready for the Rock Premiere on November 1st last year, and they'd had a few reminder rehearsals. They were also joined by a few other choir members, including some from the CMM choir in Birmingham, and others from the Leicester Choir.

It was great for the team to be together again - all bar Keith our bookstall man who went to see Cliff Richard for his birthday, and Brenda our wardrobe lady who was on a cruise with her sister. So instead Ann Parkin joined us to look after the costumes, and huge thanks to her. Viv Flowerday was the prayer coordinator on the day, which was nice as it was her birthday too! Discrete card-signing was done by all at the rehearsal.

The afternoon rehearsal went well, all bar the moment where Alan and Brian tried to pull the curtain out of the way from the white backdrop, and ended up removing the curtain and rail entirely... We also had a lovely meal together with the choir - it is always great to be able to join the choir for a meal as we get chance to properly meet and get to know them.

The performance itself went really well - everyone remembered their lines - except Devon of course. He was doing really well... all except for the very last line of the whole performance, which he managed to cut in half and remove from it any meaning. There was a lovely big audience who were very responsive, including quite a few friends we had seen at other performances. It was also great to see Maria, who danced in Wildfire, and Emily, one of the dancers from Jail Break.

Thanks to Pam, Gill and Brian, and all the folk at the Coton Centre who made it possible.

Rock Roadshow Witney

2009-10-19T13:23:00.002+01:00

On October 3rd, Roger and a team from CMM travelled to Witney in Oxfordshire for a Rock Roadshow. Roger was accompanied by Gill and Brian from EBRG, Helen, Sarah Moreton, Simon Cooper, Paul Herrington, and also Philippa MacDowell and Lesley McCourt. Philippa (flute) and Lesley (oboe) haven't been part of our team for long, so it was wonderful to have them with us.

The day was brilliantly organised by Shirley Enoch, and although there weren't as many present as hoped, we were thrilled with who did come. It was a lovely day Spiritually, and there were some excellent deep conversations and some people really stepping out of their comfort zones in terms of improvising and singing prophecies etc.

Cast Rehearsal

2009-10-19T13:20:00.002+01:00

On Tuesday 29th September the cast, instrumentalists and dancers met together at Christ Church, Burney Lane for our rehearsal after the long summer break.

It was wonderful to see each other again, and there were no absentees, which made everything very smooth and easy.

We had a great time catching up and rehearsing - it was amazing how quickly the memory started working again. The cast remembered their lines, the dancers their moves and the instrumentalists their notes.

Bring on the tour!

Rock Admin

2009-09-25T11:13:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

Admin, admin, admin. That's all that seems to be going on at the moment for me and for our 11 venue organisers around the south west. Nearly there now though...

And every now and again a chink of light breaks through the pile of papers. Just received this from Brenda in Bristol:

"The choir have asked that I tell you how much this music has meant to them all - they have been a great group to teach but one also who soaked up the gospel message. It sometimes felt like standing in front of sponges!!! God has been so powerfully present at every practice - including last week when there was an accident outside the church. We prayed a lot about it on and off throughout the practice and two of our group who had witnessed it were there. No one was hurt etc and the police comment was that seldom if ever had they worked in such calm surrounding with such lovely music to be heard!!!

We know that God will use this testimony but thank you again for your lovely music."

Gloucester Choir on Tour!

2009-09-21T10:20:00.002+01:00

The choir that sang for the Gloucester performance of Rock back in June led by Pamela Dewick will be performing Rock around their local area over the next couple of months.

September 25th at France Lynch Church nr Stroud Glos
Saturday October 17th at St Andrews Church, Churchdown Glos (in aid of Listening Post - a Christian based councelling service)
Saturday November 7th at Christchurch Abbeydale
Friday November 20th at St Marys Church, Dymock

If you would like to know more about the Gloucester and District Christian Choir, their website is http://www.gloucesterchoir.org.uk/welcome.htm

Rock in Action

2009-09-18T11:47:00.002+01:00

I received this email from one of the Leicester choir members. It is so wonderful to hear of how God is using Rock to bless people.

----------------------------------

Hi Helen,
I thought you might be interested to know that since we performed in Leicester, we have played two of the songs in my home church.
We played "This is the Place" as a call to worship one Sunday evening, and recently sang "The Look of Love" during a morning service based on "Heroes with Clay Feet" - Peter.
My Minister was in the audience when we sang at the DeMontfort Hall, and since she knows I love to sing more than anything she asked me if there was a song from "Rock" that could be integrated into the service.
I picked 'The Look of Love' and it fitted beautifully.

Looking forward to seeing you all in November
Ruth.

----------------------------------

Tour 4 tasters

2009-07-27T10:58:00.004+01:00

Roger has now completed his round of tasters for tour 4 performances, and that means the taster held at Truro two weeks ago was his last ever taster. Time is flying by with Rock.

The taster for the Truro performance held at Threemilestone was a pretty special occasion. Over 90 came, of which a number had already held their own performances of Rock so they knew it already. Roger had to be careful in his presentation, as there were those who had never heard it, as well as some experts!

There were even some dancers there, who were carefully reigned in until right at the end of the evening when Roger allowed them to let rip with Rock of Ages - down the aisle of the church!

Rock Tour 3 - Macclesfield

2009-07-27T09:55:00.003+01:00

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.

Rock Tour 3 - Gloucester

2009-07-27T09:31:00.003+01:00

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.

Rock Tour 3 - Barry

2009-07-21T14:13:00.006+01:00

The following morning we were all up bright and early for the long journey down to South Wales - to the Barry Memorial Theatre. The rain was torrential for the journey, with a real danger of aquaplaning on the motorway on occasion.

But we all made it safely and were thrilled with the theatre. It was a good size, with plenty of space on the stage. The rooms backstage were quite interesting. The dressing rooms (including toilets) were separated from the stage itself by only a curtain - so no flushing during the Look of Love then...

One of the challenges we faced on arrival was to find a way to get enough chairs for the choir onto the stage. This was a nice problem to have - it's always good to have a big choir. Sharon from the Barry choir met us there and we worked on sorting out the stage with her. We finally got the help and permission of the local theatre workers so that the choir could fit on.

After a short team meeting and then the food that had been prepared by the choir (thanks so much for that - we knew we were in Wales as we were fed Welshcakes!) we then all gathered on stage for the choir rehearsal. Unfortunately by this time only the Barry half of the choir had arrived - the coach containing a further 30 singers from Pontypool had been delayed. The Barry choir had been trained by Dot Connel, and she had also done a considerable amount of the organisation, ably assisted by Sharon and a few others. While we were waiting for the Pontypool choir some of the cast joined the choir and we got down to rehearsing. Eventually Simon Oram and his Pontypool choir joined us, and we had a full complement for the rest of the rehearsal.

A problem we sometimes encounter with theatres is their need to sell interval drinks and ice creams to help keep them financially afloat. This is a little difficult as Rock doesn't have an interval. So at Barry the theatre staff decided not to open the doors into the main auditorium until the very last minute, keeping the audience in the bar for as long as possible. Keith and Laura on our bookstall were delighted, as they had a captive group to sell programmes to...

So with a well-lubricated audience, the performance began. We got through it all with no mishaps, and the choir sang fabulously - as Welsh people should! The audience were tremendous, very responsive and excited. For the reprise of Rock of Ages at the end of the night, normally the cast get the audience and choir clapping at first, but then the clapping stops for most of the middle of the song before it is restarted at the end. This audience however managed to keep going right through the song - all 7 minutes of it! Unbelievable.

Some of the comments we received:

"Amazing, powerful, outstanding, unbelievably touching, uplifting, humbling"

"Turning point was the crucifixion - I'd never seen it done so powerfully and sensitively"

So thanks go to Dot, Sharon and Simon and all their helpers - it was great to be able to come to Wales. Thanks so much for letting God use you in this way.

Rock Tour 3 - Leicester

2009-07-09T14:13:00.002+01:00

Not 48 hours after our rehearsal, the touring party all met at the DeMontfort Hall in Leicester for the first performance of Tour 3. Leicester has a great history with CMM. Along with Hull and Norwich, Leicester has hosted every single one of Roger's touring musicals, many of which have been performed at the DeMontfort Hall with a huge choir in support.

Marlene Kant, the former organiser of the Leicester production, had a well earned rest this time round, and after a lot of searching, Lomas Smith finally agreed to take over, assisted by Alan Baum, who trained the choir. Lomas did an outstanding job, and the performance involved a number of choirs joining together - Barrow upon Soar trained by Amy Carter, Newthorpe trained by Carolynn Charlton, Nottingham trained by Anne Hicks, Burton Latimer trained by Catherine Muggleton. Those with a good memory will have noticed that Amy Cater and Catherine Muggleton are both part of the Rock touring party. It was great to see them as part of the choir trainers taking a bow at the end.

This was a particularly exciting performance, as several of the team would consider it their home town - Amy, Felicity, Ann S and Helen, as well as Marilyn, Richard, Laura, Ann W and Catherine living very nearby. A coach of 50 Ann W supporters came from Lincoln to watch her, and Richard's whole family came... again...

After a rehearsal as far as song 11 in the afternoon, the cast felt ready, and were used to the incredibly wide stage. The choir started to arrive at about 5pm, including relatives, school friends and past baby-sitters. A lot of catching up needed to happen...

Lomas had worked incredibly hard selling tickets, and as a result over 1300 were sold - it was a fantastic audience, and great way to kick off tour 3. The performance went very well - the dancers managed to incorporate some of their new moves, and Dave made full use of the lighting rig. We also had a full complement of instrumentalists for the first time since November - so that was great.

