Two Sisters at Rhos-on-Sea

In October Roger, Annie and Sarah travelled to Rhos-on-Sea in North Wales for a special Two Sisters event there.  We have often visited Rhos for holiday weeks at St. Winifred's Hotel, and it has been great over the years to build up a relationship with Keith Harrison at the nearby URC church.

Keith decided to step out in faith in organising the day, and it was a wonderful success.  He gathered together a huge choir and some wonderful soloists, who together created a wonderful sound and atmosphere.

There was also a really exciting moment where Roger felt led to pray for a lady who had a bit of a limp, and she left not limping any more - praise God!  Sometimes when we gather together to sing a musical it can feel just like a bit of a community gathering, but actually moments like this remind us that God is present and active, and the Holy Spirit has a big role to play in our lives.

Renewal Day

Andy, Roger, Dan and Sarah

The Seasons and Reasons recording day wasn't the only event on a very busy weekend.  On the Sunday Rev Andy Alden and a team came up from St. Paul's Church in Weston-super-Mare to lead the next in our series of renewal evenings.  As they had travelled so far, we decided to make a day of it, so they were involved in the morning service, led an afternoon workshop, and then also took part in the evening celebration.

Andy and Roger

It was a wonderful day - Andy had some really interesting things to say about being a mission focused church, and how to really engage with your local community.  If anything in the community is good, it is a sign of God's Kingdom.  So we need to think about working in the areas that are filled with darkness and pain.

In the evening the theme was 'Rhythm in the heart of God' - about spending time in God's presence.  Revival comes when people want to be in God's presence.  Prayer should really be about us being with God in a focused way.

Seasons and Reasons Recording day

On Saturday 8th October over 100 people gathered at Christ Church, Burney Lane for an exciting day of singing and recording.  As previously mentioned in the blog, Roger and Timothy Dudley-Smith (along with Annie) have been working hard on a collection of hymns - Seasons and Reasons.  This day was the congregational recording day (the solos had already gone down), and it was great fun.  Roger, Annie and Helen took turns in conducting, while Chris King set up a mini recording studio in the side chapel.

We were absolutely delighted with the sound the choir produced.  Chris has since worked really hard to get the mixing finished, and quite a lot of the material recorded that day has been able to go on the CD, which is wonderful.

Photos by Robert Jones http://robertcjones.co.uk/

Chris setting up the mics

Helen leading the warm up (not dancing!)

Some of the altos

Roger in action

Some sopranos

More sopranos!

Chris beavering away

Annie in action

Mary and some altos

More lovely altos

The tenors and basses

Stargazers in Welshpool

While Roger and Mary were in Norwich, Annie took Jenny with her to Welshpool for Stargazers in a day.  Like Norwich, Welshpool provided all of their own soloists, and the day went brilliantly.

Many of the singers had taken part in Jerusalem Joy in Arddleen back in the spring, and some had even come to our Willersley Castle week, so it was great to see them there.

Stargazers is great fun to do in a day, and their aren't too many solo spots - so it is very achievable by a church without too many resources.  We can recommend it!

From Pharaoh to Freedom in Norwich

In late September Roger and Mary travelled to Norwich for the weekend.  They had a bit of a traumatic time getting there - they had to leave much later than planned and then the traffic was terrible.  But they made just in time for the soloists rehearsal on the Friday evening at Meadow Way Chapel.

Meadow Way has been a kind of home-from-home for Roger and Mary for a number of years, and they have some fantastic friends there.  The musical 'Two Sisters and a Funeral' was dedicated to them - but they didn't take the hint and insisted on doing 'From Pharaoh to Freedom' instead.

Not only did local people provide all of the soloists, but there were also loads of musicians and singers that Roger and Mary then worked with on the Saturday.

Roger was utterly delighted with the performance - despite being in a lot of pain with his shoulder on the Friday evening, Roger was back to his best the next day, and they had a wonderful time.

Roger and Mary also took part in the morning service at the chapel on the Sunday, and then they stayed on a few more days to relax afterwards - including the indispensable visit to the 'Patisserie' for breakfast!

Recording time!

While Roger and team were in Cornwall, Annie got to work recording the backing vocals for the new album, Seasons and Reasons, which is due out in November.  The group consisted of Ann Steer, Katie Leaver and Miriam Dix on soprano, Annie Routley and Sarah Moreton on alto, Dave Tandy and Dave Roberton on tenor, and then Paul Edwards and Dave Roberton on bass (yes, Dave R did have to work hard!).  The group put down some fantastic vocals, including various bits of solo work, which was fantastic.

