And so, like the phoenix, the blog rises from the dust (or perhaps the snow?) once more!
As February 2012 opens, the boys' choir of All Saints are about to undertake their first ever solo tour. 24 boy choristers, aged from 8-14, will be travelling most of Northern Europe, with 7 concerts in 8 days!
First thing on Friday morning, the boys will be departing from Northampton, assuming we are able to leave the county at all! Rumours of a heavy snowfall on Thursday night are already having Northamptonians panic buying in Tesco, but I'm sure it won't faze our bullish boys! A little snow in Northampton will be good practice for the feet of the stuff that we hope to find in Denmark!
We are crossing Dover-Calais later that day, eventually stopping for the night in Mechelen (also known as Maline) in Belgium.
Our concert schedule over the next few days is hectic:
Saturday 11th February 2012
St Rumbold’s Cathedral at 1:00PM: St Rumbold's Cathedral, 2800 Mechelen (Belgium)
Sunday 12th February 2012
Elizabethkirche at 10:00AM, 35037 Marburg (Germany)
Monday 13th February 2012
Jyllinge Church at 7:30PM: Church of the Holy Cross, 4040 Jyllinge (Denmark)
Wednesday 15th February 2012
Haderslev Cathedral at 7:30PM: The Cathedral of Our Lady, 6100 Haderslev (Denmark)
Thursday 16th February 2012
Ribe Cathedral at 11:00AM: St Mary’s Cathedral, 6760 Ribe (Denmark)
Friday 17th February 2012
European Space Centre at 1:00PM: ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk (Netherlands)
Friday 17th February 2012
Zoetemeer Oude Kerk at 8:00PM: 37 2712HB Zoetermeer (Netherlands).
However, we also hope to have plenty of fun along the way! The boys have been getting in practice for their ice-skating - although some perhaps still have a little room for improvement!
There have been sponsored cycle rides, lots and lots of carol singing, busking, bag-packing, and much more hard work along the way in preparation for the tour, but now that it is almost upon us, the talk of the boys is just of snow boots, sledges, ice skating (ED: some could do with the practice - see pic!), and ferries.
We hope to post regular updates along our way - with photos of snow, snowballs, snowmen and snowfights! Do pop in again on Friday to see how we're doing!
Oh, and for those who were wondering, the blog title derives frome one small probationer. When asked to put on a surplice for the first time, he looked at himself in the mirror for some time, before exclaiming in excitement that he now looked just like a "snow angel!". In all fairness, it was a little on the large size.
See you in Belgium, thermals at the ready.