Thanks so much to all involved - it was a wonderful event.

Cast Rehearsal

2009-07-07T13:59:00.003+01:00

So with just two days to go before possibly the biggest performance of the tour, the cast gathered together in Birmingham once again to rehearse. All of the cast were able to be present except Paul, all of the dancers made it (in the end - Anna's Megabus had an incident) and all the instrumentalists except Carole were present.

It was an excellent rehearsal - the team had obviously made a huge effort to relearn their parts, and things went very smoothly. Darren, the producer, seemed very happy, and he only had to polish a few small bits.

At the end of the rehearsal Roger, Alan, Viv and Margaret anointed the whole touring party ready for the ministry ahead. It was an excellent commissioning time.

Rock Previsits

2009-07-07T11:53:00.003+01:00

Before the third tour of Rock, Roger was very busy with his series of previsits - this is where he visits every choir ahead of the performance, checking the choir is doing ok, setting attainable goals, generally getting everyone excited...

The Leicester previsit was quite an exciting occasion as there were several choirs meeting together, including two trained by touring party members - Amy Carter had trained the Barrow upon Soar choir, and Catherine Muggleton a small group from Burton Latimer. It is also one of very few previsits for which we have photos - Felicity, one of the dancers, was present and she danced her way around the room all evening taking photos.

Manchester Choir Rock

2009-07-07T11:27:00.003+01:00

One of the joys of working with CMM is that we occasionally hear from across the country how performances of Roger's musicals have gone.

We recently heard from the United Christian Singers, Manchester - a choir that originally formed for the 1990 tour of Mary Magdalene. They have supported us ever since. After their performance of Rock with us back in the autumn, they have put together their own soloists and actors for several future performances. This is what John Pye said in his email.

We (the UCS choir) had a wonderful time singing ROCK at all seven venues. It was wonderfully received by all who came to see it. None more so than the visibly emotional impact it had on the 25 women in Styal prison. Our 'finale', at All Saints & Martyrs church in our Deanery, was sold out with over 300 people and was a fitting climax to our 'Spring Tour'.
We are hoping to sing Mary Magdalene to celebrate the choir's 20th Anniversary near Easter next year, as it was the first musical they presented after the formation of the choir.

Crowborough Rock Roadshow

2009-06-23T12:45:00.003+01:00

Saturday June 13th was the fourth of the Rock Roadshows and our first in a venue from Tour 2. The team for the day was Roger, Richard Harvey and Ann Steer from the Rock cast, Sarah Moreton - the Watford Choir trainer, and Alan Walker and Gill and Brian Johnson from EBRG.

Despite low numbers the day was much appreciated and people really seemed to appreciate the freedom to worship. Roger's team was supplimented by some of the musicians from All Saints Church, who really added to the day.

Gill, Brian and Alan all led workshops, and they were absolutely thrilled with how they went. Brian's workshop was 'The Look of Love', and he was really inspired by the picture that despite the clouds and rain, only a mile away above the clouds the sun is shining.

These are comments already received on Facebook:

"Thank you so much Roger to you and your team. We have been greatly blessed today. See you in 5 weeks (at Lee Abbey). God bless."

"So enjoyed your ministry at All Saints and what a joy to 'work' with you. May the Lord continue to bless your ministry."

"What a blessed day with you! Thank u! Felt so close to the Lord! And took so much away with me... I don't mean the church silver!!!"

"I had a very blessed day at the Rock Roadshow"

"Thanx for today - felt so healed after a grotty start"

Tour 3 is coming...

2009-06-11T14:02:00.002+01:00

Roger has been travelling out and about visiting the choirs for the venues for Tour 3. So far he has been to Gloucester and Barry, and next week he will visit Leicester and Macclesfield. If you are interested in any of these performances, these are the dates and ticket details:

Thursday 25th June - Leicester DeMontfort Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £10 full price, £8 children available from Lomas and Joan Smith - 01530 515068

Friday 26th June - Barry Memorial Theatre, 7.30pm
Tickets £6.50 full price, £5.50 groups 10+, £4.50 groups 20+ - 01446 744914

Saturday 27th June - Gloucester Crypt School, 3pm and 7.30pm
Tickets £8 full price, £6 concessions - 07831 408469

Sunday 28th June - Macclesfield St Michaels in the Marketplace, 7.30pm
Tickets £7.50 - 07702 376937

A Story from the Rock Tour

2009-05-21T14:18:00.002+01:00

"Dear Roger
I know you like to know what impact your ROCK roadshow has on people so how is this for a lovely story:
Rev Val Butler of Trimley St Martin church offered the building as a rehearsal venue for the Felixstowe choir to rehearse in the early days of the training. David White the musical director from the neighbouring Walton Church was our trainer. Both had suffered bereavement and were on their own. I think it was love at first sight and their friendship grew throughout the run up to Rock.
They have now announced their engagement and hope to marry in the autumn. So thank you Roger for unknowingly arranging such a union! We, the choir, are utterly delighted at the news."

Rock Tour 2 - Kidderminster

2009-04-17T15:15:00.008+01:00

And so to Kidderminster for the last performance of the tour. It has been an excellent tour - performances have been good, audiences big, and more conversations and prayer taking place afterwards than ever. It has been a joy to be part of, and what better place to conclude it all than Kidderminster - organised by Sue Stinton and Katy Cornwell. The New Life Together choir have been meeting and performing together for years, and they have been friends with CMM and regular attenders at events for just as long.

We all arrived at the Kidderminster Town Hall in time for a team meeting, where we spent quite a bit of time in prayer, as one of our cast members, Clair, had had an accident on the way to the venue. But thankfully she was ok and Martin was able to go and fetch her. They then got caught in West Bromwich Albion traffic, but still made it in time to have a quick bite to eat and then rehearsal with the choir.

Tickets had been going pretty well for the performance, and so many went on the door that they had to open up the balcony, which was excellent news.

We have been performing at the Kidderminster Town Hall for the last few tours, and had always struggled a little for dressing room space - there was only really one room available - the bar - and there were no mirrors. This time we were delighted to discover that there were a whole suite of rooms we had never discovered before, the King Charles Suite. It is rather a grand banqueting room with comfortable rooms and even a fully equipped dressing room with full length mirrors. Wonderful! This did however mean that the girls and boys had to share makeup facilities. The girls received a fascinating insight into life in the men's dressing room - particularly the rousing renditions of 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire' (in homage to Jonathan's 'chestnut' coloured makeup) and also 'We love you Brenda, we do', whenever Brenda delivers the freshly ironed costumes.

The final performance of the tour passed without any mishaps. The choir sang really well, and it was lovely to finish the tour among friends in front of a full hall.

Thanks again to Sue and all her helpers.

Rock Tour 2 - Derby

2009-04-17T15:01:00.006+01:00

After nearly a week off, the touring party were once again out on the road, for this, the penultimate performance of Rock Tour 2. But the journey was not without it's mishaps. Alan's beautiful new Audi decided to completely give up - all the electrics failed on the A38 in Birmingham, leaving him stranded with Helen and Viv, the prayer coordinator for the weekend. Thankfully Gill, a member of EBRG and one of the choreographers for Rock was reasonable nearby, and she drove Helen and Viv to Derby, where they arrived just in time for dinner. Alan arrived with Gill's husband Bill just in time for prayers before the performance. Everyone else arrived ok, apart from Laura and Ann, who got a little lost in Derby. They made it in the end though.

The Derby performance had been looked forward to with much anticipation by several members of the touring party. Marilyn, Laura, Felicity and Richard all had lots of people attending from their churches - Richard had sold a significant portion of the tickets for the night to his church, who came on a coach. Also, Helen's mum was part of the choir, along with several members of her church in Long Eaton.

The Derby performance has traditionally been organised by Ian MacLaren of Derby Wesley Owen. Ian retired a few months before the performance, but still helped with the organising along with other staff from the Wesley Owen who sold the tickets. The main Derby choir was trained by Peter Nelson, and they were supplemented by a choir from Nottingham trained by Anne Hicks, and a choir from Long Eaton trained by Jane Allen. It was the first time the Long Eaton choir had been involved.

The Derby Assembly Rooms have a unique layout for the performers. The stage itself is enormous both in breadth and depth, and is surrounded by a black wall about 3 metres high. At the top of this wall the choir seats started, almost like a balcony, and the choir was so big it surrounded three sides of the stage.

The performance was great fun - so much room to use, and tickets pretty much sold out. The choir sounded fantastic, and there was a great buzz in the auditorium afterwards.

Thanks so much to all those who worked so hard to make it all possible. The Derby choir always holds their own performances afterwards, so our thoughts and prayers are with you. And also with the Long Eaton choir, who are performing themselves on 26th April.

Rock Tour 2 - Norwich

2009-04-17T11:36:00.006+01:00

After a fabulous day in Ipswich and a wonderful morning meeting, it was just a short journey over the border into Norfolk, to Norwich. Norwich is almost like a second home to Roger and Mary - they have been supported for years by Meadow Way Chapel, and the Southgate family.

After driving very slowly through Norwich Saturday shopping traffic, we finally arrived at the venue - the Salvation Army Citadel. This is the second time this venue has been used. For Wildfire six years ago we used the Norwich family church, and it was booked for Jail Break, but was burnt down a couple of months before the performance. The Salvation Army Citadel stepped in for Jail Break, and it was such a good venue we used it again for Rock.

