Rock of Ages

The day following Pharisee, Roger had a special speaking engagement. It was the 10th anniversary of the Gloucester and District Christian Choir, led by Pamela Dewick, and they held a special service at which Roger spoke.

Pamela (known affectionately as the Duchess) formed the choir in 2000 specially for the Gloucester performance of Snakes and Ladders, and they have been involved in every tour since then.

To celebrate, the choir had a weekend away together in Somerset, and it was great for Roger to meet with them at this special time.

Pharisee in Weston

Early in September Annie had been invited to Weston to help with a Pharisee in a day at Locking Castle Church. Pharisee is quite a long musical to learn in a day, but Annie managed it! She was greatly aided by some fantastic local soloists including CMM regular Kaye Cooke, and the lack of men meant that she just had to teach the soprano and alto parts.

Annie conducted the performance brilliantly, and Roger and Mary came and were part of the audience, which was lovely for the choir.

Jairus' Daughter in Sidmouth

At the start of September a CMM team consisting of Roger, Mary, Bill & Barbara, Helen and Amy travelled down to Sidholme, a Christian Guild hotel in Sidmouth, Devon. The host couple for the week were Peter and Joy Mills from Leamington, and it was great to work with them again following previous weeks at St. Ives. The hotel was totally full, and about two thirds of the guests took part in the CMM week.

The musical for the week was Jairus' Daughter. We had expected just to have a choir at this week trained by Helen, but we also had several musicians, so Amy took a small orchestra with Roger on piano, and a flute, a clarinet, a trombone and a saxophone. Jairus' Daughter is a fairly simple musical, so the guests learnt it very quickly - the choir were beautifully balanced and made a fantastic sound. They were a real pleasure to conduct as they all looked at the conductor and responded brilliantly to dynamics and expression.

As well as learning the musical, we had several other sessions during the week. Bill spoke at the Sunday morning service, Helen led the introductory evening and did the main Bible teach

ing on Monday morning. On one evening we had a Ways to Praise session looking at Psalms, Hymns and Songs, and we also gave a special preview of Two Sisters and a Funeral. All the rest of the team chipped in leading worship and epilogues. Peter and Joy lead morning prayers every day, and it seemed to grow and grow until there was nearly no space in the lounge.

The performance went fantastically well with some lovely solos from the guests. There was also quite a large audience - we had to bring in extra chairs.

By the end of the week it was clear that God was blessing and working with most of the guests, and it was a real privilege to be there to minister.

Two Sisters

Throughout the summer we have been working really hard on Roger's new musical, Two Sisters and a Funeral. The soloists for the CD have been meeting together, and the backing vocals group have also rehearsed.

Main soloists:

Jesus - Martin Fisher

Lazarus - Devon Brown

Martha - Alyson Ottaway

Mary - Emily Bray

Then there are a few other soloists:

Some women of Bethany:

Caroline Finney

Amy Carter

The 'baddies' in Jerusalem:

Bill Carpenter

Richard Harvey

Jonathan Chappell

Pete Hazelwood

Andrew and Gemma's Wedding

Friday 27th August was the second Jones family wedding of the year. This time it was Andrew's turn to tie the knot with Gemma. The bride and groom looked apicture, the groom did a great job with his funny speech, and the families had a wonderful day together - first at the church in Wolverhampton and later at the beautiful reception venue.

There was a gifted cartoonist at the reception who amused the guests throughout the day. Every now and again there would be a huge peal of laughter whenever he finished his

latest creation.

Willersley 2010

In mid August we held a music week at Willersley Castle near Matlock in Derbyshire. This was our second summer music week at Willersley, and it is a fantastic venue - brilliantly accessible in a beautiful part of the country.The Christian Guild hotel was a complete sellout, and it was wonderful to have so many taking part in the week.

The host for the week was Marion, who has hosted with us several times - usually at Abbot Hall near Grange-over-Sands. It was wonderful to have Marion with us, and she did a fantastic job - even more so when we heard that her husband John had died (aged 98) only a couple of weeks before. John was a wonderful character, and will be sadly missed.

The musical for the week was From Pharaoh to Freedom, and this time Helen was training the choir, with Annie sorting out the orchestra. We also had Phil Parkin on team who did a wonderful job accompanying. As well as Phil, Helen and Annie, the CMM team comprised of Roger and Mary, Paul Edwards and Alan Walker. It was great to have Paul over from France, and we look forward to when he comes back to the UK and we can see him more often.

The choir and the orchestra were absolutely excellent, and they produced a wonderful performance on the Friday night, and quite a number came to watch, including some friends from Sheffield. But beyond the performing, the highlights of the week came in ministry, as quite a number of people were touched by the Spirit and received prayer.

Another lovely evening occurred when a team came from a church in Nottingham to lead us in worship and share their testimonies. It was great to be encouraged by them and then for us to encourage them in turn with their future ministry.

We also held some Holy Spirit ministry workshops during the week, as well as a whole evening looking at the new musical - Two Sisters and a Funeral. Martin Fisher was working in the area, so he came to join us for that session.

A wonderful week, and we look forward to next year when we will be working on Two Sisters and a Funeral.

Wydale Hall

On the weekend immediately before our Willersley music week, Annie travelled up to Wydale Hall in East Yorkshire. The purpose of her journey was to lead worship for the parish weekend away for Heversham and Milnthorpe. The speaker for the weekend was Martin Cavendar from ReSource, an Anglican organisation who have a wonderful evangelical charismatic ethos.

Annie had a bit of a difficult journey up and then problems with the projector, but eventually everything settled down and went incredibly smoothly. Annie was greatly blessed by the weekend, and I'm sure everyone was blessed by Annie's playing and worship leading!

Lee Abbey 2010

The annual CMM music week at Lee Abbey in North Devon was a great success once again. This year's musical was From Pharaoh to Freedom, and the full house at Lee Abbey took to it with relish. The choir
and the orchestra were smaller than usual, but the audience was therefore quite a bit bigger.

The choir was led by Paul Herrington, who has been involved with CMM music weeks at Lee Abbey for several years. Paul did a fantastic job with the choir and the soloists,

who all picked up the music very

quickly.

Annie once again was in charge of the orchestra, and she had a lovely group to work with, including an excellent string section. They were also brilliantly supported by a drummer from the Lee Abbey Community, which really added to the performance.

Although the choir and the orchestra were perhaps a little smaller than in the past, there was no let-up for the team. One of the features of the week was the amount of prayer ministry which occurred - God was clearly using Roger's teaching and all of the worship sessions to bless people with more of His Holy Spirit.

We had a lovely email from Sue in Derbyshire after the week:

Hi Roger/Mary

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say how much we enjoyed last week at Lee Abbey. I thought the musical was fantastic and despite not having sung in a choir since I was 18, I thoroughly enjoyed testing my sight reading skills again. We listened to the CD all the way home to Derbyshire and reminded ourselves of the great time we had.

Roger, you’re obviously in the perfect job given your amazing musical talent and gifts in the way that you communicate with people. It was delight to spend the week with you.

God bless.

Sue