Wednesday 24 September 2014

06 September 2014 - Apostle and an orchestra

Helen working with the choir
On Saturday 6th September we held a special musical in a day at Annie's church, St Germain's in Edgbaston, Birmingham.  40 instrumentalists and 100 choir members responded to the invitation to come and take part, and we had a wonderful day together.  Annie (celebrating her 20th anniversary at CMM) led the amazing orchestra, and Helen trained the choir assisted by Katie.

Annie working with the orchestra
After a morning and early afternoon of rehearsals in separate rooms, the choir and orchestra combined with the CMM soloists Devon, Richard, Bill, Amy and Sarah for a run through before the audience arrived.  We were delighted to be joined by a trio of Priests from the St Ives choir, who had come up for the day - they did an amazing job.

The bus from St Helens
St Ives weren't the only group to have travelled a long distance - we had a group from Middlesbrough, a carload from Crowborough, a coach from St Helen's and a family from Barrow-in-Furness.

The amazing choir
The performance was spectacular (and loud), with some great instrumental work and singing from the choir.  Roger spoke and shared the gospel very clearly, concluding a wonderful day.

Thank you so much to all who took part, particularly to those who were so selfless helping with the bookstall and refreshments etc.

Some of the strings
The well known accordion 'section' of the orchestra
Some sopranos in action
Some of the woodwind section
Some of the descant singers, with Katie helping on piano
Annie in action
Annie bringing the choir and orchestra together
Bill (Barnabas) playing with the crowd
Richard (Ananias)
Sarah and Amy (disciples 1 and 2)
Yeah!
Woodwind and brass
Our Cornish priests
Jazz hands with Bill and Devon (Saul)

Wednesday 10 September 2014

August 2014 Willersley Castle

The second CMM music week in August was at Willersley Castle near Cromford, Derbyshire.  Once again the musical of the week was Apostle, but this time Roger and Mary were not accompanied by Helen or Annie, but instead had Sarah Moreton to train the choir, and Paul Herrington to train the orchestra, as well as Catherine and Devon to assist and be generally wonderful.  The CMM team was joined again by the wonderful Marion Owen as Christian Guild host.

Unlike Lee Abbey, where the community fill the evenings with activities, the CMM team and Marion had to do more of the work!  One evening was led by Paul and Sarah, learning particularly music from Seasons and Reasons.  Another evening featured Devon sharing his testimony and singing some songs.  It was great to be able to use the team in this way.

The final performance was a really special occasion.  The orchestra was augmented by Annie on viola, and Alan and his daughter on drums and flute respectively.  There was also a lovely big audience, with lots of familiar faces.  The fabulous choir provided some excellent soloists, and Dave did a great job taking the role of Barnabas.

Devon, Sarah, Paul and Maurice preparing to lead worship


Devon rehearsing for his evening.
Sarah working with the choir
Paul working with the orchestra
Marion and Mary
Devon celebrated a birthday during the week
Dave getting ready to take the role of Barnabas



August 2014 Lee Abbey

After a couple of weeks of quiet in July, the CMM team of Roger, Mary, Annie and Helen joined by Sally and Karl travelled to Lee Abbey for the Apostle music week.  This year the musical for all of our main music weeks has been Apostle, and Roger took the themes of 'Sit, Walk, Stand' for his morning talks.

Once again we were privileged to be supported by John and Ann, the pastoral couple, and this year the Lee Abbey host team was excellently led by Amy.

Highlights of the week include Karl's hip hop workshop, where people wrote and performed their own raps, accompanied by instrumentalists.  Sally led a dance workshop, ably assisted by Molly...  It was wonderful to see Molly able to run around and join in with the dancing.  There was also a lovely outdoor communion service on the Thursday evening, and Annie, Helen and Tim were able to join Jamie in leading worship.  The annual Lee Abbey community show was one of the best ever, and our own performance of Apostle on the friday evening wasn't bad either!

Ann and John Pangbourne, the pastoral helpers
Helen working with the choir


Annie working with the orchestra

Sally's dance workshop
Michael at the hip hop workshop
Roger demonstrating 'hip hop cello'
Karl working with some of the community on their raps
The annual podex match against the camp
Robin celebrated his 70th birthday at Lee Abbey this year
And so did Mary!
Helen, Annie, Tim and Jamie leading worship outside
All together for the final rehearsal