New Beginings - 27. NB Chapter 27

Once I had a brief chat with Tom, Kyle and I headed over to my cottage and I had a shower and changed into some neat casual clothes, packed an overnight bag, and collected my best suit for tonight’s service, before heading back to the homestead, where Tom and Margaret said they would not be attending the Christmas eve service, but would be in town for the Christmas morning service, and Christmas lunch on the ship.

Seb informed me that once he and Jose had finished work this afternoon, they would be travelling into town with the boys and staying on the ship overnight, so as to attend the service tonight, and after saying farewell, we headed back into Stanley, arriving just before 11am.

At the accommodation Eric and Mary were just serving a late morning tea, after Mary received a call from Margaret, to let them know we where on our way back in, they had some ready for us too. Afterwards, Kyle and I went for a long walk around town, and ended up at the main jetty, where the Ocean Explorer was moored. “She is definately one huge ship, you are so lucky to have a cousin that owns it” Kyle said to me.

“Actually, there are four major share holders who own the ship, Sebastian, his two younger brothers and...” I said to my good friend, and it took him a few moments for him to realise what I was telling him, “No way, you are a part owner too?” Kyle said shocked, and I just nodded my head yes.

“Holy sheep dip, oops, sorry mum” Kyle said automatically, even thou Annette was a good two kilometres down the road at the accommodation, and I just laughed out loud, “Kyle you are such a doofus” I said between fits of laughter, and Kyle just smile and nodded his head in agreement.

After a quick tour of the ship, including the beach lounge area on the main deck, which is currently been decked out with tables for Christmas lunch, we headed back to the accommodation. “How many are you planning to have for this Christmas lunch celebration? Kyle asked me as we neared the accommodation, “Well not including staff, who will have their own celebrations in the main dining room on A Deck, we will have 14 guests, including us, plus 24 under privileged locals, why do you ask?” I replied.

“Well, it’s just that I counted 8 tables, and each one has 8 chairs around it, so that would be 64 people in total, 26 more than you are expecting” Kyle said to me, and when this information sunk in, I stopped and fished out my mobile and called Sebastian. “Hello Huon, the captain informed me that you were just on the ship, and I presume you have just worked out there are more seats than planned” Sebastian said as soon as he answered the call.

“Yes I was just wondering what is going on?” I said still a little confused, and Sebastian chuckled, “It is all ok cousin, everything is in order, the Minister had asked Mary to ask if he could have a few more than 24 to attend the Christmas lunch, and she contacted me here at the farm and I gave the go ahead with 64 seats, and organised it all with the Captain.

Since we will be having 64 under privileged guests, and with the crew having their christmas meal in the guest dining room, the family and our guests will be eating in the VIP dining room, so we will have quite a full ship of people tomorrow” Sebastian said to me. “Well that is good to know that it has all worked out, we will see you after the accommodation when you arrive” I replied with a smile.

“We will be travelling at night, as we have had a few problems on the farm, so we will eat dinner here and shower and change before coming into Stanley for the service, I guess we will see you at the Cathedral” Sebastian replied, “Ok cousin, we will see you all then, bye” I said and ended the call.

Back at the accommodation, Kyle and I retreated to our shared room, to look at list of hymns, which we knew all of them well, and after a discussion, we selected the three we wanted to sing tonight, those being, the 23 Psalm – The Lord is My Shepherd, Jerusalum and Joyful Joyful, we also decided to add 2 hymns of our own, that being The Prayer, and Emmanuel, which we decided to keep as a surprise.

After a light lunch, Kyle and I decided to head over to the Cathedral for another rehearsal, and as we approached the front doors, we heard some singing, then the minister talking out loud, and quietly we entered and sat near the back to listen in to the junior choir rehearsals, which was a little rusty, and we could see that the minister was getting frustrated. When a choir member said something and the minister turned and saw us his face light up, “Huon, can you please do something with these little... angels, I have reached my limit of patience” Reverend Hart said loudly so we could hear fromt he back of the building.

Kyle and I stood up and made our way to the front, where 16 boys aged from about 10 to 15 were standing restlessly. “Listen up boys, we have two guest singers with us, who will be performing tonight at the Evening Service along with the adult choir, they know their music, a lot better than I do, thank heavens for their intervention, so I will leave you in their hands, please behave and try and learn from their experience.

