Shadows Dancing in the Sun - 14. Shad Chapter 14

Over the next 12 days, while Uncle Mitch was recovering in hospital, Maria and Giorgio took good care of me, and I went to work at the Guildford house, with them each day, where the Guest house was doing very well, with regular bookings for the cottage, the two units and the rooms in the main house.

Giorgio has a nephew of his helping him with maintenance and the garden, while two ladies helped Maria with the cooking and all the household cleaning and washing that needs to be done, and of course they are all Italian, so there was always smiling faces, excellent cooking smells and spotlessly clean accommodation.

When Uncle Mitch finally arrived home from hospital, on the Saturday morning, I was went with Maria and Giorgio to collect him, and with a bandage still around his head, the doctors informed him that he was not to work for at least two months, to allow the skull to fully heal properly, and that he was not to do anything that would cause a bump to the head.

Uncle Mitch had already been in contact with the company that he worked for, and arranged to do all of his work from his work studio at home, and they would send a courier with anything that needs to be delivered or picked up.

Maria and Giorgio agreed to stay at the penthouse to continue looking after both of us, with Maria spending most of her time at the penthouse, while Giorgio went to work at Guildford each day.

On the day of the consecration of the new chapel, to be named the Chapel of St Lawrence, which is to take place at 3pm, the headmaster, and the school chaplain arrived as arranged at 11 am, to go through the events with Uncle Mitchell, and gathered in the chapel, and I came along too.

“Mr Garrison, we have some interesting news in regards to today’s big event, The Anglican Churches most senior cleric, the Church Primate and Archbishop of Melbourne, will be conducting the service, along with myself as the School’s Chaplain and also the Archbishop of Perth, attending will be the Bishop of the Bunbury Dioceses and the Bishop of the Dioceses of the North West, which means representation from the whole state.

This is a very rare and unique occurrence, that has only happened less than a dozen times for a consecration of a new church or chapel, so I have arranged for security to be present,” the chaplain announced. “I see, well it is good that we have the second entry and departure point to the property completed, so we can have buses going in and out without any drama, It may be a good idea to see if we can get all of the school prefects here early, so they can assist with ushering duties,” Uncle Mitch responded.

“I have already seen to that, Mr Garrison, and they are having an early lunch, before being transported here by bus, with their arrival set for 12.15 pm” the headmaster stated. “I had my housekeeper and her team give the chapel a thorough clean from top to bottom, and it is gleaming and ready for the service.

Although we do not have a traditional pipe organ, I have managed to get a small portable organ player, and I have hired a baby grand piano, which my nephew is prepared to play,” Uncle Mitch announced. “Excellent, that will make a good addition along with the choir and the school orchestra, and our music master will play the organ for us, and they are due to arrive at 12.45 pm,” the Chaplain stated.

“We also have our media and technology teachers bringing along three borrowed film cameras to record the whole event,” the Headmaster announced. “I see, well the organ and baby grand are both located on the ground floor, while the orchestra will be on the upper level, along with the choir, so as to make room for any additional guests.

Do we know how many people are coming, as we only have seating for 190 on the ground level main area, 72 in the choir area, and 52 in the upper gallery, and that is not including the choir, orchestra or the officiates?” Uncle Mitch asked. “Well in regards to students, we have 30 students from each of years 9, 10, 11 & 12, plus one parent, that have been invited, not including the twelve-Year 12 prefects, also there will be 46 school staff & teachers and…” the headmaster said, stopping briefly to look around to see who else is listening, with just me being the only other person.

“We also have two dignitaries and their partners,” the headmaster concluded, “And they are?” Uncle Mitchell asked, “Two former old boys of the school. His excellency, the Governor of Western Australia and the Honourable Premier of Western Australia,” the headmaster announced.

“Ok, let’s put the Year 12 boys and their parents in the normal choir area, along with the prefects, staff and teachers can be put up in the gallery, and the rest can be seated in the main seating area on the ground level, with the last ten seats available for the dignitaries and officiates. I think that is everyone allocated an area to sit, and we also do have the central courtyard outside, if we keep the doors open and the roof gallery if need be for additional seating,” Uncle Mitch said.

“Uncle, haven’t you forgotten one person?” I asked smiling, “No, I don’t think so?” Uncle replied, “I think he is thinking of you, Mr Garrison,” the Chaplain responded, which had me laugh out loudly, and the headmaster and chaplain smiled, while Uncle Mitch blushed.

“Silly me, fancy forgetting the property owner, well there is a spare seat at the front, that I guess I can use,” Uncle Mitch eventually said, which had me laughing some more.

