News 2008

Butterflies, St Bernard's and my old pal Hayley!

St Bernard's, St Kieran's, and St Andrew's

The fantastic signage at St Andrew's, Ferny Grove in Brisbane

November 24-December 18: The Christmas Run

From November 24 onwards I was busy doing Christmas and End-of-Year concerts, mailny in and around Sydney and Wollongong but with some special visits to Bateman's Bay and Brisbane. Some of the highlights were:

• launching school songs at three schools: St Andrew's Ferny Grove (Attend With A Listening Heart and Ubuntu), St Bernard's, Batehaven (That All May Be One), St Rose's, Collaroy (May The Love Of God Be With You), MacKillop Catholic College, Warnervale (Southern Cross Shine- Christ Is My Light)
• after two rained out efforts in 2008, St Patrick's at Guildford finally got a full Christmas Concert, and it was a beauty!
• Sharing my birthday with the beautiful kids and teachers at St Ambrose's, Concord West- I even got a cake and had John Burland's Happy Birthday Twist sung to me!
• Learning the "cowboy move" at St Pius X, Unanderra
• A beautiful concert in the gentle rain at St Brigid's, Gwynneville, and singing the Irish Blessing for Margaret Hicks, leaving Catholic Education after many, many years of service
• the beautiful movement the Year 1 class at St Therese's Denistone did for Under Your Star- they may be DVD stars in the future!
• Some absolutely fantastic audiences, especially St Raphael's at Sth Hurstville (what a night!) but also at St Patrick's Asquith and Regina Coeli Beverly Hills where I met some old classmates of my wife
• And meeting this great Year six fella from OLPS at West Pymble. I looked at his feet (see the picture below) and thought that he must have hurt his foot. He said, "Nah. This morning I couldn't find my other sandshoe so I grabbed my sandal- alphabetically it was the closest I could find!" GENIUS!!!

November 17-22: Auckland and Kiwi Choir

I flew into Auckland late on Sunday night and got up early to return to my favourite Auckland school, St John’s, Mairangi Bay. St John’s is one of the rare schools that I’ve visited four times and they’ve looked after me well over the years. Another great family concert was held in the evening. On Tuesday it was off to Pukekohe to visit St Joseph’s. I was greeted by Arizona, who I remembered from years before but now she was the school captain. And she gave me one of the most accomplished receptions I’ve ever been given- a natural leader. She and Sarah also sang Ka Waiata beautifully to commence the evening concert. Another highlight was Piper, who did the best butterfly bows of the year. I also met Michale Foote, who had a sore foot!

On Wednesday it was a return visit to Monte Cecilia where I met some old friends like Gemma and Renee and the now famous Mr Cricket, who tested me with his outstanding knowledge of cricket. The children of Monte Cecilia farewelled me by singing the Irish Blessing which was beautiful. Here’s a photo:

At the end of the day Renee and some of the girls played twenty questions and we were all me! Which is the real Andrew Chinn?

And then there was Keti! On Thursday I visited the children at St Therese’s, Three Kings. Keti kept everyone enthralled all day with his great dancing and Tonga was pretty good too!

On Friday I visited St Dominic’s in Blockhouse Bay. They have some artwork on the wall that looks a lot like me! It was great to work with the children there. Two years ago I recorded the first ever New Zealand Butterfly Choir who were just sensational. And this year was no exception.

On Saturday we recorded the New Zealand Butterfly Choir, once again with the help of Mark Grimes from Tenvor Productions. The children had come from all over New Zealand. There were two from Queenstown, one from Alexandra, one from Timaru, two from Richmond, four from Wellington, four from Hawkes Bay, three from Gisborne and nine from in and around Auckland. This photo is another in the “near and far” series, with the children closest to the camera being from Auckland and those furthest away being from Queenstown and Alexandra.

The children worked so well together. By midday they done nearly all of the songs with their best performances being on Arly Arky and I Light A Candle. Here’s a selection of the photos from the day:

One of the highlights of the day was when the children sang “You Are My Rock” with their parents. Here’s Mary Hogan with her mum Robyn, having a ball singing together!