Mr Devonport here is a part time resident here on the islands, working on Douglas Farm, Mr Davies is his best friend from high school days, and his mother is also an Anglican minister, and will be assisting with tonight's service, want you to learn as much as you can from these young men, rest your voices tonight, so you are ready for the main service tomorrow morning” Reverend Hart said, and with a smile he headed to his office.

“Hello boys, welcome to your worst nightmare” Kyle said with a wicked grin, which made me laugh, “Ignore him boys, he is being an ass as usual” I responded, which made all the boys laugh, as I pointed to the mini grand piano tucked away in a corner, which I hadn’t seen before. Kyle saw what I was pointing to, and headed to the piano, “Right boys, lets hear how you sound, firstly the Altos...” I began, with Kyle providing musical backup.

By 3pm, after two hours, Kyle and I had the boy choir in a much better condition for tomorrow’s service, and even the boys were please with how much better they sounded, which was really a result of rearranging their positions, and getting them to practice some breathing techniques. “Right boys, that is all the singing for today, rest your voices, and get a good night’s sleep, I gather the service is at 10am tomorrow, so we will see you all 60 minutes before that, for one final rehearsal, before the parishoners' start arriving.

Flynn, isn’t it, I would like you to do part of a solo along with me, if you can, so make sure you get the music before you go. Now before you all go, I have an idea about the start of the service, so lets go through that once before you all head home for the day...” I said, and we ran through the idea once, which the boys thought was brilliant, and they agreed to keep the plans to themselves.

When we had finally finished the rehearsals, the boy Flynn, who appeared to be about 13 years old, approached looking very nervous, “Relax young man, I am not going to bite” I said as I saw the last of the choir boys dissapear out the main door, and I handed him the music sheet, which he looked and and broke into a wide smile, “This is my favourite hymn sir, but we have not had the chance to sing it here, so I jsut practice at home” Flynn said to me.

“That is wonderful news, now join me up in the loft, where we will be singing this solo, and lets see how we sound together” I responded, and we headed to the back of the cathedral and up the steep spiral stairs. After singing the song jsut two times, I knew I had chosen the right boy for this task, and I thanked him for staying behind, and that I would see him tomorrow.

Once the boy had gone, Reverend Hart appeared, with a big smile on his face. “Thank the lord that you both arrived at just the right time, it is a real treat to hear what you have acheived in just one afternoon, and I look forward to hearing them all tomorrow” the minister said to us. After a short chat, we said goodbye, so we could get back to the accommodation to rest and get some dinner, before we had to return at 11pm.

After dinner, Kyle and I decided that we would keep “The Prayer” and “Jerusalum” for Christmas Day service, and at 10pm we headed over to the Cathedral to prepare for the 11pm service, where Reverend Hart was talking to the adult choir. “Well hello there, you are early, which is good to see, Choir members, may I introduce you to our mystery singer – Kyle, who had agreed to sing with us tonight, and he will lead the boys choir tomorrow” Reverend Hart said happily, before we got down to practicing the songs that we would be singing tonight.

The service and the singing went very smoothly, and I noticed a number of them boy choir members amongst the audience, as Kyle and I sang our last solo, and both Louis and Joachim smiled and waved to me. Once the service was over, Kyle and I headed straight back to the accommodation to get some sleep, and Annette came and woke us up at 8am, announcing that breakfast is ready, and wished us a “Merry Christmas”.

We had decided to wait till lunch time to distribute Christmas presents to family and friends, so we happily chatted as we all ate breakfast together, and once we had finished, Kyle and I quickly changed into our best suits, waved goodbye and dashed to the cathedral, to prepare for the morning service.

The boys were all dressed in their best clothes, even though their best would be regarded as play clothes in some cases, which made me wonder if some of them come from a poor upbringing. We rehearsed the planned entry of the choir, with some coming from the front side doors, others from the main door, and the remainder would already be in the loft with me. We quickly practiced the hymns that we would be singing, which sounded a little better, and we waited for the start of the service.

