Just a few short hours to go...

Roger's sabbatical ends very shortly, and he's been enjoying the last couple of evenings with Mary, and also David and Ruth Southgate from Norwich, who have been Roger and Mary's friends for years.  It's great to see them - they have regularly organised tour performances in Norwich, and they run a card shop with a small Thornton's franchise - Roger and Mary received a fantastic 'Lemon Merringue' Easter egg!

 
Roger will be thrown right into the deep end on his return, firstly tonight with a speech at EBRG's annual dinner for the trustees.  The meal this year is to be at Barnes Close, a URC retreat centre.  Tomorrow he has a team meeting with the office staff, before travelling to Salisbury for a Two Sisters day.

Back to work

The CMM team have had a little bit of time off over Easter, but now we're swinging back into action with a busy week ahead.

In the office we're working on quite a few things.  Tim is continuing to organise sales, sending out orders but also getting the new catalogue to the printers.  Nicky is being worked hard by Roger - he gets back from his sabbatical later this week, and there's lots of loose ends to tie up.

Annie is preparing for her musical in a day in Harborne on Saturday, and also getting ready for CMM choir rehearsals for Jairus' Daughter.  The performances are going to be in June and July.  Annie is also working on various bits of orchestration - she's finally reorchestrating While Shepherds Watched, but she's also sorting out some parts for some of the new songs in Seasons and Reasons.

Helen is busy with admin too - we're having a mailing in the next couple of weeks, so that needs to be designed.  Jairus' Daughter is getting some part-learning CDs, so now the recording has been made, there's lots of editing to be done.

Roger and Mary are also busy - busy enjoying their last week of sabbatical!

Easter Performances

Many churches and choirs are well under way with their Easter programmes.

Pamela Dewick and the Gloucester and District Christian Choir are performing Snakes and Ladders at the moment.  They have swapped the backing track for a 13 piece band, and are loving it.

The night before last they performed in a school to a full-house audience of over 100, and last night they were in a church with about 260 present.  We pray that God really used the amazing message of the musical to meet with people and bless them.

We also had this message from Pete:

The church I worship at which is St Joseph’s R C Church Thimblemill lane Nechells Birmingham has a small music and drama group.  For a number of years we have performed Roger's musicals at different Catholic Churches in Birmingham.

This year we are doing Two Sisters and a Funeral at the following venues

6^th April Sparkbrook Christian Centre Golden Hillock Road Sparkbrook 7.30pm

13^th April St Josephs R C Church Thimblemill Lane Nechells Birmingham 7 00pm

15^th April Corpus Christi R C Church Stechford Birmingham 6.30pm

 16^th June The Presentation Sisters Care Home Matlock Derbyshire 4pm

Israel House Party

Over the years Roger has led a number of trips to Israel, assisted by Geoff.  After Roger visited Israel for his sabbatical, he and Geoff feel the time is right to organise another Choral Houseparty - possibly with the musical Rock.

If you're interested, follow this link and fill in your details and we'll send you more information and an application form when we have it.

http://www.cmm.org.uk/events/israel2013.php