As I drove to work on the morning of the 24th of April, I couldn’t help but wonder how the day would go. I kept thinking, have I done everything in preparation that I could to make sure everything ran smoothly for the concert. I knew I had everything covered but I still felt nervous and kept worrying- how would the day go, how would the Skype connection to New Zealand go, would it be clear both ends so that our respective audiences and the choir could see each other?
I knew pretty much what to expect with the Skype connection. Some three weeks before hand I had arranged for a time that I would do a test run where I would Skype the Radius Fulton Care Centre in New Zealand for the first time, where the lovely Beth Sizemore worked as the DT Coordinator and with whom I had contacted months before hand to present my idea of the Anzac Concert to her. On that occasion the choir sang a few songs to check the sound quality after meeting Beth and her troops for the first time. The connection was nearly flawless. The picture was fantastic and the sound was good too. After exchanging pleasantries we said goodbye to the 24th.
When 9.30am on Friday the 24th came around I knew everything was ready to go. All I needed now was the choir to assemble and the 2 audiences both at Barunga Village and at Radius Fulton in Dunedin to take their seats.
What was to follow was one of the more amazingly wonderful and special events that I have ever seen.
At precisely 10.30am South Australian time, (1pm Dunedin time), the Barunga Village Choir’s “Celebration of 100 years of the Anzac Tradition” concert, began.
I firstly did a brief introduction of the residents, staff and volunteers of the Radius Fulton Care Centre to our choir and the audience that had gathered in our activity room. We then sang the New Zealand national Anthem, (God Defend New Zealand), accompanied by our guests in New Zealand followed by the Australian National Anthem. The choir then sang 7 songs. Bob Field, one of our choir members then performed solo,” What a Wonderful World”. The choir then proceeded to sing the rest of their songs from time to time being accompanied by the staff and residents from Dunedin. All up our choir performed 23 songs. The 2nd to last song was “Now is the Hour”, which is also known as ”The Maori’s Farewell”. The people in New Zealand joined in with us again.
As a thankyou from the Radius Fulton Care Centre, Beth had arranged for a piper to play “Amazing Grace” to us.
At the end of the concert, we had the Anzac Ode delivered by the President of the Port Broughton RSL. and one of our volunteers played the Last Post and then the Rouse.
I thanked everyone for attending the very special event that was the Barunga Village Choir’s ”Celebration of 100 years of the Anzac Tradition “ concert and then the choir sang one of their favourite songs, “Show Me The Way To Go Home”, which they love singing over and over again.
At the end of the concert, Beth thanked the choir, myself and everyone at Barunga Village for an absolutely wonderful day.
As I had my back to the audience most of the time, I wasn’t really aware of the large crowd that had gathered to the point where they were standing out in the corridor as there was no more room in the activity room to watch the proceedings. It turns out we nearly had every resident at Barunga Village, in watching the concert . We also had family members of the residents as well as volunteers and staff watching as well.
All up the concert ran near flawlessly. The choir put their heart and soul into their singing and both the audiences were very appreciative of the choirs and everyone’s efforts. As we walked out of the activity room at the end of the event there were many happy residents, who had also shed a few tears throughout the event. They congratulated the choir, myself and every one who had been witness to a wonderful event.
Looking back now, it was just one of those occasions where everything fell into place. There was just the right amount of humour and sadness, reflection and entertainment to make for a very special event and I’m not ashamed to say that you couldn’t get the smile off my face for the whole weekend, I was so proud of the choir and everyone who helped to make our Anzac concert an event we will never forget.
Our Director of Nursing, Merrilyn Hewett, even wrote to all the staff at Barunga Village that she had just had the absolute pleasure of being witness to a very special event where she had seen the raw emotions of the residents who were crying and then the joy and appreciation from everyone present at the concert and agreed it was an occasion that she will never forget either.
To cap off this wonderful event, we received a very special thankyou letter from the CEO of the Returned and Services League of Australia, (The RSL). Lt Cdr Sam Jackman wrote of her appreciation for all the efforts of the choir and everyone who had been involved in the concert, in keeping the Anzac spirit alive.