With a signal from Reverend Hart, Kyle who was at the organ, began the opening bars of the hymn Jerusalum, and the choir entered from three directions and went towards the spiral stairs, while I sung my only entire solo from the balcony of the loft, which I saw had caught Reverend Hart by suprise, but he smile as he enjoyed listening to me sing, till all the boys were in the loft and quietly seated.

From near the main door of the Cathedral we all heard Annette give the opening prayer for the service, and as the congregation sang their first hymn, she walked up the centre aisle, to join Reverend Davies. I directed the boys to singing their first hymn as a improved choir, which sounded wonderful from the loft. Over an hour later, as the Christmas Service was approaching its conlusion, the time had come for Flynn and I to sing “The Prayer”, and this time from the mini grand piano, Kyle began to play.

Flynn started with the first verse and chorus, I followed with the second verse, and Flynn joined me for the second chorus, before I started the third verse, and Flynn started the last chorus, with me joining in half way through. As we ended the song, there was spontanious applause from the whole congregation, which we were not expecting.

“Before I ask Reverend Davies to give the Benediction, I wish to thank our guest singers, Kyle and Huon, for their wonderful participation in last night’s and todays services, as well as assisting with leading the boy choir today, and the additions peiced of music and singing. Thankyou both of you” Reverend Hart announced, before Annette concluded the service.

I let the boys head off downstairs, to join their families, and I waited upstairs, till most of the congregation had left, before heading down, to find Kyle, Annette, Sebastian, Louis and Joachim waiting for me, and the boys came rushing up to me and gave me a big hug. “That was so awesome Huon” Joachim said to me, and I chuckled as I returned the hug. “Well done cousin, you have made a lot of people very happy today” Sebastian added. “Where is Jose?” I asked, “He went to the Catholic Church to attend Christmas service” Sebastian explained.

“Right, lets get a move on to the ship, so we can open some Christmas pressies, before lunch” I suggested, and the boys cheered when they heard this, and grabbing Seb’s and my hands, started to tug us out of the building, much to everyone’s amusement. Once we had boarded the ship and been greeted by the officers, I lead the way to the elevator, and we headed up to B deck, where there is a large Christmas tree in the corner of the VIP dining room.

The two boys started tearing the paper wrapping once they were given their gifts, and the other adults all sat down at the table, and I handed out their presents. Staff soon appeared with first course of Christmas lunch, and the boys reluctantly abandoned their presents to sit at the table with the rest of us.

Once Sebastian and I had finished our entree’s, we headed downstairs to see the staff in the main dining room, to wish them a happy Christmas and onwards to see the other Falklands guests on the main deck, who had just sat down for their lunch, and where I spotted Flynn amongst them, we carried the large bags that we collected from the pantry area, and started to distribute small gifts to all of the children.

After chatting to some of the guests, we headed back up to the VIP dining room, just as the main course had been served, and we sat down and explained that we had gone to see the other guests, and distribute small presents to the children. When we had finished our main course, we headed back down to the main deck, and I signalled Flynn to come and join me, and I gave him a small song sheet that I had organised last night.

Flynn looked at the sheet and smiled, as I saw Reverend Hart and his wife appear, and soon we were singing Christmas carols to the guests. After three carols, we let Flynn go back to his seat and we headed back upstairs to eat our Christmas desserts of pudding, custard and ice cream. Once we had finished dinner, Annette and Kyle joined the Harts, Seb and myself, to the main deck to spend some time with the guests, as they were eating their desserts.

When we arrived, Flynn stood up and came up to me and gave me a hug, “Thankyou for today, it has been the best day of my life, and I will never forget it” he said to me, and as he stepped back, I noticed that he had tears flowing down his cheeks, “you are most welcome young man, we are pleased that you had a good day” I replied, and pulled him in for another hug.

We stayed and chatted to as many guests as possible, and when they start to leave, we wished them a enjoyable afternoon, and Kyle and I sang a few christmas carols as they were leaving. “Well that has been my most enjoyable Christmas in a very long time” Reverend Hart said after the last of the special guests had left, “I agree with you there Lionel, this is something that I will remember for a long time, and I will look into doing something simular in Toodyay, hopefully with the support of some sponsors” Annette said as she smiled and looked in Seb and my direction, making us both chuckle, and nodding in agreement. Merry Christmas to All