Then a few days later Roger returned with lots of soloists to put down the rest of the vocals.  On the first day soloists included Devon Brown, Helen Pollard, Ann Steer, Amy Carter, Fran Smith, Simon & Lou Gudger, Sheila Davies and Catherine Muggleton.  Then on the second day of recording there were some from the previous day, but also Kathleen Owen, Richard Ayres, Megan Catherwood, Rosie Elliot and Katie Leaver.  Bob Deakin also came and recorded on an earlier date.  And we also had a cameo singing role

Helen, Amy, Ann, Fran and Sheila

Devon and Katie

Megan

Richard and Roger

Kathleen and Rosie

Dave, Paul and Dave

Katie, Miriam, Ann, Sarah and Annie

The recording has been great fun, although there was a huge amount to be done.  Lots of the backing tracks are the same, but all 32 songs still require a lot of work as all of the vocals are completely different to before.  We look forward to hearing the results!

New mailing

Not long after our trip to Cornwall, we managed to send out the latest mailing.  Here's Roger's email version:

Hi Folks

This is our very important half-yearly mailing. Please do download these items as they contain much more information than I can include here.

There are two parts:

(1) Autumns 2011 NEWSLETTER: (in hi or lo-res)

lo-res:

http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/newsletters/09-11-cmmnews-lowres.pdf

hi-res (more pictures):

http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/newsletters/09-11-cmmnews-hires.pdf

(2) STILL RUNNING THE RACE - explaing our vision and plans for the future, 2012-

http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/cmmappeal.pdf

STOP PRESS!!!
SALLY gave birth to MOLLY CAROLYN on 09 Sep. She and KARL are very delighted (but very tired!), and we are all thrilled to have a new Grandaughter!

A few pictures will be available on: http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb229/rogerwjones/FAMILY/?start=all

Two new CMM products are being published at the beginning of October:

FISHERMAN'S FRIEND - Alison Fuggle's poems and lyrics - these will thrill you, and make you laugh and cry!
SEASONS AND REASONS Music Book- a major project with Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith - 32 hymns, with his words and my tunes.

These will soon be available for order on the CMM Web Site: http://www.cmm.org.uk/products/catalogue/index.php?newproducts=1

We so value your support, whether it be financially, prayerfully or being actively involved in our events. Some of you do all three, and we are so grateful! Do have a good look at the STILL RUNNING THE RACE leaflet:

http://www.cmm.org.uk/downloads/cmmappeal.pdf

Bless you all!

Roger Jones

An Exciting announcement

Molly, with proud parents Karl and Sally (and piglet)

During our visit to Treloyhan, Sally gave birth to a new granddaughter for Roger and Mary.  Molly Carolyn Taylor was born on Friday 9th September at 2pm.

Staying on in Cornwall

Bob in action

Since we were down in Cornwall, we took the opportunity to spend some time with the churches down there over the weekend.  Several months ago we had been invited by the St. Martin singers at the parish church in Camborne to visit them and perform Two Sisters and a Funeral.  The CMM team was supplemented by Bob Deakin, who came to sing the part of Jesus, with Bill as Lazarus, Amy as Martha and Catherine as Mary.  There were also lovely cameos from Barrie and Garry as the baddies!

We met the singers on the Thursday night for a rehearsal, and then spent all of Saturday with them.  They sang really well, and it was also great to be assisted by Adam on the PA, and his son Joe entertaining us by building a large train out of a kind of duplo at the back.


The performance was great - the church was really full, and the audience seemed to really appreciate all that went on.  Huge thanks to Jan for inviting us, and looking after us so well!

The West Briton's review of the event

Following on from our successful visit to Camborne, we spent the Sunday in Methodist circles in Truro, beginning with the morning service at Threemilestone, and then an evening circuit service at Truro Methodist Church.  

It was great to be at Threemilestone again with John and Gill Harris (who had taken part in the choir for the music week and at Camborne).  We led the morning service based on Martha, and then in the evening Roger spoke about Lazarus.  The morning went well - Amy and Bob sang 'If I could do something' as part of it.  We were then treated to our second Cornish Pasty meal of the weekend, and then Catherine, Bob and Bill headed home, leaving Roger, Helen and Amy to carry the flag in the evening.

