Friday 13th March
Knock on the door at 6.40am. Fortunately the voice that came out of my mouth was very sweet and in no way reflected how I felt! Got ready and had breakfast and then Claire and I were waiting in the lounge for David. They were a few minutes late and Margaret said ‘ooh, you could have had 20minutes extra in bed!’ Claire and I looked at each other, ‘That was the idea’ exchanged with eye contact! So anyway we got to school, a little late because of traffic so had to sound check quickly. First lesson was Values/Abi/Jerry for the second half of S4. Went fairly well – they humoured us in all the right places! At break time, lots of students came in to take photos of us and ask for our autographs! Second, and the last lesson was Values/Abi/Jerry for the last lot of S2. Began with a photograph for the local paper, with some of the students up on stage with us. Ended on a high note, they were great fun! Then it was lunchtime, sandwiches and yoghurts and cookies, then back into the hall for more photos and autographs. One girl asked me to sign as Abi! Never had to do that before and had to work out how Abi would write! Then the bell went and we had to say goodbye which was sad! The grand packdown started at 1.30 and we were done in just over an hour! Used the school’s massive trolley to shift the gear out to the vans. All loaded by 3pm. Prayed with Taste and had hugs all round as Envizage and Claire were driving back, but Taste staying up in Scotland for a few meetings. So we set off about 3.15 for the long drive down. Had a girlie first leg with Me, Claire and Rachel in the front playing Classical stuff and Queen – singing at the tops of our voices! Next two legs I sat in the back listening to music and sleeping. Woke up at 10.30pm, ½ a mile before Corley Services M6, near Birmingham) where I sleepily, gunky eyed, rolled out the van, gathered my stuff and went and ordered a cappuccino, got out my Glamour magazine (with a free bag!!) and settled in to wait for Lewis to pick me up. The rest of the team left me and set off back down to Essex. Lewis arrived just after midnight and I decided to cause a scene by running and giving him a big hug, like I hadn’t seen him for ages…made it more fun! He drove to Smethwick Elim Church where the rest of A2J and Clacton Elim’s youth group were staying for The Gathering. This year its at the Telford International Centre, so they had all been at the evening session. We got there just before 1am and I got ready for bed as quickly as possible, sleeping bag laid out on the floor ready for me to snuggle into. Hard to get comfy – I forgot how bony my hips and elbows are! Grumpy Laura came out as some girls were obviously very excited about being there, and the fact there were boys in the next room. I was tired.
Thursday 12th March
Lie in day, hurrah!! Claire had a meeting at David and Ollie’s hosts house at 9am. I was woken up at 7.30 by Margaret banging on Claire’s door and Claire very politely telling her that she was awake. I went back to sleep and woke up when my alarm went off at 9.30am. Got up and dressed whilst watching an episode of Pingu!! This one was about not littering because it could blow onto someones eyes when they’re skiing down a slope and they could crash! Then watched Big Barn Farm where Digger the dog was sad because he thought he had to go, but it wasn’t him it was old Pops who had to go…to the vet!! Anyway…picked up at 11.10, in school for 11.30 where we were setting up some of the lights and bits and pieces for the lunchtime concert. Lunch was at 12.30 – soup and rolls and then the lunchtime concert was at 1pm. Taste did a couple of songs and we did the sketch Customs. Went surprisingly well, although the pancakes fell out of the bunny costume at the beginning… Then for our one lesson of the day! Our Values/Abi/Jerry lesson for the first half of S4. Took a while to warm them up but there were a few key giggly girls that kept it going!! After school we set up for the gig – moving chairs, putting up stands, programming lights, organising props, soundchecking etc. Then we had dinner, cooked in the Home Ec dept. We had lasagnes and chicken pasta and garlic bread and salad and doughnuts! Was all very nice. Then back to rehearse the intro and get changed etc before praying at 6.30pm, letting them come in at 6.50pm and it all kicked off at 7pm! Gig went really well, had about 200 people there. I had a brainwave and used my pink eyeliner as lippie, which was great…just quite hard to get off!! The dreaded Street Tuff went fine and Taste did 60’s classics ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘Wild Thing’ which went down very well! By the time Rachel and I got to the stand at the end all of the Check It Out tracts had gone which was brilliant! Signed about 12 photos (mainly Taste ones!) and everyone seemed to have had a really good time! Packed down the extra bits we didn’t need, loaded some suitcases and 2 flats into the van and was home just before 10! The conversation with Margaret went something like this:
M: What time are you up in the morning?
C: Erm, a little bit later than usual.
M: What time are you being picked up?
C: Just after 8.
L: So maybe breakfast at about 7.45?
