Cumbria Tour: Barrow-in-Furness

For all of the performances on this Wildfire tour we have been joined by Sharon Collins and Mike Bailey, who have had to travel quite long distances on some days after work to join us. But this venue on the tour was their home venue - Barrow-in-Furness.

We left Whitehaven on the Thursday morning and meandered our way across the Lakes to Sedbergh stopping at Crummock Water for a photo snap and then at Buttermere for lunch. The weather was great - not sunny, but very warm and still. We then had tea in Sedbergh with Carole and then travelled to Barrow for their rehearsal.

Sandy and Beth had now finished the majority of their time with us, so it was over to the technicians at Barrow - Alan, Rachel and Linda - who had already been there for hours before we arrived.

This was going to be quite a different performance: as well as the choir trained by Sharon Collins, there was also a drama group trained by Margaret Manvell and two flautists, who were joined by Helen to play a couple of extra links for the drama group. Because of these extra complications, the rehearsal was a bit chaotic and nervous but we got through it. It was hard to force Sharon to sit down and stop her worrying about her excellently trained choir and just to concentrate on being a soloist! It was fantastic to see familar faces from previous tours, as this choir has supported us several times over the years, most recently at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston with Wildfire, Jail Break and Rock.

The following day we had a lazy morning with some staying in Sedbergh and Helen with her family in Grange. We all met together again for a faith tea in Barrow followed by a good long rehearsal in which we covered most of the musical. After all the previous night's difficulties the drama went brilliantly in the performance - the drama team included all the rest of Sharon's family - Keith, Anthony and Gemma.

The church was packed, and there were very few seats left, and Helen's mum and dad sat right in the middle on the front row! Sharon was able to relax and enjoy herself too, which was great. The performance was excellently received and there was a good response afterwards - lots of great conversations and some prayer ministry too, with Brian from Wholeness Through Christ. WTC are following up this tour with an introductory meeting in Penrith in the Autumn, so do pray for them.