Day 8 - Goodbye Cambridge, Hello Sutton Coldfield!
The singers missed their early morning trek to the university for breakfast this morning! We all gathered together in the octagon instead for a buffet of goodies the chaperones picked up the day before. An array of yogurt, scones, cheese and fruit were widely received! Yummy!
We got right on the bus and were off to meet our new families that were going to be taking care of us for the next two days in Sutton Coldfield.
We arrived to the church a little earlier than planned but by the time we got all the luggage and singers off the bus with all their gear, the Sutton choristers were there with their signs and big smiles, ready to take our kids home!
The kids had a lovely afternoon with their new families, doing some shopping, playing video games with their new host siblings, dining at restaurants, and since the children here are still in school, attending things like school carnivals. Mirabel and Lucy were excited to report back that their family took them on a walk and they saw Shetland ponies. Max, Jeroen, and George played video games with their host brother who was quite thrilled to have 3 other boys at home to play with and Calin and Aiden had a fun time eating cotton candy at their homestays school carnival. When their homestay family came to pick the two of them up, and out jumped 3 other boys, the chaperones knew right away they were going to have a great time!
We all gathered at around 4:00 at a park for a picnic dinner, and some time to just play together. The weather was quite lovely and the kids had a blast! A huge game of "The Pony Game" was played and just about every choir member from both choirs participated, even Bob and Richard, the conductor of Sutton Choirs.
It was time to bring the kids together because they couldn't just have fun and games for the rest of the night... they did need to work a bit too! They rehearsed their mass piece, "Somewhere," which sounded beautiful, and then had like a little sing-off! Each choir sat on either side of the room facing each other and took turns singing. It was quite fun!
Following the rehearsal, the Sutton Choir had arranged for a DJ to come and the kids had a dance party. They had an absolute blast! By this point, the chaperones were fading and went back to try to catch some zzzzz's while the kids partied on. Bob was a trooper, staying till the bitter end!!! What a fun first day with our new families, creating lots of memories immediately! Looking forward to the song festival tomorrow!! More to come!!!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