Salvation Army Citadels make excellent concert venues, as there is almost always some permanent tiered seating at the front - ideal for choirs. The tiered seating at Norwich was not quite big enough for the large choir for Rock, so some of the sopranos were down on stage left, and some more above them in the balcony. The instrumentalists were up on the balcony on stage left - their beautiful tones drifting over the top of the auditorium.

After a delicious lunch organised by the local team (headed up by Jenny Osborne) we had a quick team meeting during which the choir started arriving for rehearsal ahead of the first performance of the day. The Norwich choir, trained by Jenny Osborne, was supplemented by a choir from Lowestoft, trained by Peter Winter. Together they made an excellent sound, which filled the 450 seater auditorium beautifully.

The first performance went well, and the audience seats were almost all filled. We were then able to share with the choir over tea before the second performance, which was great - while attempting to find out the news of qualifying for the first formula 1 grand prix of the season with very little mobile phone signal...

The second performance of the day went well too, although slightly interrupted by a lady in the choir fainting during Just as I am. After being led off the stage, she fainted again, blocking one of the two entrances to the stage so that the dancers couldn't get on ready for song 14 - the healing of the lame man. Martin, who's job it is to carry on one of the dancers to be the lame man instead grabbed the nearest person - Sally, who was still wearing her costume from the previous song. The lady that fainted recovered well, which is a relief. Days with both a matinnee and an evening performance can be quite challenging to choirs, sitting under the hot lights for so long.

Thanks so much to Jenny and Ruth and all the team in Norwich. Most of the touring party travelled to Meadow Way chapel for the following morning's service, with Ann, Annie, Marilyn and Helen augmenting their excellent worship band. It was a lovely service, with Roger preaching, and an excellent way to end the week's tour.

Rock Tour 2 - Ipswich

2009-04-17T09:50:00.006+01:00

And on to our second new venue of the tour - Ipswich. We have long had many friends in Suffolk and the surrounding areas - Colchester, West Mersea, Stowmarket to name just a few. So it was great to finally have an Ipswich performance. The Christmas before last, Helen and Annie had been invited to lead an Inn Crowd in a day at Bethesda Baptist Church in the middle of Ipswich. The organiser, Peter Miller, along with his wife Olive, had done an incredible job organising that day - a choir of approximately 100, and an orchestra of 15 or so. With so much support and enthusiasm behind him, we rather bullied Peter into organising an Ipswich venue for Rock, and what a wonderful job he did!

After our morning team meeting in Worthing, we set off on the long journey through the Dartford Tunnel to Ipswich. On arrival we discovered that although the Technicians had had some difficulty, things were well under way. Peter had managed to pull together a massive choir for the performance, and choir seats were filling up every inch of the stage that could be spared - a huge chunk of the tenors and basses were directly behind the musicians, which gave them a new perspective on the performance!

The Corn Exchange in Ipswich is like a big old... corn exchange. It looks inside like an old railway station - most of the audience seats were on the flat below the stage, but there was some tiering in the balcony and just below it. It holds about 800 people, and for the performance of Rock, was pretty much sold out, which was very exciting. We heard not long after arriving that over the past few years in Ipswich there had been low attendances at shows, and the hall staff were amazed to have a full auditorium. Sadly we discovered that on the day of the performance some of the hall staff had been made redundant. We pray that Rock will have had a big impact on them.

After our team meeting we had a good pray around the building - it is amazing some of the things that happen in a public hall that need clearing away - psychics, seances, mediums.

The Ipswich team (there must have been at least 20 volunteers helping on the day) had put together a wonderful tea for us of jacket potatoes and fillings, which gave us plenty of energy for the performance. We had a good rehearsal with the choir - and an important one too - we needed to get used to wading through choir members in order to get on to the performing area!

The performance went well too - both Helen and Alyson had family in the audience, which was wonderful. Amy managed to play for half of the musical, and had to come off following the crucifixion scene because she was coughing, but at least she made it that far!

Thanks so much to Peter, Olive and their extensive team of helpers and all the different choir trainers - Mike Arbon, David White, Karen Hill, Pat Kirby. What a wonderful event it was.

Rock Tour 2 - Worthing

2009-04-16T15:26:00.006+01:00

The following morning we met together back at All Saints in Crowborough, and had a lovely morning meeting. Just outside the side chapel where we met there was a grand piano, and Devon led us all in a sing song together before we moved on to Worthing. It's moments like that that make tour incredibly special.

We travelled down to Worthing, parked, and hurried down to the sea front. It was a bit of a cold day, but that would not stop all of the midlanders in the team from getting a glimpse of the ocean. Fish and chips on the pier were the order of the day, although some of the team were sidetracked by other eating establishments that offered seating inside out of the wind... After lunch came the traditional stone throwing into the sea, or even some paddling, in the case of Richard and Brenda, and then a wander back through the town to the Assembly Rooms. We have performed at the Assembly rooms for the last few musicals, and it was great to see all our friends - Jane and George Hicks, Steve Brown and John Barnes.

After the team meeting we gave the understudies a rest and had a bit of spare time, and then had dinner - during which Sally had been plotting. When the rehearsal began, instead of track 1 of Rock, track 1 of Jail Break began - Where the Spirit of the Lord is. The choir had been primed, and they all knew the words. Sally had taught the dancers the dance, and good fun was had by all - except perhaps Roger and Alan, who were not amused...

The Assembly Rooms is a great place to perform. There is a large stage with two levels to work on - which the dancers enjoyed, and choir tiering too. We had a good performance again - that has been one of the features of the tour with very consistant performances and everyone trying their hardest

There was a lot of chatter and conversations afterwards, with many friends to be met and spoken to. Anna, one of the dancers, seems to have family all over the country. This time it was her grandmother, who had travelled across from Bognor Regis, a town regularly visited by CMM for music weeks and musicals in a day.

Thanks so much to all those who organised the Rock performance at the Assembly Rooms. It's strange to think that we won't be visiting there again.

Rock Tour 2 - Crowborough

2009-04-16T14:05:00.007+01:00

We met the following morning at a church in Horsham. Sue Messenger, the Crawley organiser, felt well enough to join us, and it was great to see her. After another round of happy birthday for Felicity, we drove the short distance to Crowborough - several cars unsuccessfully trying to find the 100 Acre wood and play pooh sticks.

The venue at Crowborough was All Saints Church, right on the green in the middle of the town/village. It is a pretty ordinary looking Anglican church on the outside, but inside you can see the benefits of £2million worth of work. The original structure has trippled in size, and the extension is beautiful, and very practical, giving plenty of rooms for the cast and choir to use. There is even underfloor heating...

This is the second time we have been able to visit Crowborough. Cliff and Julie Wootton and their family have long been friends of CMM, as regular visitors to our holiday weeks at Lee Abbey, and it has been great to have them on board both for Jail Break and for Rock. They were joined in their organisation by Mark and Cheryl Farnham - an excellent team. The choir had greatly increased in size from last time, under the excellent tuition of the director of music at All Saints - Duncan Fraser.

After our team meeting we had a bit of spare time before dinner, so a few of the team had a birthday party downstairs in the hall for Felicity. This included musical statues, bumps, chairs as well as a brilliant rendition of the hokey cokey.

After a wonderful shepherd's pie, we got down to rehearsing with the choir. The choir were all situated on stage right in an L shape - this meant that they were really able to hear each other well and the blend was excellent. The instrumentalists were stage left, and the cast and dancers were performing in front of some screens hiding the communion table, font and lectern.

The performance was almost completely sold out, which was brilliant. There was also tea and coffee served at the end, which was great, because it meant there was plenty of time to chat to those that had come to watch. This unfortunately meant a late night for Brenda and Barrie in the wardrobe department, as some of the costumes were returned pretty late.

Thanks so much once again to Cliff, Julie, Mark, Cheryl and Duncan. Also thanks to All Saints for having us again. We are really looking forward to coming again on June 13th at our Rock Roadshow.

Rock Tour 2 - Crawley

2009-04-16T10:46:00.008+01:00

After a day off from touring (although many of the touring party went back to work for a day) we all travelled down to Crawley to begin the tour proper - a 5 day stretch. Mary Jones joined us for this stretch of the tour, and it was great to have her with us.

We have regularly performed in the Redhill/Crawley area for the last few musicals, usually at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill. But with Jail Break we performed at both the Harlequin and the Hawth Theatre in Crawley. This time, when the initiator of Rock in the area, Sue Messenger, tried to book the Harlequin, it was unavailable. So instead we were based at the Hawth. The Hawth is a lovely theatre with excellent facilities, a big stage, and a wonderful huge car park - so we were happy!

The choir supporting us at the Hawth were made up of several groups - one choir trained in Redhill by Marian Holmes, another trained in Crawley by Kirsten McCorkell, and yet another choir trained in East Grinstead. Together they made a fantastic sound, and it was a delight to perform with them tiered up behind us.

The day at Crawley also happened to be Paul's birthday, and the following day was to be Felicity's birthday, so we embarrassed them both as much as we could. Firstly with birthday cakes in the team meeting in the afternoon, and then later we made Paul play the part of Jesus (he is the understudy) for the rehearsal. I'm not sure he viewed that as a wonderful gift, but he did very well!

After an excellent rehearsal and some tea, the performance began. Unfortunately, Amy was still unwell and unable to play her clarinet, so she helped us all backstage. While behind the scenes, she also did a bit of praying, and felt that God was leading her to go on stage during the prophetic section in song 15. After some discussion and further prayer with team leader Alan, it was felt that it was right, and when the moment came, Amy, assisted by two of the dancers, led a beautifully simple mime and dance about laying their burdens before God. It's amazing how God can use even those amongst us who are unwell to speak his word.