M: So what time will you be getting up?
C: About 7.15 I suppose.
M: Ah but you have to pack…so 6.30?
C/L (panicked faces): Erm no, we’ll pack tonight, 7.15 will be fine!
Who know’s what will happen…lets wait and see!!!!
Wednesday 11th March
Up at 6.50am and picked up at 7.50am. Got to the school and soundchecked and got ready for the day. First lesson was for S3 – our Values/Abi/Jerry lesson. They were great and got really involved and it was good fun! Then it was break time and we had a free until 11.55 where Ollie was arranging lights and we were sorting props and just having a bit of a breather! Then we had a Big Questions Lesson with S5, Big Ears and College went much better! I was then involved in the panel for Q&A, the two questions that were asked being ‘Why is Religion based on faith and not fact?’ and ‘Why is the Bible sexist – why were all the disciples men?’. We then had a quick lunch in the conference room, then back to the hall for a lunchtime concert. Taste did 3 songs and we did Gnome. Had about 250 students there who were very noisy so it was quite difficult, but great to see so many of them! Last lesson was the other half of S3 with our Values/Abi/Jerry lesson. This lesson was completely different to the other S3 lesson – this group were very talkative, all the way through, especially the front row, which made it quite distracting and difficult to keep going! Matt also put my Vaseline in my hood as I went on as Abi, so that meant in the first bit I was so busy concentrating on it not falling out that I had no idea what I was saying or doing! Fortunately Abi comes quite naturally so I don’t think I did anything wrong! After school we went back to Andy and Joy’s hosts to meet, planning tomorrow, including the gig, and Friday’s lessons. We also talked about the day – especially the difficult last lesson. We were especially talking about how easy it is to focus on those that don’t want to listen, but actually you don’t know how many others were listening! We met two gorgeous border collies, one of whom seemed to take a particular fancy to Claire’s armpit!! We then went out to Fintry Parish Church for a meal with everyone and those hosts that could make it. Gavin had made a DVD with footage from the week to show our hosts – was quite funny to watch!! I had vegetable curry for dinner which was really nice, although I had stomach ache after – think I ate a bit of onion! Meant I couldn’t eat any of the gorgeous looking pavalova L Got home just after half 9, showered, phoned Lewis and went to bed!
Tuesday 10th March
Woke up at 3.45am and 6.25am, both times thought it was time for my alarm to go off, but had that lovely feeling of being able to snuggle back to sleep when I realised it wasn’t! Got up at 6.50 and got ready, had breakfast and we were picked up at 7.50am. Got to school at 8.10, set up mics (I have had to go onto the Spare headset as mine was apparently distorting. Keel likes to blame everything that breaks on me!) and sound checked ready to start at 9am. First lesson was for S2’s and they were brilliant!! Really got into Abi and Jerry and joined in with all the songs. I did my normal summary of the message behind Abi, it was nice to go back to doing that again! We had doughnuts and coffee and breaktime and then it was time for the next lesson. Same format as before for the other half of S2. They were quite quiet and didn’t join in much but the lesson still went well. Lunchtime we locked the hall and went to the conference room where one of the teachers had laid out sandwiches, crackers, cheese, fruit and kitkats. Went back to the hall and some of the students had managed to get into the hall and were sat in the dark waiting for something to happen! We went in and put on some of the lights and then the power went (Keel of course blamed me). Couldn’t find the trip switch (sparking the conversation: ‘If you were a school hall, where would your trip switch be?’) so had to find the caretakers. Power came back after about 10mins which was a relief! Quite a few students came into the hall, many of them hadn’t been in any of our lessons but were just curious as to what was going on! Last lesson was the same format for S5’s and 6’s. Was a bit apprehensive as to how they would react and at first it was quite hard work but once they got into it, it was quite good fun! Bit distracting half way through as more people came in but nevermind! During Jerry we do a mock X Factor with 4 students as the judges. The guy who was Louis, when asked ‘Do you think Abi has the X Factor?’ replied ‘No, but I think she’s got the XXX Factor, if you know what I mean’ Well everyone was really laughing, I have no idea how I managed to keep a straight face I was quite shocked!!! After school we had a quick debrief and then were back to Margarets at 5. Got a bit glammed up before going out for dinner to the Glass Pavillion. It’s a restaurant on the coast in Broughty Ferry with amazing views! We had high tea - I had hunters chicken and a ginger beer and there was toast, scones, cake and tea and coffee. All for £10!! We chatted about all sorts of things and watched it get dark and the lights on the horizon looked stunning. Also the full moon reflecting on the sea was just stunning. Took lots of photos but they don’t do it justice. Driving back through Broughty Ferry, the houses are gorgeous! Claire has gone out for a Taste meeting and I’m going to have a shower and get an early night!
