Straight Ahead Concert

On Saturday 23rd October Ipswich Citadel hosted the ‘Straight Ahead’ choir. It was the 126th corps anniversary and turned out to be the farewell weekend for Majors Alan and Carolyn. Originally the concept of inviting the choir was aired as a fund raising event for the building project. However it wasn’t possible to find a mutually suitable date during the fund raising period but we went ‘straight ahead’ anyway!
Straight Ahead are the youth choir of the Salvation Army’s London North-East division. The London North-East division covers most of Essex from Manningtree down to Ilford and across to Stevenage. The choir meets monthly at Wickford to practise and share fellowship. Some of the choir are junior or senior Salvationists but, for several of the members, the choir is the only church experience they know. This is reflected in the rehearsals. It is not only a musical tuition time but an opportunity to share God’s love with them and show the young people that they are valued.
Capt Susanna Hart (Canvey Island) and Michelle Leeder (DYO) have ably led the choir and have conducted many services and concerts in the Essex area. This was the first time the choir had left their division and were excited to be visiting Ipswich.
Yvette and I have known the leadership team for many years. So when Susanna asked if we would be able to help out we jumped at the chance!
For us the concert was a great safe opportunity for us to bring some work colleagues to church. Our friends enjoyed themselves but, interestingly, they found it strange when people started shaking their hands to welcome them. I guess in their minds they saw it as an auditorium or theatre. It gave us further opportunities to explain why people wanted to engage with them.
We really enjoyed presenting our worship offering to you and hope something of what you heard encouraged you.
Many thanks to those who helped us with the organisation of the event. For those of you who supported that night, thanks for your encouragement. And for those of you who missed it a DVD of the night is available to borrow.

Simon Girling