At the evening service we were joined by a drummer, and there was also a circuit choir who sang Man of Sorrows really beautifully.  As a response song Helen and Amy sang 'Just as I am', and it was great to see so many of the congregation could remember it from the tour of Rock two years ago.  After his talk, Roger offered prayer for anyone who wanted it, and we were delighted to have quite a few take up the offer.

A week in Cornwall

The team out paddling

At the start of September, Roger, Mary, Helen, Amy, Bill and Catherine all travelled down to Treloyhan Manor, one of the five hotels in the Christian Guild chain. This is CMM's fourth visit to Treloyhan, and this year we used the musical 'The Torn Curtain' as a focus, learning the music, but also thinking about the Tabernacle and what it says to us about worship and approaching the throne of grace.

Bob on guitar 

After a bit of a hectic first evening due to traffic issues, things settled down for the week. We had a lovely group of participants in the week, some of whom had travelled an immensely long way to be there. Most of the guests decided to sing in the choir, but we had Bob on guitar, and a group of dancers who had worked incredibly hard in advance of the week.


This is the first update Helen sent during the week:

Just a quick update email from Treloyhan. The week so far is going pretty well. We actually have quite a number of people on the course with us this week, which is encouraging, and there is also a walking group here alongside us. They pretty much get on with their own thing, but hopefully they'll come to see the 'performance' on Friday night.

Barrie enjoying the water 

Before Amy and I arrived late on Saturday there was a bit of an interesting time. Roger, Mary and Catherine got stuck in traffic, and Bill's car broke down, so the first evening's session was a bit fraught. And it was only added to when one of the guests was ill with an epileptic fit. It did bring about a bit of a sense of community though, and people have really taken him into their hearts Sunday morning's service went really well - I preached, and Roger led the rest of the praise, which seemed to go down really well. From conversations round the dinner table there are a lot of traditionalists around this week, but there are still quite a few who are up for the worship songs.

Yesterday we had our first main session, and Roger managed to get people really involved with his talk by using a 'bible drill' type thing. I suspect a few more may bring their bibles this morning!

Anyway, I'm about to lead worship this morning, and Roger is speaking. He has decided at the last minute to change a lot of his talk, so do pray for that. The session starts at 10am. This afternoon we have a music in worship workshop, and this evening we are watching a dvd about the King James Bible.


Then later in the week Helen sent another update:

Alistair opening the show with his solo 

The last couple of days have gone really well - thanks so much for your prayers. Tuesday morning's session went well - God really moved in one lady in particular, and I was able to pray for her.

Yesterday we had good weather for the day off, which was nice, and the choir rehearsal in the evening which can so often be a lot of hard work went really well.

This morning was very special - Amy led worship and then Roger spoke about 'Receiving in the most holy place' - the third of the tabernacle talks. The group were up for receiving at the end, and quite a few of them were showing clear signs of the Spirit moving on them - so praise God for that!

Kath singing her solo in rehearsal 

Tonight we travel to Camborne for a Two Sisters rehearsal with the choir there. Please pray it goes well, and that the hosts here have a good time leading the games evening. I'm delighted with the hosts - they were a last minute inclusion in the week, but they are really lovely, and right on the ball theologically. It is great to see them both having prayer ministry appointments with people in the afternoons. 

One final update came from Helen at the end of the week:

Yesterday we had a day of rehearsing and performing while Cornwall was shrouded in a really thick sea mist. In the morning full rehearsal, the choir were amazing - perhaps they peaked too soon! We also fitted in the dancers and the soloists, and had Bob Munn playing guitar, which was great. I think everyone was delighted with what they had achieved.

The dancers and choir in rehearsal 

The evening performance didn't go quite so well, but no-one minded. Barrie was happy with his solo, and the event was really moving. Our Bill narrated, and host Bill led the communion. The audience was quite small, but they really got into it. We ended with a couple of impromptu worship songs, and there was a wonderful atmosphere - as one of the audience put it, God's Holy Spirit was clearly among us.

Today we say our goodbyes to most of the people from the music week, and travel to Camborne where we have a day of rehearsals, and then a performance of Two Sisters tonight. Tomorrow we take two services in Truro - one at Threemilestone Methodist, and then a circuit service at Truro Methodist.

Your events

We just had this email in from a lady in Malton:

Roger,

We have just shared Greater than Gold with a very full chapel and everyone really enjoyed taking part and listening to the music and drama. 