The performance went really well, and we all dispersed to our hosts for the night - spread right across the county.

Thanks so much to all of those who helped organise the performance of Rock in Crawley. Thanks go to Sue, who initially stepped out in faith, and was unwell on the day of the performance. Thanks go to those who assisted with the organisation - John, Jim, Roger and the choir trainers Marian and Kirsten.

Rock Tour 2 - Banbury

2009-04-15T15:42:00.006+01:00

Following the two performances in Chorleywood, the team had a bit of a lighter day for Mother's day in Banbury. Well, at least the cast did. The techies instead were facing an interesting time at St. Mary's church in the centre of the town. This is a beautiful church whose facilities are increasingly being used for concerts. Classical concerts generally that don't require any amplification. There is a domed gold leafed ceiling that creates the most glorious echo - not so good if you're using PA. But they did a fantastic job, and everything was ready when we arrived from our morning meeting in Hemel Hempstead.

The Banbury performance of Rock was organised by Jenny Smith. Jenny and her family have been involved with CMM for a long time - Eddie, her husband, has been part of the cast in several of the tours, including Jairus' Daughter, Pharisee, Snakes and Ladders, and Wildfire. Eddie trained the Banbury choir for Jail Break, but this time took a back seat as he is training for the Anglican Priesthood in Oxford. So Jenny took over, and enlisted the Oxford choir and their choir trainer, Alan Roberts to join them. This was a fantastic answer to prayer, as there had not been enough room for the Oxford choir to join up with Witney. The Banbury/Oxford choir was also augmented by a group of singers from Daventry on the night, who were trained by David Brierley.

The cast arrived in plenty of time to hold extra rehearsals - the instrumentalists wanted to practice how to manage without Amy, as she still hadn't recovered, and the actors needed to put the understudies through their paces. It was a wonderful opportunity for the understudies to have a go at songs the choir don't really sing in, such as Surely you must have been with him and The Look of Love.

We also had time for a team meeting that afternoon, so we got plenty done. Following the team meeting and while the cast and instrumentalists were rehearsing, Margaret enlisted Jenny, Eddie and their two sons Michael and Stephen to join the team praying round the building. The boys took to it with particular relish, waving flags and praying in every nook and cranny of the building - even the balcony that was not going to be used!

The choir arrived to share in dinner with the team, and then we had a quick rehearsal together. This gave Carol, Annie and Marilyn time to discover what it was like performing behind a pillar where only Roger and the audience could see them. It was hard for the instrumentalists to be detatched from the action.

The performance itself went very well, and the cast did a good job being quiet, as the only backstage was in the stairwell by the fire exit. The audience seemed to enjoy it, and it was lovely seeing the front row full of people in wheelchairs and their carers. Some of the members of the team were able to talk and pray with them afterwards, which was great.

Thanks so much to Jenny and all her helpers - Mothering Sunday was a difficult one to sell tickets for, but they did a fantastic job.

Rock Tour 2 - Chorleywood

2009-04-14T15:57:00.006+01:00

The next performance of the tour found us among very familiar faces - Joyful Noise Choir. The choir have performed with us for a long time, along with their conductor, Sarah Moreton, who has often been a soloist for CMM.

After Sarah initially struggled to find a suitable venue, we ended up at the St Clement Danes School on the edge of Chorleywood, and in the excellent Barbirolli Hall. Sarah and her helpers had done some stirling work, reversing the hall round. The technicians got to sit on the permanent stage, the choir on the tiered seating normally found at the back of the hall, and the cast performed in front of the choir on a stage specially hired in for the occasion. It sounds complicated, but it did work remarkably well.

As it was a Saturday, we once again had two performances, and the hall seemed to be full for both of them. Well done to the choir for selling so many tickets - it felt very full and the audiences were very responsive.

Unfortunately during the day at Chorleywood we had a couple of casualties. Firstly, Amy, our clarinettist had been suffering from a chest infection for the past few months, and all of the playing irritated the condition. This meant that Carole, Annie and Marilyn suddenly found themselves mid performance having to fill in the parts usually played on clarinet. They did an excellent job, but Amy understandably was very upset at not being able to be involved. Unfortunately Amy struggled to play for much of the remainder of the tour.

Secondly, Sally, one of the dancers, aggravated a neck and shoulder injury, so she had to take it easy. The other girls managed to cover her part, but with a lot of practice, particularly for the song Just as I am, which Anna had to learn almost from scratch. Thankfully Sally recovered well and was dancing again at Banbury the following day.

An interesting development occurred in Chorleywood for the prophetic section at the end of song 15. This is the point in the musical where the backing track keeps playing, and all of the touring party try to be open to God to hear what he is saying in the situation. This usually leads to one of the soloists singing out what they think God is saying, or a dancer or instrumentalists using their gifts under God's direction. Usually when this has happened, Roger weighs up the situation. He may say a few words, pray, or simply allow the musical to continue with the next bit of drama. At the evening performance and after some prayer and a great amount of prodding from God, Helen did the summing up rather than Roger. It created a very different dynamic on stage, with the words coming from the character Susannah, rather than the conductor. More prayer is needed as to whether this becomes a regular feature, but it really is exciting to see how God is allowing the performances to grow, develop, and be used by him.

Finally, one of the most exciting things about the performances at Chorleywood were the conversations that took place afterwards. There seemed to be a lot of chatting and praying going on. Most notably, Margaret our prayer coordinator, had some excellent conversations with the St. John's Ambulance people. One of them particularly had had some experience of Church in the past through the boys brigade, and he seemed to be really affected by Rock. We pray that he may come to know Jesus as a result of what he has seen and heard.

Our huge thanks go to Sarah and all her helpers, including Marion, Christine and Susan (who has since won the weakest link!). We also want to thank the lovely gentleman who helped by praying round the building with Margaret, the St. John's people and the stewards. It was an excellent day.

Rock Tour 2 - Walsall

2009-04-14T12:56:00.005+01:00

After a week back in the office, the Rock team attempted to gather at the Methodist Central Hall in Walsall for 5pm on a Friday evening. These Friday night starts are always interesting, especially when they involve the M6 near Birmingham...

It was great having Ann Walters back after she missed the Aldershot and Witney performances. She was desperately needed as by the choir rehearsal we were still two dancers down - Sally and Anna were due in on the train and hadn't yet made it. Anna ran in just in time for the opening song of the rehearsal, and thankfully Sally made it by the performance. So much for Ann taking it easy!

Those of us who made it on time were treated to a wonderful meal of jacket potatoes and fillings. We also had a good look round the central hall. The auditorium itself is an interesting space with tiered seating at the back and on either side, as well as some seating on the flat in front of a low stage which normally holds the communion table, font, pulpit and lectern. It would be a perfect venue for snooker... The instrumentalists ended up being placed far up by the organ console on on the top of the tiering stage right, and the choir filled the tiered seating stage left. The audience then filled the remaining seats. Tickets sold so well some audience even ended up behind the tenors and bases!

The choir, trained by Penny King, did remarkably well. In rehearsal the men had been outnumbered - 6 men to about 80 sopranos and altos! On the night they were supplemented by a few from Kidderminster and Birmingham, and they sounded fabulous. It was great being on stage and hearing that wall of sound coming from your left.

The performance went very well. Alan, our team leader, had managed to get a seat next to his wife Sue on the front row of the audience. He generally cries whenever his daughter Rachel comes on stage, and at the crucifixion scene - but normally he is far enough away from the stage for the cast not to see...

It was also wonderful to see so many of the touring party chatting with the audience after the performance. This is something that seems to have really grown during Rock, and has led to lots of prayer ministry opportunities. God is really using the musical.

Thanks go to Penny King and her husband Peter for all their hard work, as well as the hard work of all the team supporting them. It was a great evening.

Rock Tour 2 - Witney

2009-04-14T12:23:00.005+01:00

Witney formed the second part of our Rock double header double header. After two performances in Aldershot, we had a further two on the Sunday in Witney.

We met in the morning at Aldershot Methodist Church, before the congregation arrived for their Sunday service. The local hosts made us feel very welcome, and we had a lovely time of sharing with them. We then split into different carloads and made our way to Witney. It's difficult finding a cheap Sunday lunch in such a pleasant Oxfordshire village, but most of us seemed to manage it! I'm still not sure how Roger and Alan managed to move after their enormous roast dinner and pudding...

After a team meeting out in the glorious sunshine the cast gathered on stage to meet the choir. And once on stage, discovered that they were suddenly much depleted in number. Catherine and Alyson were both ill, and Ann was assisting with Alyson. And Devon had gone missing. So that meant the rehearsal was an interesting one, with noone to play the part of Miriam, and Clair and Martin stepping in for Alyson and Devon. Alan had an interesting time as team leader trying to get everyone into the right places at the right time for rehearsal! He did a great job, because Roger didn't notice at all! It was one of those occasions where the choir were smiling on the outside, but probably terrified at the ineptitude of the cast on the inside...

Thankfully both Catherine and Alyson were recovered enough for the afternoon performance, and Devon had been found. Both performances that day went brilliantly well. The choir were superb - excellently trained by Paul Herrington, and the audience seats were full. Shirley, the event organiser, had been concerned at losing the use of the drama studios as changing space a few days before the performance, but the cast managed fine in the school PE changing rooms. Brenda was a trooper, ironing costumes for the cast in the corridoor behind the stage.

