Cometh the hour...

The Inn Crowd in a day is almost here! An amazing 150 people have booked to attend, and some more are expected to come on the day. This should be a performance to remember. With over 80 sopranos and lots of flutes, it'll be like nothing ever heard before.

Hopefully the printer will deliver some vocal scores in time...

On a different note, Roger has returned from India full of stories about God's work out there. It seems they have had a brilliant time. I'll have to get him to write something on here about it one day. But his photos can be seen at:

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb229/rogerwjones/

Travels afar

We are just coming to the end of several weeks where different members of the CMM team have been away from the office. Firstly, Roger has been out in India, with two of our regular soloists, Devon Brown and Ann Steer, and Mike and Barbara Rowarth, wonderful supporters and friends.

They started off in Kerala, leading workshops and seminars based around 'The Inn Crowd'. Have a look at

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb229/rogerwjones/for latest photos.

On Monday they travelled to the teaching hospital in Vellore to begin a week of mission, which will culminate in a performance of Jail Break on Sunday evening. This will be a very challenging week, as Roger has to lead two teaching sessions a day, as well as a choir rehearsal.

Helen was away last week in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. She was walking the St. Cuthbert's way in aid of CORD, a Christian charity based in Leamington Spa. The walk is from Melrose to Holy Island, and covers 100km (62 miles). Helen and her sister Deb managed well over three quarters of the walk before Helen's ankle decided to give up. Despite this, they have raised over £1200, which is an incredible figure. To look at photos, please visit:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9642650412 , or if you would like to add to the sponsorship total, go to http://www.justgiving.com/debandhelen .

Finally, Annie has been away on holiday visiting her father and stepmother in Somerset. She was hoping to travel to Anglesea with her stepmother, Gay, but they were forced to cancel this trip due to Gay's ill health. Annie has been able to spend time with them in Somerset instead, which will hopefully have been a restful time.

Musical Launch

Just a few excited thoughts today about 'The Inn Crowd in a Day' which is going to be happening on September 29th. So far 77 people have booked, and there's still a few choirs which haven't sent definite numbers.

It's always interesting on these occasions to see who turns up - nearly two years ago, we had over 200 people come and learn 'While Shepherds Watched' in a day, which was quite incredible. It was also the big retirement party for Phil though, so a lot of people came. Last year we held 'A Grain of Mustard Seed' in a day. That musical doesn't seem to hold the same appeal as the bible based musicals, despite some really good pieces and its strong message. We have already had considerably more bookings than for Mustard Seed, so I'm beginning to get excited.



It looks like it is going to be an interesting orchestra - so far we have:

2 drummers
2 guitarists
1 cello
1 violin
1 oboe
1 trumpet
1 trombone
and 4 flutes!

Not sure what instrument I'll play yet...



The choir is also going to be interesting:

5 altos
9 tenors
7 basses

and 42 sopranos!



God has a strange way of working sometime.

Photo: Trumpeters at 'A Grain of Mustard Seed in a Day' last November

In the beginning...

Helen...

I write this first post from a very quiet CMM office. Roger, Mary and Sally are away on holiday, Annie is working from home, and Lindsay and Katie aren't working today.

This is my first week working full time for CMM, and I am trying to work out what the most important things are in my long list of work to do! My major piece of work is organising what will be Roger's last big tour, Rock, the story of Simon Peter. He and Alison Fuggle are writing it at the moment, and work seems to be progressing fairly well, or as well as things usually progress this far from a deadline. The tour organisation is going well. Most of the venues for tour 1 and tour 2 are sorted out, and I'm just beginning to look at the third tour, to the South East. It'd be fantastic if we can make this the best tour yet.

I'm also organising and sorting out several events which will take place in Birmingham. The first is a dance day with Sally on September 22nd, then there's 'The Inn Crowd' in a day, on September 29th. I hope that over 100 people will come to that one. The other two are a bit further away - a day of singing workshops with Katie (from the office) and Penny (conductor of the CMM choir) on November 10th and a concert with Marilyn Baker on January 25th. Still got a bit of time for them.

I'm also hoping to reinitiate my schools work. Last Autumn I worked with a primary school just down the road from here, teaching the musical Away in a Manger for their Christmas concert. Each class took a different song, and then there were some which the whole school sang. The final performances went really well. Now there's 'The Inn Crowd' resource too, I hope to be able to work with a couple of schools this year.

Photos: top left: Mary, Annie, Lindsay, Roger and Helen at the CMM Christmas dinner 2006

bottom right: Lindsay, Katie and Mary sporting silly hats, Christmas dinner 2006