Monday 9th March
Early start!! Woke up with a jump at 5.35am when Margaret was banging on my door to check I was awake…my alarm was due to go off at 5.40am. Had that horrible panicky feeling when the only rational reason you come up with is that the world is ending! Got ready and breakfast was at 6.15 – cereal, croissants, toast and rolls, then David picked us up at 6.30. We sang Happy Birthday and other such related songs to him…as it’s his birthday! Got to the school early. This week we are at St Pauls Roman Catholic Academy – the school is brand new, only open since Christmas and so is gorgeous and shiny and smells of paint! Had a reduced set up time and some technical problems including my mic not working and Keel was on the case for some time (dodgy lead we eventually discovered!). The first lesson was for S1’s from 9-10.45 was a Values lesson, so Taste did a couple of songs and a game, we did Abi and Jerry, Taste did another song, Andy interviewed me (Why was ‘Abi’ created and why did I want to be in Envizage), and Taste finished with another song. It went really well. Then it was break time and the students started to crowd round the hall to see what was going on. La Roche broke up a fight and therefore had an opportunity to talk to the 2 boys involved. Second lesson was for S6 from 11-11.55. We did a Big Questions lesson: Song, Big Ears, Song, College of Knowledge, Question and Answer. Big Ears went a bit wrong, College went very wrong but it was quite funny!! I was on the panel for Q&A and there was one particular guy, Lewis, who was clearly highly intelligent and had studied Darwin and theories to the creation of the world intensely and was asking us some deep questions. Andy answered most of the questions fantastically, Lewis was becoming quite forceful in his arguments and Andy was very calm in his answers. It was very challenging for us and caused much discussion throughout the day. We had a free the next lesson to set up lights, and Lewis came back and had a chat with Andy. Then it was lunchtime, we went and ate in the conference room and gave David his presents then joined some of the teachers and pupils in the chapel for mass. I felt quite uncomfortable as I don’t know much about Catholicism and their beliefs. I think it’s all to easy to criticise their way of doing things, when actually I admired their reverence for God. The acoustics of the tiny chapel gave quite an eerie echo though! We spent the rest of lunch in the hall and loads of students came in to chat to us. Ollie asked me to man the sound desk and Keel said ‘But she can’t, she’s a woman!’ (meaning I would be womaning the desk). I of course took this as a sexist comment and milked the apologies for the rest of the day! I was chatting to a few S1s from the morning lesson…the most memorable comment being ‘When you were playing Abi, I thought you were putting on that voice but you weren’t. That’s how you talk.’ Hmmm…not funny! Last lesson was the rest of S1 from 1.35-3.25 and followed the same pattern as Lesson 1. At the end of school some more lights were put up and we then went for de-brief, plan and prayer time until 5. Made our way back to our hosts for dinner. We had prawns and thousand island sauce for starters, a gorgeous pasta bake for main and winter fruits crumble and cream (50% lighter than normal cream, so its ok it’s good for me!) for pudding! Claire and I then had a really good chat before getting ready to go out. Joy and Andy picked us up and we headed to the Post Office Bar (guess what it used to be before it was a bar?!) to meet everyone and celebrate David’s birthday. General hilarity, photo taking, Dalek cake eating evening of fun, including Keel’s and my regular discussion/debate/argument on pronunciation of words like cup, mud and bubble. Have now got back, its 22.22 and I’m going to have a shower and go to bed!
Sunday 8th March
Alarm went off at half 6 and I stayed in bed til 6.45 then got up and got ready as quietly as possible so as not to wake anyone up! Bob and Julie did come downstairs as I was leaving so maybe I woke them up! Rach picked me up at 7.30am and we went to the office, loaded up and set off at 8am! So, long drive to Scotland, stopping every 2 hours. Travelled through sun, rain, hail, sleet and snow! I discovered Cathedral City Cheese Snack Packs mmm yummy. Taste stayed in Linford until the last leg when we persuaded Keel to come join us in Ivor which was fun! Got to Gavin’s (SU worker) house about 7pm and then everyone was dropped off at their host houses. Claire and I are staying with Margaret (Gavin’s Mother In Law) in her gorgeous house. She used to run it as a B&B so we had a room each with TVs! We had dinner – soup and rolls, salad, ham, cheese, melon, chocolate cakes…we were very full! Sat chatting for a while and then went up to bed just after 9, with hot water bottles. I unpacked a bit, room is very warm with big thick duvet and blankets. Had a shower and snuggled down for the night!