We had a choir of 45 and a drama team. We used piano and drums.  Our drummer is a chap who wandered far away from the Lord but has come back.  He said that he had really been helped and encouraged by taking part. 

A number of the singers have never sang a RJ musical before and really loved the music.  The only complaint is that they cannot stop singing the songs even in the supermarket.  We were really blessed with our 'Mary' she sang so well and loved every moment.  When she thanked the Lord for her Bible there were many wet eyes in the chapel. 

So thank you for your music and for the joy we have all shared as we sang it.

God bless you and the team at CMM.

Margot Taylor, Malton.

CMM at Willersley Castle

Phil training the choir at Willersley

In mid-August a team from CMM travelled to Willersley Castle, near Cromford in Derbyshire.  Willersley Castle is one of the Christian Guild hotels, and our visit there has become one of the highlights of the year.  CMM's team for the week were Roger, Mary, Annie, Phil and Kathleen.  Annie took the orchestra, and Phil led the choir and played piano for the final performance.

The musical this year was Two Sisters and a Funeral, and this was our third music week to take this theme.  Annie had a nice big orchestra to  work with, including two violins, a flute, clarinet, soprano sax, cornet, guitar, drums and piano accordion.

During the week Roger led three Bible studies looking at the different characters in the story - Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  The Mary talk focuses on worship, and being able to sit at Jesus' feet.  The Martha talk goes into some depth looking at Martha's character - both what she did right and what she did wrong.  Finally the talk featuring Lazarus takes Jesus' line 'Take off the graveclothes, let him go!' and thinks about what graveclothes we might still be wearing even though we have given our lives to Jesus.

On the first morning Annie preached - and she really enjoyed it.  It's always great when Annie gets to speak at a meeting, as she is a really good communicator.  Another highlight of the week was a dvd evening when the group watched a documentary about the making of the King James version of the Bible.  A number of the group bought popcorn specially!

The final performance went really well.  Earlier in the week the request for soloists at the auditions resulted in no men at all, which was a big issue when a Jesus, a Lazarus and at least two baddies were needed!  Clyde forgot, so he was soon commandeered into being Jesus.  Jonathan had managed to come to quite a few bits and pieces during the week because his wife Linda was staying, and as he had sung Lazarus on a few occasions for the CMM choir, he filled in the gap!  Then Richard and his family came to watch the final performance, so Richard became chief baddie!

It was a great week - thanks to the staff at Willersley Castle for their hospitality.  Looking forward to next year, where we'll be learning the musical David, but interspersing a lot of activities to do with music and worship.

Helen at Carter's Lane Baptist

On the Tuesday after Lee Abbey, Helen went to Carter's Lane Baptist Church in Halesowen to speak.  They have a lovely fellowship meeting, with approximately 30 regularly attending.  Helen gave her testimony and interspersed it with various songs, and despite a powerpoint issue, the evening went really well.

God had really been at work because in the few days before the evening, one of the most prominent members of the group had died suddenly, and the evening was exactly what they all needed.

Two Sisters at Lee Abbey

The grand pudox match

At the end of July, Roger, Mary, Annie, Helen and Sally travelled down to Lee Abbey for our annual music week.  This year the musical was Two Sisters, and with the Abbey full we were looking forward to a great week.

Mary's Birthday

It was fantastic having Sally on the team again, and this year she brought her husband Karl.  She did a great job organising the drama and also leading a dance workshop while 8 months pregnant!  It was great to have Karl around too - he'd never been to anything like this before, and he managed really well.

The wonderful choir

Unlike previous years at Lee Abbey where Paul has come and trained the choir, this time Paul came and played piano for the orchestra, and Helen put the choir through their paces.  The orchestra were amazing - there were 6 violins, a viola, 4 cellos, 2 flutes, a trombone, a trumpet, a bass guitar, two acoustic guitars, a clarinet, an oboe, drums and the piano.  One of the biggest orchestras we've had, and they made a wonderful sound.

The enormous orchestra

One of the features of our weeks at Lee Abbey is the contribution made by the members of the community.  We had a wonderful team supporting our week, including Ben and Pippa, who have often been involved in our music weeks in the past.  The House team led some wonderful evening 'Christ in Quiet' sessions, and also led worship at various times.  On the Tuesday evening many of the team were involved in a wonderful international evening singing solos and playing instruments.  The Lee Abbey summer show on the Thursday evening was also really excellent - this year for the first time it was written by Caleb, the son of the warden.

