NEWS FLASH!!
Fabulously talented children wow
Benoni audience!
Ms Du Casse an adrenalin junkie! (who
knew!) Takes on the Anaconda at Gold Reef City!
Surprising development: Mrs Hawthorn rides the Anaconda accompanied
by Paige!
Off Beat Broadway star signs
autographs for Courtney M, Kayleigh & Megan!Bus stuck in Africa Ablaze gate! All the drama below
No children lost!
MacDonald’s staff get musical reward for serving 62 meals in 32,5 minutes!!
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| Gumboot Dancers at Retirement Home |
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| McDonald's! |
On Friday 23rd September 42 excited children, 16 parents, Ms DuCasse and myself
flew out of King Shaka airport to Lanseria in Joburg for what promised to be
another HCA “first”. After months of
organising and rehearsing we were finally on our 2011 Choir Tour. But our arrival at Africa Ablaze did not go
smoothly when the bus got firmly wedged into both gate pillars in the narrow
entrance. We were served a delayed
supper with our bags still on the bus and some parents trapped outside in a
separate vehicle. After 2 hours and lots
of prayer the bus was driven onto the property with damage to the gate, the bus
and our nerves!
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| Praise God! |
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| School uniform time! |
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| Add caption |
Saturday saw us start with breakfast and a rehearsal before
climbing on the bus which was safely driven OUT of the gate (never to come back
in!), and then a drive to Benoni where we first stopped for a MacDonalds lunch. The staff handled the influx superbly and
everyone enjoyed their meal, so it was only fitting that we ended off with a
spontaneous song to the delight of our startled audience before traveling to
the Bunny farm for a quick stop to buy gifts for moms and dads and then to
Lynfield Retirement Village and our first concert. We were warmly welcomed by the East Rand
Youth Orchestra and my friend and mentor, conductor Pienaar Fourie. A quick rehearsal with the orchestra was
followed by a wonderful concert where our children received a standing ovation
and warm cheers for a delightful performance.
The orchestra then performed before we joined together for the finale. The concert ended on a high with the audience
begging for more. Unfortunately, we had
to leave to get to Monte Casino and the next highlight on our busy schedule – a
performance of “Off-Beat Broadway”, a show starring Anton Luttingh, Paul Du
Toit and Lindy Abromowitz – Wanted for Murdering Musicals! It was hilarious and entertaining and their
manic condensed versions of Les Miserable with the 3 singers performing ALL the
roles, frantically changing hats for each character had us rolling with
laughter. Another highlight was a
rip-off of “Memory” with the lyrics bemoaning “this stupid musical”! Afterwards we took our aching sides off to
supper in the food court area and the children oohed and aahed at the Monte
Casino scenery. Our return to Africa
Ablaze was uneventful and everyone was soon in bed asleep.
Sunday morning was an early start as we had to be at
Fourways Community Church by 7.30 for their first service at 8am! My friends and pastors Tony and Susanne
Sivewright welcomed us warmly in their beautifully converted building on Monte
Casino Boulevard. We sang “I Believe”,
“With all my heart” and the National Anthem and people were moved to
tears. It was a beautiful and important moment,
at this time of controversy in our nation over the singing of songs, to declare
“Nkosi sikeleli Afrika”. The children
then went off to Sunday School whilst the adults listened to Tony’s challenging
sermon on forgiveness. After a coffee
break in the glorious sunshine, we repeated our 3 songs for the second service. My highlight of the trip was watching
children welcome their extended families, Granny’s, Grampa’s, aunts and uncles and a
mother, to the services, relatives who’ve never been able to attend a school
event and this was very, very special for the children.
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| Gold Reef City! |
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| The ANACONDA......!!!!! |
After we’d sung in the second service we left for Gold Reef
City and what was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip for every child
there! The thrills, screams and excited
chatter from even the most reserved children was just wonderful to see. Ms Du Casse really shocked me with her
enthusiasm to take on the most death-defying roller coaster – the
Anaconda! Eventually I was persuaded by
Jessica Campbell to ride with them and I can proudly declare I screamed all the
way!! By this time everyone agreed that
this tour had to be a regular event and should absolutely include a GRC
excursion!
Upon our return to Africa Ablaze it was supper followed by
our choir party with games and of course the “Howl at the Moon Awards” where
the children vote for things like the person “most likely to become a
conductor” (or a pop star or opera singer) and “The person who practises in
front of the mirror with a hairbrush”.
There was lots of fun and laughter and thank you’s and gifts and then
bed-time.
Monday saw us pack up and say goodbye to the staff at Africa
Ablaze (one last glance at that broken gate post!) and then a drive to Waverley
and St Mary’s School. Once again we were
warmly welcomed by our hosts and after a quick rehearsal (we were taught a Tswana song and we taught
them our version of the National Anthem), the school were led in for the
concert. We were impressed with the size
of their choir – about half the school is in the choir, and their rendition of “Don’t
Stop Believing” and then we started our section with the gumboot dancers. Tim Edley is our leader and the boys enjoy
showing off their manly skills but Tim had us in stitches when he went into a
Broadway version of the gumboot dance!
Priceless! The combined choirs’
performance at the end was beautiful and whilst I chatted to the choir
director, Marileen Botha, the children were given a quick tour of their
beautiful 120 year old school by some of the Grade 7’s. Then it was back to the bus and our faithful
driver Simon, who safely delivered us to the airport.
In conclusion, I want to thank all the parents who came
with. Their support was vital to the
success of this tour. Because each child
had a dedicated “parent” we avoided many potential problems and ensured the
children were happy and secure the whole weekend. In addition Gina Fyvie, Julia Mardon and
others shopped for and packed snacks and drinks and meals. Saskia Mudoch-Eaton was kept busy as our
nurse, attending to scrapes and headaches and Anita Duckett as always, made sure each child had their
correct choir uniform. Liz Witherspoon
took photos and will kindly provide each child with a CD of photo’s for their
memory box. Phil Kinder took control at
various points throughout the weekend and there were others too, but to each
one of you, thank you so much. It was wonderful
to get to know you all and to see everyone pulling together as a team. Would I do this again? With children and parents like you? In a heartbeat! Was it worth the stress and effort? Absolutely 100%! What were the benefits? Too many to list, mostly invisible and
eternal. Choir Tour 2013 here we come!
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