Yesterday I drove to Kenilworth in time to fetch Rhiannon from school, as mum and dad were busy elsewhere. I stopped overnight in order to attend Rhiannon's Year 3 Easter Play performance in Kenilworth's St Nicholas Parish Church first thing this morning. This year, the Feast of Feasts falls in the Easter vacation. St Michael's College students will be on holiday too, so there'll be no celebration of holy week together, which I think is a great shame. Once more the secular educational tail wags the religious dog.
The entire school, around 350 children were there to watch sixty odd eight year olds sing and act out the story of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection. There were a hundred parents and others there in support, so the church was packed. It was very nicely done with lots of lively modern songs.
My only regret was the complete absence of any traditionally used passiontide hymns and music. To my mind that makes it so much harder to connect the school story telling with that of a mainstream parish community - a real cultural divide. Also, all the music used was recorded, and this means the children don't get a chance to sing with live instruments, even though some are learning them in school. Rhiannon has now given up the fiddle in favour of the flute - which her mother plays.
By eleven o'clock I was an my way back to Cardiff for an afternoon in the office, followed by my usual Thursday evening of Tai Chi, and another very late night session, editing and uploading video clips of the play and finishing off the third volume of the Millenium Trilogy. Must watch the film of books two and three now, to see if they capture the story as well as film one did.
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