We also had a fantastic time of fellowship with the choir during an enormous bring and share tea in the school canteen between performances. This was brilliantly looked after by Maggie and contained a disturbing amount of home cooking. Absolutely delicious - thanks everyone for your hard work!

One of the highlights of the Witney performance for me was the times of prayer with the choir before the performances. These are normally special times with every choir, but this time it took place in an incredibly echoey sports hall. This meant that the obligatory renditions of 'Spirit of the Living God' and 'Abba Father' were utterly beautiful - vibrating round the hall in 30 part harmony. Gorgeous.

So thanks once again to Paul and Maggie Herrington, and Shirley Enoch for their hard work in organising a performance in Witney. Our prayers are with the choir as you continue to work together and perform in the area.

Rock Tour 2 - Aldershot

2009-04-14T10:50:00.006+01:00

So the tour of Rock began properly on Saturday 14th March. For this weekend we were sadly without Ann Walters, one of the dancers, who had been taken ill after the Hinckley performance. The rest of the touring party made their way from the different corners of the country to the Princes' Hall in Aldershot. The hall, perhaps not the most beautiful building from the outside, had excellent facilities inside, including a large auditorium and a good sized stage. The Hall was in the main town part of Aldershot, and not the military town. I understand a few members of the touring party were disappointed at the lack of men in uniform...

Aldershot is one of the two new venues on the second tour of Rock, but there were many connections with previous performances. Many of the choir had taken part in the Eton performance of Jail Break back in 2006, and some had even sung in the Wildfire performance in Camberley in 2003. Derek Wade, who bravely agreed to take the event on, has been known to us for some years through MWF - the Music and Worship Foundation.

Two choirs had been trained for the occasion - one by Derek himself, and another by Eric Moore. There were about 50 in the choir in total, and they did an excellent job. Derek had been very brave and had decided to go for a matinnee as well as an evening performance. This left a choir of 50 nearly 1000 tickets to sell. Both performances felt comfortably full - it was well worth performing twice.

Another of the joys of matinnee performances is that the cast and crew get plenty of time to mix with the choir between performances. Our tea was served in a church 2 minutes walk away, and we were very well looked after - and I was amazed at the remarkable speed with which the meal was tidied away afterwards!

It was brilliant to be able to perform Rock in Aldershot. It is always fantastic to have a new venue and new people to meet. As well as Derek and Eric, huge thanks also go to Sue and Trevor Smith, and Denise Williams for their help with tickets and accommodation and no doubt numerous other little jobs.

Rock in Hinckley

2009-04-08T12:11:00.006+01:00

After a quick rehearsal on the preceeding Tuesday night, almost all of the cast gathered at Hinckley Methodist Church for a full rehearsal and performance in front of an unpaying audience. This is what Roger calls a 'Pre-Season Friendly'.

And very friendly it was too. Hinckley Methodist is Simon Cooper's home church, although he has since moved to Worcester with his wife Laura. Simon plays Jesus in Rock, and he has a huge fan base in Hinckley, which was great to see. Simon's sister Rachel trained the choir, made up from singers from all over the Methodist Circuit, who had all closed their evening services specially for the performance. The choir did a brilliant job, even managing to perform from memory on not a great many rehearsals.

We performed in the church itself, which gave rise to some interesting challenges. The stage was fairly large, but due to the layout of the church, we had to perform diagonally across it. This meant that one of the most challenging pieces when almost all of the cast are on at once - Were you there - was even more so. Some of the men had to stand up the steps to the pulpit to give the dancers enough room. The instrumentalists had their own minstrels' gallery up above the back of the stage by the organ console. Special mention has to go to Malachi Theatre Services for dealing well with the complexities of the venue.

After a bit of a ropy afternoon runthrough, we had a really good evening performance in front of a packed house. Many thanks go to Simon, Rachel, and all those at Hinckley who helped organise the event. We were made to feel really welcome and were well looked after. Well done all round!

Tour 2

2009-04-08T12:09:00.002+01:00

All the remaining previsits were very successful, and it was a real joy to meet up with all the choir members ahead of the performances.

Tour 2 is also now complete, and I hope to bring you full reports in a couple of weeks time. Watch this space...

Previsits

2009-02-26T10:29:00.003Z

The tour is coming!

We've just had our first round of previsits ahead of the tour. On Monday Roger, Devon, Helen and Amy travelled down to Aldershot to meet the choir training for the performance of Rock at the Princes Hall there on the 14th March. We had a lovely evening with the choir - Aldershot is a new venue, but there were a lot of familiar faces in the choir from the performance of Jail Break at Eton and Wildfire at Camberley.

Helen was particularly excited to meet Lewis Moody's aunt who was in the Aldershot choir.

The following morning we travelled to the Redhill/Reigate/Crawley area to have an evening with the choir there. Their performance will be at the Hawth Theatre in Crawley on 24th March. They had a lot more rehearsals to go than the Aldershot choir, but were doing very well at learning their words.

At the end of the Crawley rehearsal a lady showed Roger the old plans for rebuilding of her father's garage in Birmingham - the plans had been drawn by Roger's father, who was an architect.

It was lovely to meet old friends, which is always one of the great highlights of the previsits. Please pray for Roger as he travels to Witney, Banbury and Watford this weekend.

Rock Roadshow again!

2009-02-23T10:52:00.002Z

This is a comment received from John Mellor (Sheffield) after the Doncaster "Roadshow":

It was a great day last Saturday and good to have the time to reflect on aspects of "Rock" - a very refreshing day. Thank you for your ministry during the day and for all the members of the team.

Prayer

2009-02-20T16:23:00.002Z

And it's word learning time again for the Rock cast. Please pray for us all as we re-learn our lines ahead of our pre-tour rehearsals. And also please be praying for all of the tour 2 venues as they have their last few rehearsals and sell their tickets. Pray that plenty of non-Christians are in the audience, as the message of Rock is so clear.

Symphony Hall

2009-02-20T16:20:00.005Z

Tickets are now on sale for the Symphony Hall massed choirs performance of Rock on 14th November 2009. If you want to sing or watch, get your orders in as soon as possible for the best seats. It's going to be a fantastic day, and the end of an era as the last of Roger's touring musical performances.

£17 full price, £12 concession (Groups of 10+ at concession rate)

Please also note that this performance will be signed for the deaf. Please notify the office if there are any members of your party that need this facility so we can place them in the ideal location to see the signers.

Order your tickets from the CMM shop now!

Rock Roadshows

2009-02-20T14:37:00.003Z

The first three Rock Roadshows have now been completed, and we're absolutely thrilled with them.

The days ran as follows:

Roger's first plenary session "I will follow you" looked at the call of the first disciples, looking particularly at story as told in Mark's gospel. The particular focus was on Mark 1:18, a short, yet very pithy verse: "Immediately they left their nets and followed him." You can guess Roger's three points - Immediately, Left their nets, Followed him.

The second plenary session "Prophetic Worship - Do you love me" was an interactive session enabling the delegates to develop their creativity in worship, and then to invite the Spirit to come and turn their creativity into prophecy.

After lunch, the group split into three workshops led by the CMM team. These were:

"This is the place" - receiving the power of the Holy Spirit
"The look of love" - receiving the look of love from Jesus
"Working in the Father's business" - using the gifts of the Holy Spirit

And then the final session of the day was "Feed my sheep - a Chosen People" - a general encouraging and building up session led by Roger, leaving time for ministry at the end. This looked at 1 Peter 2.

The first area choir to take the plunge was Manchester, and their day was held at Bamford Chapel in Rochdale. The choir, led by Walter Brisk, have been long-term supporters of CMM. There were 50 delegates, and a CMM team consisting of Roger, Annie, Mike and Barbara Rowarth (EBRG), Gill and Brian Johnson (EBRG), Jonathan Chappell from the Rock cast, and Barrie Renwick and Brenda Earnshaw from the Rock Touring Party. We had a CMM music group like no other - Annie on keys, Jonathan on his 12 string guitar and Brenda on flute.

Two weeks later we didn't have to travel far at all and held the day in Birmingham for the four choirs that made up the choir for the premiere. 50 people braved the snow and joined in the fun at Christ Church, Ward End. The team for the day included Roger, Mary, Helen, Helen's sister Miriam, Martin Fisher, Devon Brown, Jonathan Chappell (all from Rock Cast), Anne Maddox (Roger's PA), Alan and Sue Walker (EBRG), as well as the local CMM choir team of Pat, Linda and Denise. We also managed to force Rachel Walker to join in with the team too, rather than hiding at the back...

And then a week and a whole lot of snow later, the team travelled to Doncaster. Roger was supported this time by Annie, Gill and Brian Johnson (EBRG), Richard Harvey and Ann Steer from the Rock Cast, Amy Carter (instrumentalist) and Barrie Renwick from the Rock touring party. Over 70 people were at the day, mostly from the Doncaster and Sheffield choirs, although there were a couple of people from Hull.

A great time was had by all. Have a look at the CMM website for details of the Roadshows to come - the next one is in Crowborough on Saturday June 13th.

A New Rock Year

2009-01-19T15:58:00.002Z

We're getting into 2009 with a bang - we've developed a series of 'Rock Roadshows' - follow up days for anyone who sang in or watched Rock, and even those who missed it. The days will include Bible teaching from Roger, some workshops based on themes from the musical, and plenty of songs from the show as well as other worship songs. The first of these days is on Saturday at Bamford Chapel in Rochdale. It's not too late to book! Go to the CMM homepage - www.cmm.org.uk to see further details and the booking form, and then email me - helen@cmm.org.uk if you would like to come.

