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Day 8 Tuesday, July 18, I was in the breakfast, gardens, etc. routine. The busses left
for Cardiff, Wales at 9:00.
We got to Landaff Cathedral in Cardiff, but
couldn't go in to practice until the funeral was over. We sat around the
grounds waiting. We went in and had a very brief rehearsal before our
1:00pm mini concert.
After the afternoon concert (performed in our "best" street clothes), we were whisked off to
downtown Cardiff, where we were served a really great meal in a sort of
symphony banquet room called St. David's Hall.
We had the afternoon free till about 4:30, so I hooked up with Emily and
we walked down to Cardiff Castle. We didn't go into the actual castle,
but we got inside the walls beyond the moat. Emily visited the gift
shop.
The busses took us to Albany Road Baptist Church, Jeff Howard's church. Jeff Is another of the FUMC guest artists that were our hosts and directors during this tour. We rehearsed for at least an hour for our 7:30 concert. Albany Road Baptist was perhaps the newest structure in which we sang. It is 1940's vintage. A light supper of sandwiches was served by the ladies of the church with hot tea already with milk in it. That's the first time I have had tea with milk. Not bad. The sandwiches were delicious and different. They use a lot of cucumber in their sandwiches in Britain. I think the concert went very well. The audience was pretty large and very enthusiastic. The song selections from our repertoire were the lighter pieces (spirituals and praise). The audience was invited to sing along on the Marching To Zion piece arranged by Jeff when he was in Lubbock. Those Welsh really can sing. No inhibitions whatsoever! After the concert we were met in the parlor by the ladies of the church again for more tea and cookies and cake. A very friendly lot, the Welsh. We got back to Hartpury earlier than I expected, so I figured I had time to do some laundry. I used the laundry room of the actual students of the college and met a couple of them. It was very interesting talking to them. I guess I was in bed by 11:30 or 12:00 End Day 8
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