18th December 2009

A Chaplain’s Diary

  

Friday, 11^th December

 

The Church was packed this evening for the Georgie Insull Singers’ Christmas Concert. Four people had to cry off because of illness and one or two members had certainly got the sniffles yet the concert was magnificent with a careful mix of religious and secular Christmas music. The thing that struck me were the children who sat perfectly still throughout the whole performance. Admittedly we had put them in the middle of the aisle so that they could see properly but somehow they had caught the spirit of the occasion, particularly when we moved into the Twelve Days of Christmas that always involves much standing up and sitting down and hilarity. Afterwards the hall downstairs was crammed with people who didn’t seem to have a home to go to. Not that the churchwardens and myself minded because the event was in aid of Church funds and it raised 1,650 euros – thank you to the Georgie Insull Singers and their accompanist, Conway Jones.

 

Saturday, 12^th December

 

Anyone reading my diary this week would think that I’m a bit of a music fanatic. Nothing could be further from the truth and yet I do enjoy Handel’s Messiah. The Auditorium was packed for tonight’s performance and the choir and musicians were given an incredible standing ovation.

It reminded me of an event that BBC Radio Leeds organised over 30 years ago. The genius of local radio is that things can be done without months and months of preparation and having to be approved at every level of BBC governance. One of their producers, Frank Pagden, was also a Methodist minister; he was a tall gangly fellow and full of infectious enthusiasm for anything mad and outrageous. The radio station decided they would stage a huge sing-along mass Messiah in the largest hall in Leeds City Centre. Chapels, churches, choirs and choral groups from the length and breadth of Yorkshire booked in for the occasion. This was not something to listen to; this was something to participate in. Rehearsals were carried out over a two month period but not in-situ and altogether but wherever the choirs normally rehearsed. The rehearsals were conducted on the radio and every choir tuned in each week as the conductor and musical director went through each of the pieces. All over Yorkshire - folk were getting together in church halls, clubs, chapels and schools to learn their sections ready for the big performance. If a choir was having difficulty with a particular section they could phone in straight away and the conductor would go over it with them live on-air. It was a madcap idea but typical of community radio serving and encouraging the local community. On the big night hundreds of coaches disgorged hopeful sopranos, altos, tenors and basses into their places for the three hour performance. There must have been thousands there, so much so that the conductor initially threw away his baton and jokingly lifted up a huge wooden oar as if to conduct with that. And suddenly as the music started the whole thing came together and all the long cold winter nights of rehearsals were worth it, the hall was filled with a huge tide of sound that only enthusiasm can produce.

 

Tuesday, 15^th December

 

I have just discovered Skype. My brother has been encouraging me to explore it for at least two years but until today it has rather frightened me. Eventually we got round to fixing the camera (my wife tells me it’s called a web-cam) on to the top of the computer and we’ve dug out a set of my son’s old earphones and microphone, it’s absolutely magic and free. We were able to talk to my daughter and grandson in Staffordshire at no cost and actually watch him show off that he can now wave! If you are not a grandparent you won’t understand the excitement that this engenders. It’s very much a grandparent thing – the first smile, the first wave, the first step, the first hair cut, even the first dirty nappy is the occasion for long telephone calls, extended e-mails to friends and family with official announcements in the local newspaper!

 

Wednesday, 16^th December

 

The Rosamar Hotel on El Terreno has been sold. It’s been the venue for many a party and social gathering over the years and when the door finally closes for the last time it will be the end of an era for those who know the Hotel well. It has regularly featured in London’s “Pink Paper” and has sat sedately watching the dramatic changes that have taken place in the Terreno area over the last twenty years. It has been the home for the rehearsals of The Bay Entertainers and most of their props and costumes have been kept there courtesy of mine host, Bill Watson. As the hotel has been slowly cleared out there has been a question mark over what to do with the Steinway grand piano which sat in the reception area. Originally it was the property of Russell and Joni Rock -Firth who, until a few years ago, lived in Andratx before moving back to a residential care home in Bradford. Russell died two years ago and sadly Joni passed away in October. Russell was an active member of the Anglican Church and after some discussion the grand piano is now sitting at the back of Church waiting for its future to be decided. If only pianos could speak I bet it would certainly have some very interesting tales to tell.

 

As I watched operations I wondered how the removal men were going to get this grand piano down the steps of the hotel, into the van and up the steps at the Anglican Church. I had imagined a huge gang of men arriving to bodily lift it up, down and into – no such thing. “Musicasa” simply sent a father and son to do the job. The man told me he had worked for “Musicasa” for over 30 years and his son had now joined him in the trade. Off came the piano legs, on went the protective cover and then a caterpillar like piece of machinery was driven into place and the piano was loaded on sideways before being tractioned off on a caterpillar like piece of machinery, up the steps, down the steps, across the road and up into the van. It was the most incredible piece of moving machinery I have ever seen.

 

Thursday, 17^th December

 

In the olden days in Majorca, during the winter months, people would bring down huge blocks of ice from the Tramuntana Mountains to cold-store food in ice cellars during the warmer weather. A hundred years on I could now tell them that they were wasting their time – why bother with all that chipping, cutting and carting when all they had to do was drag their food store over to Cala d’Or where the church there is as cold as any walk-in, cold storage freezer! It’s the only church I know where you open the external doors to let some heat in. This morning was our annual Carol Service and the wise had sensibly turned up with plenty of layers of warm clothing. The choir stamped their feet, clouds of warm breath filled the air but we lifted our hearts and voices as we sang the traditional carols admirably once again helped by the Georgie Insull Singers who had travelled over especially for the occasion. As the final carol echoed through the church there was a mad dash into the hall for hot mulled wine and mince pies – we certainly needed them. Members of ESRA south-east had turned out in force and there was much back-slapping, air-kissing and general bonhomie which certainly caught the Christmas spirit.

 

Fr Robert Ellis is the Anglican Chaplain of Majorca

St Philip and St James Church

Nunez de Balboa 6,

Son Armadans, Palma 07014

Tel: 971 737279

E mail:anglicanpalma@gmail.com

www.anglican-mallorca.org