I've put the roadshow dates at the side of this blog. I've also added a new section - your noticeboard. This is so that if any of you have details of Rock rehearsals etc, you can email me and I'll post them up there.

Tour 1 - Keighley

2008-12-16T14:24:00.004Z

We met the following morning in Sprotbrough, the main base for the Doncaster choir. After a quick team meeting and pray, we moved on further north to Keighley, the last performance for tour 1 (and therefore my last tour 1 blog post - woohoo - not that this hasn't been fun...).

Keighley was a late addition to our touring schedule - we had initially hoped to travel to Bradford, as we had in the past, but our main contact there Darren Garforth (of Snakes and Ladders fame) had moved east to Leeds. So instead we decided to pester Amy Walters. Amy has been a friend of CMM for many years, often singing on our albums as part of the backing vocals groups. She even got a solo on the David CD - check out the last line of track 11 v 3. We'll have to give her a longer solo soon - she's studied music and singing at Nottingham uni since then!

Amy agreed to take on the mammoth task of organising a Rock venue, and training the choir too. The task was undertaken with great enthusiasm, and the result was a fantastic choir, a full venue, and a lovely lunch laid on for the touring party (can't forget the food, obviously).

The performance was held at the Keighley Shared Church, which created its own set of not unique problems, known as pillars. The audience still filled the seats however, and seemed to have a really good time. The cast had only one entrance from the vestry, but we overcame some of the problems of entrances and exits taking longer by having Cornelius sit in the audience in order to just step onto the stage for his narrations. After all, Cornelius is the one reading and experiencing the story throughout.

Congratulations to Amy and all her wonderful team of people. The performance at Keighley really was a fitting way to end our first tour with Rock. So now it's back to the office for us all, until tour 2 in March.

Keep your eyes on the blog and the website, and I'll try hard to keep things updated.

Tour 1 - Doncaster

2008-12-16T13:33:00.005Z

After an overnight stay with hosts in Sheffield, and a team meeting at Alan and Rachel's old church in Totley, we moved on just down the road a little to Doncaster... via a large shopping centre on the outskirts of Doncaster for some retail therapy.

The last few performances of Roger's touring musicals have been at the Danum School, and it was there we travelled again, this time for a matinee as well as an evening performance. It has always been a pleasure to visit friends in Doncaster, and this was no exception. One of the highlights of the visit is the bring and share tea, which gives the whole touring party plenty of time to sit and meet the choir properly, rather than in a rushed rehearsal.

The Danum School also brings with it a huge amount of nostalgia - the changing rooms are very typical school PE changing areas, the boys particularly complete with its distinctive odour... It was also great for those in the cast who had long amounts of time backstage, because they were able to navigate their way right round to the back of the hall and watch without the audience noticing.

After the vast amount of space in Sheffield, we had to squash right down to fit onto one of the smaller stages of the tour. It did mean that the cast and choir were able to get to know each other quite well...

The two performances went very well, and it was great to see some of the Sheffield choir from the previous evening sat in the audience.

The two masterminds behind the performance were Keith Mears - choir trainer and Margaret Ventom - organiser. Between them they did a marvellous job, with some wonderful assistance - particularly the lads that sold programmes and helped with the general set up. Thank you for all your help.

Tour 1 - Sheffield

2008-12-16T13:02:00.005Z

After what was for most of the cast, a normal week at work, we set off back on the road again for our last weekend of performances this year. With forecasts of heavy snow, we weren't sure what awaited us, but in the end it was just a bit of rain, even up in the pennines.

Our first performance of the weekend was in Sheffield at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre. This was a recent change to the Rock performance schedule. The Sheffield performance was previously going to be at the Victoria Hall right in the centre of the city, but the choir grew, and the tickets sold very quickly, and it was soon quite clear that a bigger venue was needed. As it turned out, extra chairs had to be brought in, and there were at least 800 in the audience. What a fantastic achievement.

Congratulations to the magnificent organising duo of Liz Tipple and Sally Rhodes. Liz and Sally also trained two of the four choirs that joined up for the occasion, the other were under the care of Muriel Stonehewer and John Mellor.

The Hillsborough Leisure Centre gave the touring party the biggest stage they will possibly every get - the performance was on the hall floor, with the audience mostly tiered. It did provide interesting issues for changing and getting ready however, with simply a gazebo at either side. The cast spent all the parts of the performance they were not on stage ducking down behind the choir as there was no corridoor behind stage, just a blank wall. It was quite fun really.

Another particularly memorable part of the Sheffield performance was Paul bringing a word in the prophetic section, which was really beautiful, and greatly appreciated by a lot of people. Thanks to all those who have 'risked it' during the first tour, singing out what they feel God is saying.

Another fantastic evening!

Tour 1 - Hull

2008-12-11T14:37:00.006Z

Northallerton Methodist Church very kindly allowed us to use their Cottage room for our meeting, while their morning service was taking place. It's a strange feeling when you are on tour to realise that the world is continuing as normal - church services, work, school. While at Northallerton, Barrie gave us his three point sermon on parking in Hull - park legally, park cheaply, and I can't remember the other point - sorry Barrie...

Anyway, Barrie Renwick, our multi-talented supporter, had his moment of truth on this last day of the first tour week. Barrie, along with Phil Davison and Jean Gray (and numerous others), had organised the Hull performance of Rock. When Barrie left to come on tour with us, he thought they'd barely sold any tickets...

We left Northallerton together and travelled to Hull, Keith still taking the role of stand-in techie following the events in Sunderland. We arrived in Hull in perfect time for lunch, where they'd prepared for us a marvellous chilli and an equally lovely lasagne. It's quite a challenge preparing food for all the odd dietary requirements of a touring party, so well done to all the venues, not just Hull!

Hull is one of the few towns to have hosted every single one of Roger's musicals. By the end of the tour, the cities of this distinction will be Birmingham, Hull, Norwich, Leicester and Bristol. There are even some choir members who have taken part in every one!

The Methodist Central Hall is one of those interesting venues with restricted access to the stage - not only was it possible to only get to one entrance, but there's a set of steps to climb too! It made getting on and off stage a little slower than usual, but I don't think the audience minded too much. The Hull choir was too big for the stage, which was very exciting. That meant that the tenors and basses had to sit on the ground floor below the stage next to the musicians. They may not have been visible from the audience, but they did have the honour of being able to see the production from the front...

The performance was great fun, and Barrie needn't have worried, because the hall felt pretty full with at least 300 attending. Well done to everyone involved - what a fantastic job!

Tour 1 - Northallerton

2008-12-10T12:09:00.006Z

Following the Sunderland performance, the touring party met at Ewesley Road Methodist Church for our morning meeting, after which there was a photo op: Richard, who had organised hoodies and t-shirts to be made up for the team needed to take a photo of us all in Sunderland, where the printer comes from.

We then travelled on to the Hambleton Forum in Northallerton with a busy day ahead - both a matinee and an evening performance. Following the havoc of the day before, we were still two technicians down, so we were joined by a wonderful volunteer from Sunderland, Phil Wake. He is a multi-talented chap - great with first aid as well as PA, and he was an unbelievable help to us. Another man who worked with us was a local minister who, it turns out, is excellent at ironing...

Following a hurried lunch (I understand some of the team got stuck in a pub...) we had a very quick team meeting, and then it was straight into rehearsing with the Choir. The choir were expertly trained by Iris Smith and Helen Weighell - both veterans of CMM tours, and it was great to work with them again. The stage at the Hambleton forum is quite narrow, yet very wide, which poses an interesting problem. The look of the performance was very different, as scenes that would normally be quite deep are instead much wider. The other interesting factor at the Forum was that the choir were bigger (more numerous) than last time, so the two side exits were blocked and the only entrance was through the choir at the back - football tunnel style.

Following the matinee performance, the cast were fed incredibly well by the Northallerton people - it was the most amazing array of cakes ever seen, along with all kinds of savoury bits and pieces.

The evening performance also went well, except for the overheating of a couple of choir members! They had worked very hard all day, so it was not suprising - the cast got to go backstage where an outside door was open, so there wasn't the same problem for us!

Thanks especially go to Janet Bryer for all her hard work in organising the event - taking over from Ed and Dorothy Richardson who had done the work for the past few musicals. It is always a pleasure to sing at the Hambleton Forum, and wonderful to see all of our Northallerton friends.

Tour 1 - Sunderland

2008-12-09T08:56:00.007Z

The next morning we all met together at St. Cuthbert's Church in Blyth. This was one of those rare occasions we could all be together to pray, even including the technicians. The technicians were provided with pie to keep them going by the local wonderwoman, who not only bakes, but sings, plays the organ, and serves tea and coffee beautifully! In the churchyard, Marilyn slipped and grazed her face - little did we know it would be the start of an interesting day...

We then moved on to Sunderland. As it was not such a long journey we were able to stop in different places on the way down. Bill managed to get his swim in the sea at Blyth, and some of the team managed to find their way to Whitley Bay, and then to Sunderland through the Tyne Tunnel.

In recent years we have performed at the Seaburn Centre in Sunderland, so it was most unusual to travel instead to the Salvation Army Citadel right by the Stadium of Light. It was a lovely venue, and we were wonderfully welcomed. It did have some curiosities though. The men's changing room seemed to be a creche area right underneath the tiered seating at the back of the hall, and there was a special children's door to get into it - which was interesting for our predominantly tall male part of the touring party.

