A week in Scotland

Some of the CMM team

For the second time in 2 years, a team from CMM travelled to Scotland for a week in June.  This time the visit was slightly different - instead of visiting a number of venues to perform a musical, we sandwiched a David music week with two performances of Two Sisters and a Funeral.

Working with the choir in Beith

The team consisted of Roger, Mary, Amy, Jonathan, Barrie and Helen.  We began in North Ayrshire in the town of Beith, to the South West of Glasgow.  A wonderful team of singers had been ably trained by Derek Turner, and it was great to work with them.  On the Saturday we spent the day rehearsing, and also included some worship and some Bible teaching based on the themes of Two Sisters and a Funeral.

Derek Turner in Beith

On the Sunday morning we were honoured to take part in the morning service at the church, and it gave a great opportunity to share with the congregation and advertise the musical performance.  Rev Roddy MacDonald was very welcoming to us.  Helen has a second cousin at the church, who runs the youth group, and a lot of arm twisting went on to get the youth to come to the performance!  The performance went really well with a good audience.  Derek played the role of Jesus as well as playing violin.  Thanks also go to our hosts who looked after us amazingly well.

Choir rehearsal at Blairmore House

On Monday morning we made the long journey north to Blairmore House, near Huntly in Aberdeenshire.  Blairmore House belongs to Ellel Ministries, who base their Scottish work there.  It is a beautiful building in a lovely setting, and the original furnishings gifted to the ministry are amazing.  They also have a newer conference suite which is excellently equipped.  This was the venue for our David music week, which was quite an experience.  There was not a huge number of guests, but those that we did have worked really hard and also got stuck in to the worship, fellowship and Bible teaching.

The choir at Aberlour

One of the exciting aspects of the music week was its close proximity to one of our regular venues, Aberlour.  Maureen Anderson and her group at Aberlour themselves learned the musical, and this meant that we were able to join together the two choirs for two performances - one on the Wednesday evening at Aberlour, and one on the Thursday evening at Blairmore House.  It did mean that the music week guests had to work extra hard to be ready an evening early, but they did a fantastic job.  The folks at Aberlour also provided a wonderful band, and with Roger on the keyboard Helen had to conduct.

Before the final performance

The final evening at Blairmore house was wonderful.  The Ellel team had worked really hard encouraging local folk to come, and it was so exciting to share the gospel with so many non-Christians.  The presence of God can be felt so clearly at Blairmore we are sure simply bringing people through the door can change lives.  Huge thanks go to Kerry and her team for looking after us so well.

The Edinburgh Choir

The final stop on our Scotland tour was Davidson's Mains Church on the outskirts of Edinburgh.  We have regularly visited this church, thanks to their wonderful choir trainer, Philip Coad.  They really are exceptional musicians, and the choir was beautifully trained.  We were also joined by an exceptional soloist who took the role of Jesus.  Saturday was a long day of rehearsals and a performance in the evening, but tiredness didn't show for an exceptional Two Sisters and a Funeral.

Thanks again to all who hosted us or were involved in the organisation at any of the venues.  It was a brilliant Scotland visit once again.

Dinner at Ellel Scotland

The band at Aberlour

Aberlour Church

Davidson's Mains Church

Barnt Green Monday Fellowship

On Monday 10th June, Roger, Mary and Helen travelled the short distance from the office to St Andrew's Church in Barnt Green.  St Andrew's have long supported CMM's ministry - Tim used to attend the church, and Katie and Sheila (both CMM associates) attend the church.  It was a delight to be able to support the work of the Monday Fellowship there.

The team were also joined by Kath, for whom this was only her second CMM event, and she was certainly thrown in at the deep end regarding repertoire.  She handled it all amazingly well - singing with confidence even if she hadn't seen the music before!

The Monday Fellowship were great hosts, joining in where appropriate and feeding the team strawberries and cream.  Roger shared about his ministry, and demonstrated various aspects of the work of CMM.  Thanks to Barnt Green for inviting us!

Wildfire in Yeovil

The soloists in action

For the first weekend in June Roger and a team travelled to Yeovil to spend some time rehearsing and performing Wildfire at St Mark's Methodist Church.  Kate Killick and her group of singers have often joined us at different events locally including Two Sisters and a Funeral at Crediton, so it was great to visit them at home.

Bill mid stoning!

Roger took a team with him of Paul, Bill, Wendy and Caroline, but unfortunately Kaye had to pull out at the last minute.  This left Roger short of a soloist, so after a desperate search, a local girl named Sarah stepped in.  She did an amazing job.

The choir also provided some excellent baddies, and a great time was had by all.  It was also good to see Chrissie Taylor and Malcolm Stoves taking part too.  The morning after the production Roger and the team helped to lead the morning service at the church.

The choir in action

Jairus' Daughter at Grange-over-Sands

Sharon training the choir

The bank holiday week at the end of May arrived, and so did our annual music week at Abbot Hall, Kents Bank, near Grange-over-Sands.  This year the featured musical was Jairus' Daughter, a musical originally written for the Girls' Brigade.

Pam assisting on keyboard

It was a wonderful week with some great highlights - Annie spoke on the Sunday morning, Anthony gave several magic trick shows, and there were some great solos including Jonathan Lewis.

Roger led the morning Bible studies based on the Girls' Brigade motto - seek, serve and follow Christ.  Annie took the orchestra, and Sharon trained the choir, aided by Pam on keyboard.  It was also to have Marion Owen hosting for us once again.

Anthony giving a magic show

Morning worship

Three soloists in action

The orchestra

Oi!

Jonathan singing his solo

Wildfire in Stowmarket

Roger has regularly been invited to Stowmarket in Suffolk to visit St Mary's Anglican Church and the choir that is trained there by Mike Arbon.  This time they had been working on the musical Wildfire, and Roger was there to lead some workshops and the Sunday morning service before conducting the final performance.  Roger took with him Sarah and Amy who were able to support him and play their instruments in the musical.

The choir are always excellent, and this time was no exception.  They had worked really hard, and along with the local soloists put on a great show.  The soloists all had t-shirts with their character names, and this added to the wonderful look of the choir uniforms and the banner behind to give a fiery theme.

There was a lovely big audience too, and Roger was thrilled to wear his Wildfire shirt once again!

A day of quiet and a morning of noise

On May 11th we were honoured to have Barbara Rowarth come and lead a quiet day for us.  This time we chose the village setting of St Catherine's Blackwell for the day.  Barbara is incredibly gifted in putting together visual aids and prayer stations, many of which are grounded in her experiences in leadership with Wholeness Through Christ.

The day was really beautiful, and all those that attended were really blessed.

The following morning, Helen travelled to Belle Vue Methodist Church in Shrewsbury.  She had been invited to lead a morning service based on worship.  For the theme of the service Helen used the 'Being a worshipper' teaching using the story of David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant.

It was a real joy to visit Belle Vue.  They have a number of instrumentalists who work together to lead worship, including trombones, flutes and guitars.  It was good to work with this group and give them some ideas as they look to develop in their worship leading skills.