Day 9  

Wednesday, July 19, I went through my morning routine and geared up for another good day. The busses left for Warwick at 9:15. We all got a sack lunch again packed by the college.

The Bennett's coaches took us directly to St. Mary's Church, where Chris Betts works. Chris is the third of the three FUMC guest artists that were our hosts and conductors on this choir tour***. This performance was to be our last and Gordon and Sarah wanted it to be our finest performance. We had a good rehearsal at the church till about 1:00pm.

Tickets to Warwick Castle were provided to us, so I hooked up with Betty and we were off. Warwick Castle and it's grounds are big, and the topography is quite varied. In other words, we walked our legs off. We toured the former residential areas of the castle and then the areas where the common folks did their work. The castle was really much like a wax museum, which had as it's theme, a specific time period. We watched a juggler comedian on the grounds then trudged back up the hill to view the dungeon.

Betty and I were just about castled out, so we decided to stroll around town for a while. We found a little sidewalk cafe at which to have tea. Ann came by and joined us while we all watched a funny little man with a three wheeled car back into something, then get out of his car to inspect the damage. This actually kept us entertained for at least 20 minutes. Betty even went over to look at the car more closely with the man still there inspecting. Great fun! I guess you had to be there.

We were bussed over to a private school about 4:30 or 5:00 and had a fantastic meal with......Drum roll....ICED TEA!!! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. For those of you who know me you know how seriously I take my iced tea. That was great. The meal and desserts were great too. I think Chris' wife, Sunny, a West Texas girl, might have had something to do with the Iced tea selection.

(Just one more note about iced tea in Europe..It generally, as a rule, does not exist. You could make your own with hot tea and lots of ice, but people look at you funny, like you are crazy! So Warwick is the only place I had iced tea in Europe during my entire stay there.)

The announcement was made that both Sunny Betts and Rachel Howard, Jeff's wife, are both expecting and are due within two weeks of each other. Rachel, by the way is a talented harpist and accompanied the choir in Cardiff for several numbers.

Chancel Choir Assistant Director and Organist, Sarah Graves was presented a painting of a cathedral, picked out by Dean, in appreciation for the extra work she did for this tour.

We crammed our stuffed selves back onto the busses to go back to St. Mary's where we changed into concert gear in a building across the street. We rehearsed briefly with the St. Mary's Choir, Chris' boy's and men's choir.

The concert was well received and everything went very well. Our choir did one number with the St. Mary's Choir, and St. Mary's also sang a couple of selections on their own. St. Mary's Choir was very good and were preparing for their Texas tour in August. (In Lubbock on August 27, the St. Mary's Choir completed their Texas tour with a magnificent concert at the First United Methodist Church.) Follow this link to the St. Mary's Choir tour website.

This concluded our tour. Those not extending would be leaving for home in the morning and those of us extending would be going our separate ways. Gordon let me put my tux and music in the extra garment bag with his tux and music, which Rex had brought, so we wouldn't have to tote those things around all over Europe. Gordon and I conned Betty into carrying the bag to Lubbock with her luggage, which made her late for the flight to Dallas because the authorities wanted to inspect that bag. Betty was bumped from her seat on the flight, so when she showed up right before takeoff, she was up-graded to business class. Not a bad way to endure a 7 1/2 hour flight.

I really do appreciate the opportunities that being a member of the Chancel Choir offers me. Gordon could easily be a top-notch professional tour director/operator. I appreciate also the wide range of music the Chancel Choir sings and the talented direction of Sarah Graves and Gordon McMillan. It is also a pleasure to sing in a group with so many talented singers.

I got to bed about midnight, I think.

End Day 9

***NOTE: Chris Betts was subsequently named Chancel Choir director and assistant Musical Director at FUMC Lubbock, Texas in 2001. Gordon retired in 2003, and Chris was named Musical Director.