The Salvation Army Citadel in Sunderland is in a difficult area of the city - right where it should be to be on the front line of Christian ministry. This meant that we found it was an area of some Spiritual attack. So having had quite a smooth tour so far, we had a lot of incidents all on one day. Two of the technicians were out of action, and there was a struggle with the lighting rig, which meant that the remaining techies were working hard right up to when the doors opened - with Keith (our bookstall guy) standing in to help. The choir therefore had to stay away from the performance area, so for most of the rehearsal time we all met in a meeting room downstairs. The choir coped wonderfully well, and were able to sing one rehearsal song on the platform upstairs before we let the audience in.

The performance itself had a couple of incidents, not least of which was Roger falling from his podium and knocking his music stand over. And then it was Children in Need that evening, accompanied by a large firework display right outside the Citadel windows!

Our performance in Sunderland was a day to remember, and God was clearly working through all the incidents and mishaps. Our huge thanks go to Valerie Boyd the choir trainer and joint organiser with George Sanderson. They did a wonderful job, particularly in finding the Citadel. Thanks also go to the choir who were wonderful when so much seemed to go wrong. And thanks to the wonderful members of the Salvation Army in Sunderland, who worked very hard and made us feel so welcome.

Tour 1 - Blyth

2008-12-05T13:29:00.004Z

After working our way up the north west of England, it was time to cross over the Pennines to the east. We travelled right across country to Blyth via Dobby's Garden World in Ponteland for lunch (although a few of us went to the pub next door).

It was brilliant to finally make it to Blyth - 6 years ago we held a Wildfire previsit at St. Cuthbert's but the choir travelled to Sunderland to perform. Then three years ago we were all set for Jail Break when the theatre was double booked and we travelled to Cockermouth instead. So 9 years since Snakes and Ladders, CMM was once again touring in Blyth!

This time round Dave Cooper was responsible for the original booking, but then he had an army of helpers to take it on while he produced the local performance of Fiddler on the Roof! The choir was trained by Danny White and a couple of others, and Dave was assisted by the wonderful team of Glenys and Trudy in the administration side.

The Phoenix theatre was a pleasure to perform in. The sell-out audience felt incredibly close (we could see the light reflected from a hundred pairs of glasses), and there was plenty of room on the stage. I particularly enjoyed the little corridoor underneath the stage, but I'm not sure all the cast would agree with me! Also backstage there was a sound system, so that meant that those waiting to come on could hear every word...

We had our afternoon team meeting in the bar, but it wasn't open for drinks at that point!

The performance itself went really well. It was fantastic not to see an empty seat in the house, and God seemed to really bless all that were there. Alyson had been back in action singing since Penrith, and her voice was going from strength to strength, which was great to hear.

Tour 1 - Penrith

2008-12-05T11:59:00.007Z

Following our Ulverston performance, the touring party had a well-earned day off. The weather was utterly appalling, but that didn't stop us - most people travelled to Keswick and either went for a walk in the rain and wind, or pottered around the shops. Roger went to his hosts Graham and Thelma in Penrith and spent most of the day asleep. Due to the bad weather, a lot of the touring party ended up at Rheged, where Richard went on a search for Cornelius pictures:

After a relaxing night at our hosts in Penrith, we were back getting ready for another performance, this time at Penrith Methodist Church. Some of the touring party didn't fancy a lie in, and they were richly rewarded with beautiful weather for a trip to Aira Force:

After a fabulous lunch of lasagne at the church, we prepared for our two performances at Penrith. It was unusual to have a midweek matinee, but Graham Allan and all his helpers were rewarded by two good sized audiences, including plenty of children in the afternoon. The Penrith choir was drawn from far and wide - some from Penrith itself, but lots from villages and towns all over Cumbria and North Yorkshire. They were excellently trained by the 'Rock Chicks' - Claire, Carolyn, Helen and Rachel. The church at Penrith is one of the more complicated to stage a musical - the choir had to sit partly to the side and partly behind the action, leaving the performing area an oval shape, but these challenges keep the cast and dancers fresh and having to think on their feet!

For this performance we had a kind of 'minstrels gallery', with the instrumentalists sitting up in the balcony of the church. While it meant they couldn't see all the action, it was lovely having the sound floating down from above!

Another highlight from Penrith was the signers Heather and Marcia. They had a special monitor which brought up all the words for the songs as well as drama operated by Graham at the back. It meant that the tenors and basses could watch and check the cast got their lines right...

Thanks to Graham, Thelma, the Rock Chicks and all their helpers for having us and organising a wonderful day.

Tour 1 - Ulverston

2008-12-04T11:21:00.004Z

The next morning after our team meeting we travelled together to Ulverston. This is the point where all of the city dwellers in the touring party get excited by occasional glimpses of the sea, topped off by wonderful mountain views.

The Coronation Hall in Ulverston is a venue we have visited for the last few tours, so it was wonderful to be back. This was the first 'normal' day of tour - here's how the timetable for a normal tour day should look:

1000 team meeting
1030 leave and travel to next venue
1500 team meeting
1630 tea
1730 choir arrive
1800 rehearsal
1910 prayers with choir
1930 performance
2130 back to hosts

It was fabulous to have time for a proper team meeting in the afternoon - we spent a good time praying and listening to God for one another. All part of training for ministry as you never know who you'll talk to or have to pray with from one venue to the next.

After tea we met with the choir, which was great fun. The Barrow in Furness/Ulverston choir is renowned for having quite an interesting bunch of altos who certainly keep the event entertaining. Despite the witty interjections, the choir trainer Sharon Collins had trained the choir brilliantly, ably assisted by her son Anthony the CD master.

Carole Marsden was back on the oboe and cornet, which was wonderful, but Alyson's voice had still not returned so Clair continued in the role of Zillah. Aly became an honourary technician for the night, and even got to wear a Malachi t-shirt.

It was wonderful to be back in Ulverston again - thanks so much to Margaret Manvell for all her hard work organising, along with all those who assisted her. As with all the venues, it was sad to think that this will be the last visit.

Tour 1 - Wigan

2008-12-04T10:39:00.004Z

We met the following morning at Bury for our team meeting - thanks to those at Bolton Road Methodist Church who put up with us on an extremely busy remembrance Sunday!

Unfortunately, during the Manchester performances, Alyson's voice had gradually disappeared, so that meant that for the Wigan performance Clair had to step in. Carole also couldn't come to Wigan, so the instrumentalists were one down. As you can imagine, some intensive rehearsal followed when we had all gathered at the Robin Park Sports Centre.

Wigan has made a habit of being unusual during Rock. It was a new venue to us, and was made possible by Hilary Young, a long-time friend and supporter of CMM and regular attendee at the Scargill music week. She stepped out in faith offering to hold a performance despite knowing that she'd need a lot of help that she didn't have at the time.

At the taster evening only 13 people attended, but God knew what he was doing as Trish Culshaw (later Trish Hill) offered to administrate the venue. Trish managed to secure a grant from the Mayor's office to cover the whole event, so any profit that was made would then go to the Lord Mayor's charity.

Wigan continued to be unusual by holding a previsit that stopped halfway through for a meal, and then the actual performance was held at 3.15pm - not 4pm as is our normal matinee time.

Despite torrential rain drumming on the roof and cold temperatures in the hall, the performance went very well. The 35 strong choir were fabulous, and the large audience very responsive. Clair did an excellent job stepping in to the role of Zillah, and the instrumentalists covered for Carole brilliantly (although "when the last clarinet's voice shall sound" doesn't have quite the same ring as trumpet!).

Following the performance the whole touring party was fed a pizza hut round the corner, and we had a lovely evening off relaxing at hosts.

Hilary, John and Trish - you did a wonderful job, and we pray that God will continue to give you fabulous projects in Wigan to share the gospel.

Tour 1 - Manchester

2008-12-03T11:54:00.005Z

You may be forgiven for thinking that after such a busy weekend, the cast were given a week off... But no. The wonderful instrumentalists and dancers were, but it was straight back to work for the cast, and this time it was the understudies that were given a full workout by Darren. And it was certainly worth it, as will emerge shortly...

Saturday morning arrived, and the touring party made their way to Manchester. This was the first time we had been joined by Brenda Earnshaw - Brenda has taken over the job of running the wardrobe in Ann Parkin's absence. It is her job to ensure all the costumes are ironed and washed during the tour week, and then to help with all the quick costume changes backstage - ably assisted by Barrie Renwick.

We arrived in good time for lunch (except the technicians who had been snarled up in traffic), and were provided a delicious hot meal by the canteen at the Royal Northern College of Music. The meal had been paid for by a member of the Manchester choir and family in memory of her husband, who used to love singing in the musicals. Thank you so much.

The technicians Dave, Steve, Michael and Tom finally arrived and set up in double-quick time ready for the choir rehearsal and matinee performance. The Bruntwood theatre boasts a fabulous large stage and steeply tiered audience seating, so no-one has a poor view. The dancers had a special dressing room high up above and to one side of the stage, up a spiral staircase, which they seemed to enjoy.

Both performances at Manchester went very well - particularly because of the large, excellently trained choir. The evening performance was attended by Bishop Chris Edmundson - bishop of Bolton, and former warden of Lee Abbey. Chris is a long-standing friend of CMM, and it was great to be able to have him on stage at the beginning. Our fourth bishop in five performances!