Shortly after a mobile ringing had everyone looking to see whose phone it is, and it was the Chaplain’s phone, and he walked away as he answered the call. Returning a few moments later, he cleared his throat to speak, “Sorry to do this to you, but can you fit two more onto the guest list, as the UWA Anglican Chaplain and the St Georges Chaplain have both asked if they can attend,” the school chaplain announced.

“They can be seated at the front, I will find a seat elsewhere,” Uncle Mitch said, and the chaplain handed out the order of service leaflet, so they could see if anything has been missed, and this gave me a chance to go through the hymns on the piano, which I had been practicing for a week, since the list of hymns for the service was given to me.

When the prefects arrived, the Chaplain gave them the list and instructions on where each group of people are being seated, with instructions sent out during the week for those attending this event, to park at the school in Guildford, as only school buses would be permitted to enter the campus grounds, and no one by foot. For the day students and their parents, a pickup site was selected closer to the campus, at the main carpark at nearby Matilda Bay Reserve, just two kilometres away.

The first of many school buses began to arrive at 1 pm, with five minutes spacing of departure from the school, to allow for easy offloading and directing the guests to their seats. When boarding the bus, the guests were checked off on a list of those allowed to attend the event, with everyone to be seated by 2.45 pm at the latest.

The school has a total of eight-28 seat school buses, to transport the 286 staff, teachers, students and parents to the campus, with four buses collecting from the other pickup site, once they had dropped off their load from Guildford. It was just past 2.15 pm, when the headmaster’s mobile sounded, as he and Uncle Mitch and I met, to see how things were going with guests arriving.

“I see, just a moment please… We seem to have a situation, one of the school bus drivers, who is a teacher, has informed me that an additional 120 students and parents are wanting to attend the event, who are not on the list, and they are all gathered at the Matilda Bay carpark,” the Headmaster informed Uncle Mitch.

“Go and round up some of your classmates, we will need to get enough chairs up to the chapel roof level on level two, but no more than 120 chairs, and remember where you gathered them from,” Uncle Mitch said to me, and I raced off to where my year 11 class mates were seated, before giving the Headmaster the go ahead to allow no more than 120 to travel to the campus.

A few minutes later eight of my class mates including Kyle, and I arrived in the third-floor music rooms, where the chairs are not fixed to the ground, as they are all the lecture rooms, when my mobile rang with Uncle Mitch calling. “Nephew, I am not too keen on having that many up there, due to the weight issue, so only sixty seats are to be set up in the chapel roof terrace, the rest will have to be seated in the courtyard at the back of the chapel,” my uncle said to me.

“Ok, got it, 60 seats on chapel terrace and 60 in the courtyard,” I replied before ending the call. By 2.40 pm, we had everyone inside the chapel, with a tight squeeze, and just the three officiates, the Headmaster, Uncle Mitch an myself were standing outside, awaiting the dignitary’s arrival, and as suggested by the headmaster, I had my trumpet with me to make the official announcement of their arrival, by playing the General Salute.

When I saw a front police escort lead two official cars towards the property, with a rear escort following, I opened the gates to let them in, and they stopped where the Headmaster and Uncle Mitch stood waiting, while the three officiates headed inside. “Headmaster, it is good to see you again, as you may guess, this is my wife Angela, Mr Kingsley, the Premier, and his wife” the State’s Governor said after stepping out of the lead car, which has the Governors flag on the hood.

“Thank you for attending this special event, may I introduce the owner of this property, who has granted us the use of this place as our new campus, Mr Mitchell Garrison, and his nephew, year 11 student, Master Tobias Garrison, who is our trumpeter and pianist today,” the headmaster said making the introductions.

I just nodded my head and excused myself from them, and walked ahead of them, with the headmaster leading the guests indoors. As soon as I heard the doors from the lobby into the courtyard open, I began the trumpet call. By the time I had finished, the headmaster was standing next to me.

“Teachers, students and parents, please stand for his Excellency the Governor, and the honourable Premier of Western Australia and their wives,” the Headmaster called out in a loud voice, and everyone stood, as the headmaster lead the procession inside, with Uncle Mitch behind him, followed by the dignitaries, and finally the three officiates.

As they were slowly going down the centre aisle of the chapel, I scooted around the side, to take my place at the piano, to one side and slightly below the main altar, and next to the organ, where the music master was seated. “Nice job with the trumpet call,” he whispered to me, as I placed the trumpet to one side of the piano, where it is out of the way, and I just nodded and smiled.

“Your Excellency, Premier, Bishops, chaplains, headmaster, teachers & staff, students and parents, this is indeed a wonderful event, and very well attended, more than I had expected, welcome to you all for the naming and consecration of this wonderful chapel. My name is Michael Parks, Archbishop of Melbourne and the Anglican Primate of Australia,” the service began.