As I write I’m sitting on a Qantas 767 heading back home to Sydney and then Bowral. It think back over the last six years and I’m very thankful for the many lovely people I’ve met in New Zealand, all the schools I’ve visited and the wonderful God-given opportunities I’ve had.

November 10-14: Back to Moorebank; St Joseph’s, Oatley
A quieter week back home. The week began with me leading a retreat with the Year 6 students from my old school, St Joseph’s, Moorebank. These were the last bunch of children who remembered me teaching there. There were some fabulous singers, especially Brigida, Jordan, Ebony and Ashleigh. Here’s a picture of Jordan and Brigida, looking like she’s off to Tamworth.

On Tuesday I met the children from St Joseph’s Oatley and we had a great day followed by an end of year concert. One of the best Year 6 groups I’ve met all year. It’s lovely when a Year 6 gets better as the year goes on.

On Friday it was back to Moorebank to farewell their beloved principal and our dear friend, Sean Grace. We sang many of his favourites including “The Irish Blessing”. In the afternoon there was a concert in his honour with some of the highlights being a special version of Amazing Grace and a retake on Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partirdge.

On Saturday and Sunday we put the Christmas tree up and Eleanor got to put the angel on top!

November 3-7: New Zealand: Gisborne and Hawkes Bay
On November 1 I left Sydney to fly to Wellington in New Zealand. I went to Sunday Mass at St Francis Xavier Parish in Stoke Valley with the musically talented Hanify family before heading up to Gisborne. Gisborne is the first city in the world to see the new day. Speaking of new, St Mary’s school, who I visited four years ago is now in a brand new place with brand new buildings.

You can see the new school in the photo on the left. The photo in the right is one of the brilliant murals that the leaving classes have created over the years that they successfully removed and brought over to the new site. St Mary’s has a fantastic outdoor undercover area which has a stage so we held our evening concert outdoors.

The girl in the middle is Theresa. Four years ago when Theresa was in Year 1 we had our photo taken by a photographer from the Gisborne Herald. I loved the photo so much that I used it as the cover photo for my main brochure for the following two years. So when we met up again we did our best to re-create the shot. Met the fabulous Kate, Mary and Matthew who are going to be late additions to the NZ butterfly choir!

Very early on Tuesday, at 5:00am I left Gisborne and headed south to Hastings in beautiful Hawkes Bay. Was greeted so warmly by Teresa Nielson, the Director of Religious Studies at St Mary’s School in Hastings. I just love the way she greets people. As every child walks past her she gives them a big smile and a huge “Good Morning and may God bless you!” and the children all return the blessing with warmth.

The girl on the left is the famous Louise, the woman warrior! We met three years ago and it’s good to see she’s so full of life and energy. After a day at St Mary’s then a day at St Joseph’s we got together on the Wednesday evening for a combined schools concert in the beautiful Sacred Heart Church. Sacred Heart Church, along with St Patrick’s cathedral in Palmerston North are my two favourite churches in New Zealand. We began by singing Ka Waiata Ki A Maria for St Mary’s and then “A School Prayer” for St Joseph’s before the teachers from both schools combined for an amazing rendition of Lord of the Dance.

On Thursday I returned to Reignier School in Taradale where I met Victoria Purdy three years earlier. Not only did Victoria come to Auckland to sing with the NZ Butterfly Choir, she and her family also flew to Sydney for the launch concert. Reignier is in the top of five of Catholic Schools I’ve visited in New Zealand for the quality of their singing.

Here’s Victoria and her mad brother Sam! He can play whole tunes without looking at the piano! And in New Zealand they still have cracker night so I had a great night at the Purdys sharing a meal and then a fireworks display led by Victoria’s big brother, Matthew.

And finally, the week finished at St Patrick’s school in Napier, home of Harata, Adela and Loren who sang with me in Auckland two years ago. Once again, St Pat’s made some beautiful displays for me based around “I Have Called You By Name”, “In The Beginning” and “These Hands”.