Thanks go to Walter Brisk for his choir training, and Tony Wallwork and Chris Goddard for all their hard work organising the event.

Premiere part 2

2008-12-02T11:53:00.011Z

After the first night nerves, the cast and choir were raring to go on the second day of our premiere weekend. We had two performances on the Sunday - a sellout matinee and a pretty full evening show. It turned out to be in God's plan that the Sunday night hadn't sold out, as the hall staff were able to slip in at the back and watch.

After Bishop David on the Saturday night, we had Bishop Michael Whinney - a great friend to Roger and CMM over the years - for the matinee performance, and Bishop Andrew Watson for the evening. Andrew had only become Bishop of Aston a couple of days before the performance. We were his first official engagement!

The camera crew stayed for the afternoon performance, which was a great relief for the cast so that they could iron out the little mistakes for the DVD.

So watch this space - the official Rock DVD is being pressed at this very moment, so they will be available very soon - hopefully before Christmas. Get your orders in now!

Time for some more thanks - this time to all those who have helped with the preparation of the musical:

Darren Close - worked incredibly hard producing the drama, sorting out the cast's appalling acting, and fitting the whole thing together.

Claire Close and Ann Parkin - designing and making the costumes. As you can see from the photos, they look absolutely amazing (they didn't make the Roman armour though...)

Sally Jones and Gill Johnson - choreography. The dancing really is stunning - there have been so many comments about the dance, particularly the crucifixion scene. Nice one.

Annie Routley - Annie's fabulous arrangements have added so much to the musical. The instrumentalists give the cast time to change costumes, sort props, while at the same time setting the mood for the next scene, giving the audience time to reflect, and sounding beautiful!

Jonathan Chappell, Martin Fisher and anyone else involved in sorting the props - this was not a small job for this musical, so thanks guys.

Mary Jones - the amazing unseen job of looking after Roger, and in combination with Richard Harvey, keeping the touring party well supplied with tea and coffee.

Roger Jones and Alison Fuggle - without your creativity and openness to the Holy Spirit, Rock would never have happened.

Premiere part 1

2008-12-01T16:40:00.007Z

We're back from tour now, so I'll gradually be adding to this site the details of what we've been up to.

First of all, on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd November, we held the premiere of Rock at the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham.

The touring party all gathered at the hall and met with the wonderful 170-strong Birmingham choir for an afternoon rehearsal ahead of the big event. After a good rehearsal, the choir and cast disappeared backstage to get ready as the audience began to gather. For some of the cast this was the first time in stage makeup, and Ann Parkin and Claire Close finally parted with their beloved costumes. The camera crew arrived from the Isle of Wight ready to make the DVD, and the first of the weekend's Bishops arrived - Bishop David Urqhart - the 'new' Bishop of Birmingham.

At 7.10pm the cast (those that were ready) and the choir met together to pray, led by Bishop David, and then the choir took their places.

The performance began with an introduction from Bishop David, an interview with Alison Fuggle - author of the lyrics - and then a final word from Roger.

The sellout crowd were very responsive and appreciative, laughing and clapping at all the appropriate places. Amazingly for a premiere, the performance went off pretty much without a hitch - only a couple of moments where lines were forgotten and props left where they shouldn't be.

Huge thanks go to all those who helped organise the day - to the choir trainers - Phil, Katie, Sylvia and Pat - to the CMM choir committee -to Denise who assisted me with the tickets - and to Anne and Lindsay in the office for all their help.

A hard weekend's work

2008-10-31T11:55:00.004Z

The cast, instrumentalists and dancers all met together last weekend to work on Rock. We rehearsed all Saturday, and then all Sunday afternoon. Then on Sunday evening we performed with a small select choir at Christ Church, Burney Lane in front of the evening congregation. This was the first performance with costumes and lights. We're thrilled with how it went, and are looking forward to the premiere...

Here's a couple of photos:

The Previsits Begin

2008-10-22T14:05:00.002+01:00

Rock has really begun now. Over the last couple of weeks, Roger and a few cast members have been visiting different choirs for tour one, making sure that everything is going well, and giving them a bit of a last minute blast of enthusiasm.

On Wednesday evening last week, Roger, Alyson, Rachel and Bill travelled to Wigan. Wigan is a new venue for us, and they like to do things a bit differently. Not all of the choir could make an evening meeting, so the previsit began at 5pm with a break for a meal in the middle.

Then on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Roger, Mary, Bill, Simon and Helen had a tour of the north of England - Barrow in Furness/Ulverston on Friday night, Penrith Saturday afternoon, Blyth Sunday morning and afternoon, and Sunderland Monday evening. All the choirs seem to be getting on really well, and most people seem to have memorised their words!

Pray for all the tour one venues that they are able to sell their tickets, and that the choir members can feel happy and confident with all their word and part learning.

Roger's latest email update

2008-10-14T12:16:00.002+01:00

Dear Friends,

We are nearly there – the World Premiere of ROCK is just over 2 weeks away. The opening night (Sat 01 Nov) is already sold out, but there are still tickets left for Sun 02 Nov at 4pm and 7.30pm. You can order in the CMM online shop

Click here for details of other venues for Tour One

A vital issue I must mention is our 2010 AND BEYOND appeal. We urgently need support for life after ROCK. As things stand we will not be able to support Annie, Helen and myself once the Tours are over, but we have a great vision for extending and developing the ministry. A small monthly or weekly commitment from our supporters will go a long way towards enabling this to happen. Please download our 2010 AND BEYOND appeal leaflet and consider responding.

Many thanks for your time, prayers and encouragement.

Bless you all!

Roger

Learning to dance

2008-10-10T10:34:00.002+01:00

At one moment in the performance, Jesus washes Peter's feet. Now we've decided that Peter is going to be ticklish - and why not? And after he's had his feet washed, he's going to get them dirty again by joining in with the dance.

The photo I've put on here is Sally Jones (choreographer) teaching Devon Brown (Peter) to dance. Devon is of course famed for his dancing in Pharisee, 12 years ago, and I have to say, he is a suprisingly good mover...

Rock Website Update

2008-10-09T12:54:00.000+01:00

The CMM website has been updated with lots of new Rock information, including all of the tour 1 venues, ticket prices and contact details. Also, there is now a special offer for Sunday evening - groups of 15 or more all tickets are at £5.

Sheffield Venue Change

2008-10-03T16:29:00.002+01:00

The venue for Rock in Sheffield on Friday 21st November 2008 is no longer the Victoria Hall. It is instead the Hillsborough Leisure Centre. More details to follow...

Cheadle Hulme

2008-09-29T11:40:00.003+01:00

The Rock Cast's first away event was a great success. After a very early start (the day before for Bill!), the team arrived a Cheadle Hulme for a Rock from Scratch day organised by Paul Barnsley and 'Heart Notes'.

During the day Roger and Annie trained a choir of over 90, while Helen rehearsed the cast separately. Roger and Annie found the time invaluable, discovering what are the 'accident blackspots' in the musical, and which bits will be good to work on with the choirs at previsits. The cast worked incredibly hard - particularly the understudies who had a chance to really work at the drama.

At the end of the day we put everything together, and performed the musical to one another, even including small bits of drama. Bill, as Cornelius, had memorised the narrations from the vocal score, which gave the overall performance great coherence. Looking forward to putting the drama in now!

If you'd like to see photos of Cheadle and cast rehearsals, click here.

Rock Dancers

2008-09-26T16:53:00.002+01:00

After a bit of a crisis a few weeks ago, we are now delighted to annouce that our dance team for Rock is now complete:

Sally Jones (also choreographer) - previously danced in Snakes and Ladders, Wildfire and Jail Break
Ann Walters - previously danced in Jail Break
Laura Rhodes
Anna Salmon
Felicity Norris

Grovelling apologies...

2008-09-26T16:40:00.004+01:00

I am so, so sorry for the lack of update on the two CMM blogs and website. I've sent some updates for the main website through to Alex, our webmaster, so there should be some more up to date info on the tour soon.

Rehearsals are going well after a slightly shaky start, and we had our first rehearsal combined with cast and dancers on Tuesday. Most of the songs have been marked out now, so we simply need to practice and refine things. A huge thanks goes to Darren Close, our producer and Sally Jones and Gill Johnson, the choreographers for all their hard work.

The cast have their first away mission tomorrow, at a Rock from scratch day in Cheadle Hulme. After the scratch choir have spent the day learning the musical, we will be performing a concert version of Rock at 3.45pm. Should be great fun.

Other aspects of Rock are going well. Please pray for all the tour 1 organisers and those responsible for selling tickets. It'd be fantastic for the choirs to be able to perform in front of a full house.

Roger recently wrote this in an email:

"I’m thrilled to tell you that we have recently had two tremendous
“Tasters”, at Exeter (Crediton) and Weston. Considering these are both Tour Four
venues and there is a long way to go before they even start rehearsals, it was
so encouraging to see such large numbers and the great excitement and “buzz”
amongst them all!"

Our other blog...

2008-06-06T09:38:00.002+01:00

In case you followed the link here and wanted to read the general CMM blog rather than the Rock blog, here's a link:

http://christianmusicministries.blogspot.com/

Roger pasted in the wrong link - sorry!

Rock Rehearsals

2008-06-05T16:48:00.009+01:00

Cast rehearsals for the drama are underway. Drama rehearsals are always hard work - most of the cast were taken on for their singing skills and not... well there I'll be quiet...

We really got down to looking at the script on Tuesday, and started putting some of the scenes together. Here's some action shots and a video. Sorry about the echo...