The final performance was wonderful - it was kicked off in style by an oboe quintet.  Then we had some wonderful solos from a number of the guests, and some very dramatic narrations.  There was standing room only for the audience, and a brilliant atmosphere.

North East Tour

Richard, Alan and Pete

In July, CMM travelled way up to the North East of England for a weekend of events:

First, we visited Cotherstone, a small village near Barnard Castle, and home to Mike and Barbara, who are wonderful long-term supporters of Roger and Mary, and long-distance members of EBRG.  We went to the Methodist chapel in the village and led an afternoon and evening music in worship session with the people there.  Mike and Barbara had done their homework and a number of people came from far and wide.  It was a wonderful time, and we were really delighted with the way God was moving.  Ahead of the weekend we had spent some time waiting on God for words of knowledge and prophecies, and many of the word/pictures we had received were claimed and used.

Danny, Dave, and the tenors and basses

The church at Blyth filling up

On the Saturday we drove up to Blyth to the Methodist Church there.  It was great to see so many friends from previous visits.  Danny and Dave had done a wonderful organisation and choir training job, and the choir were really very good.  We had only taken a partial team up to Barnard Castle with us, and the rest joined us mid-morning.  We had with us Helen and Emily as Martha and Mary, Richard and Devon as Jesus and Lazarus, and Pete and Alan as the baddies.  We all really enjoyed lining up Richard, Alan and Pete next to each other - spot the difference!  There was a really good audience for the performance, and it was great to spend so much time sharing with the choir during the day.

The Sunderland choir

The choir in action

On the Sunday we travelled down to Ewesley Road Methodist in Sunderland to take the morning service and then rehearse and perform Two Sisters.  The morning service was great fun - Helen got all of the congregation jumping up and down for the children's song, and also singing through a block of praise.  Roger's sermon about the 'More than God' was much appreciated, and it was great to chat and pray with the congregation afterwards.  In the afternoon the choir arrived in their spectacularly colourful clothes, and we had a great rehearsal.  Val had done a great job with the choir, assisted by George.  Unfortunately Emily was ill in the rehearsal, which led to an interesing version of Mary played by Richard.  But thankfully she was much better in the evening.

We had a wonderful weekend, and even managed to get our lines just about right!  Thanks to all those involved.

Methodist Conference

While Roger and Annie were in Yardley and Digbeth, Helen was in Southport for Methodist Conference 2011 playing trumpet and singing in the band.  It was an amazing honour to be asked, and while it wasn't an official CMM event, it was a fantastic opportunity for networking.  At every Methodist-related CMM event since, there has been someone who was at Conference!  Hopefully in future our links with the conference may grow - perhaps a stand at the exhibition might be a good start...

Visit this link if you want to see a bit of what Helen was up to.

Rock in Yardley and Digbeth

At the start of July, Roger, along with Annie and Sarah, went to Yardley and Digbeth in Birmingham to take part in their performances of Rock.  The main organisers of the event included Anne Maddox, who used to work in the CMM office.

The choir, soloists, actors and dancers had been preparing for weeks, and all Roger had to do was to conduct the performances - although of course that's a lot harder than it sounds!  Annie and Sarah played their instruments, adding an extra dimension to the final performances over the weekend.

The soloists did an excellent job, and it was also great to see Jacob Maddox as one of the dancers.

It was a wonderful community event, and incredibly well attended.  It shows how useful a tool the musicals can be when churches get together to share the gospel in a way that is accessible and fun.

Renewal Evening - Bishop Michael Whinney

On Sunday 26th June, we held the latest of our series of Renewal Evenings at Christ Church, Ward End.  This time the speaker was Bishop Michael Whinney, who has long been a friend and supporter of CMM.

This was the first time Roger has been missing for one of these services, so instead Helen led the worship with a wonderful team - Pat, Katie and Martin on vocals, Amy on flute and tenor sax, Miriam on clarinet, Dave on guitar and soprano sax, Annie on keys and Tim on drums.

Before Bishop Michael spoke, we were honoured to hear a testimony from Rev Walter Barrientos, who was a representative of the Anglican diocese of Bolivia.  He had a wonderful story of a miraculous healing from cancer, and he shared with us a little about the church in South America.

It was lovely to hear Bishop Michael, and he led into a wonderful time of openness to God's Spirit.  We all got into pairs and prayed for one another, which was slightly different to the usual ministry time, but it ensured that everyone was blessed and involved.  Annie led the music during the ministry time.