And what an amzing performance we had of “Hold My Hands” complete with a Samaon drum and laes around all of our necks!

October 27-31: NEW CD OUT NOW!!!
My latest CD is out now and available through no good record stores- just through me! It’s called Under Your Star and features eight songs for Christmas, including one original song and seven that I do each year for Christmas including Feliz Navidad, Christmas Where The Gumtrees Grow and Carol of the Drum (The Little Drummer Boy). The CD also has a compilation of 11 tracks from my previous albums- these are the songs that could be and are used at end of year celebrations such as graduations- 19 songs altogether.

On October 27 I paid a visit to Christ the King School at Bass Hill and met the fabulous dancing David and Mona! The on October 28 I spent the day at St Angela’s in Castle Hill. What a great singing school they are!

On October 29 and 30 I spent some time in the studio finishing all of my singing and guitar work and then Bernadette did her bit of vocal work. So other than the New Zealand Butterfly Choir “Let Your Light Shine” is just about finished the recording stage and we now move into the mixing and mastering stage.

DVD news: My new DVD Come Dance With Me is just about to go to the factory and I should have it safely in my hands in the week of November 10-14.

October 22-24: Southern Tour- Finley, Tocumwal, Kyabram and … YEA!!!
On October 22 I made my way towards the Victorian border to some visit a special school that I hadn’t visited since 2003. St Joseph’s, Finley, along with Sacred Heart, Tocumwal. St Joseph’s has a special place in my heart for two reasons: firstly, I wrote “Wherever I Go” for them and secondly, it was the scene of the most beautiful graduation I have ever been to.

It was great to see Toody and Kate again and one of many highlights was the performance of the dancing Clarke family! Also met some lovely Canadians who are on exchange in Tocumwal at the moment.

From there it was on to Kyabram which featured a guest appearance by Boronia Paterson who used to go to St Mary’s at Rushworth but who is now in Year 7 at St Augustine’s at Kyabram.

And then it was off to one of my favourite places in Australia and certainly my favourite place name- YEA! This was my fourth visit to Sacred Heart. Met my old pals Kylie Anne and Catherine; made a fuss of Emily and Stacey again, even thought they’re in Year 8 now; Stephen taught me how to play Jesse’s girl on the guitar and then Hudson and Cara treated us all to some fantastic Irish dancing as we were packing up.

And yes, for those of you who know the story, I did drive through Yarck on my way home!

October 13-20: Studio Recording and Working with Scripture Teachers
On October 13 I had the privilege of working with the Sydney Catechists at Lidcombe sharing ideas on how to use music in SPcripture classes. Met a lot of friends from my past- as opposed to “old friends”!

The rest of that week was taken up with recording soloists and singers for “Let Your Light Shine”. On Wednesday, October 15, Caleb and Melissa Wright and Kendra Murphy came up to lend their voices to the album as did three students from St Thomas Aquinas in Bowral: Rebecca Power, Georgie Quinn and Eleanor Chinn. And the famous Lauren Moore turned up in the evening to beautifully record her parts.

On the weekend of Friday-Sunday October 17-19 we had the all Australian Butterfly Choir recording for the new album, “Let Your Light Shine”. Children travelled from every state and territory except Tasmania to be a part of the recording. The two photos below show the choirs, which included three Western Australians, one South Australian, one Territorian, one from Canberra and even numbers of Queenslanders, Victorians and New South Welshpeople. And yes, the redheads were very well represented with 9 out of the 39 children having red hair!

And though we tried to keep him out, Bernard “Stevie Wonder” Cumming magaged to find his way into the studio! We had two adult choirs record three songs, “I Light A Candle”, “Trinity” and “You Are My Rock”. The choirs just sounded sensational all weekend. The final result should be just beautiful. Thank you to all!

On October 20 I rose very early and drove north to Newcastle for a fantastic ecumenical day with teachers of all Christian faith at the New Vine Baptist Church in Maryland.

September 26- October 11: Tasmania
On September 26 Bernadette and Eleanor and me set off for Tasmania. What made it even more exciting was that it was Eleanor’s first time on a plane. She loved it as much as I do! Bernadette doesn’t love it but appreciates that it gets us to places a lot quicker- and safer too.

We spent the first weekend driving up the east coast through places like Stanley, Bicheno and St Helen’s. The first school we visited was Our Lady of Mercy in Deloraine before moving on to St Peter Chanel in Smithton. Smithton is a lovely town located in the far north west corner of Tasmania. St Peter Chanel holds a special place in my heart because I spent three years as Assistant Principal at a school of that name in Sydney. Not only did I learn a lot about him but I also wrote a song about him called “Like A Bird Of The Air”.

From there we drove through the wild west to Rosebery and Queenstown. We stayed with the lovely Sr Pam Barlow again and visited the two St Joseph’s Schools. Both of them have had big facelifts since we saw them two years ago and are looking particularly grand.

We then had another beautiful weekend at Cradle Mountain. We went on lots of greatr bushwalks, including walking all the way around Dove Lake which lies at the foot of Cradle Mountain. Eleanor managed the two and a half hour walk quite well. We had all sorts of wildlife around including this very tame wallaby that visited us the morning before we left. There was a little joey in her pouch too!

The second week was spent in and around Hobart with me visiting Holy Rosary, Claremont; Corpus Christi at Bellerive; St Brigid’s, New Norfolk; and St Cuthbert’s, Lindisfarne. The choir at St Brigid’s were just beautiful and we sang our way all through lunch! Well done to Miss Dorn who dies a great job. I promised them that if ever I went on tour with a choir in Tassie, I’d take them! The very next day we had a very moving experience with another choir.

When I arrived at St Cuthbert’s Mary Hemming asked me if it was alright if we could have special guests during the afternoon concert. The children from St John’s Richmond, who I had visited on my two earlier visits to Tasmania, has just one the Hobart Eisteddfod singing Brendan Connor’s version of the Irish Blessing and they wanted to come and sing it for me.

Now here’s the catch- not only did they sing it but they sang the first half in Irish! Brilliant! We loved it so much we offered to pay to have them record it before the end of the year and have arranged to have this done next week. If all goes well, we’re hoping to put it on the new album, “Let Your Light Shine”.

On our last day in Hobart we visited the spectacular Botanical Gardens and Eleanor had her first game of putt putt golf- what a hoot! We flew home on the Saturday with a spectacular flight over King Island and the Snowy Mountains.

September 22-25: A quiet week!
After the busy-ness of the weeks before I finally had time to be quiet for a space. I did some singing with my fabulous liturgical dance group at St Thomas Aquinas in Bowral as we presented some Christmas songs to the Catechists in the parish. And on the Thursday it was off to Queanbeyan for a day with St Gregory’s Primary School. Then it was off to Tasmania.

I visited three schools in the area starting with Sacred Heart, in Toowoomba, then off to St Monica’s at Oakey. Not only did I catch up with some friends from many, many years ago, the Donaldsons, but I got to meet the fabulous Harley, looking like a real rocker holding my guitar. From there I went to Our Lady of Lourdes back in Toowoomba. I was really impressed with the Year 5, 6 and 7s at all three schools and they all must have great music teachers because singing was well and truly alive.

The week finished at St Patrick’s in Gympie. This was my fourth visit to Gympie and as well as workshops and concerts the main purpose of the day was to launch the school song that we wrote together called Let Your Light Shine On Us. Special thanks to Miranda, Jas, Dayna, Liam, Ryan and Campbell who helped me throughout the day. The song sounded great. Thanks too to Jessie and Sam for grooving throughout the concert!

On the weekend I was invited to be part of the children’s Mass at St Patrick’s East Gosford, which is always a real pleasure. They have fantastic liturgies there. Below are pictures of my friends Bernard and Henry Cumming. As Henry (on the right) says, “What can you expect of me, when my dad’s a bigger clown than I am?”

September 8-12: Melbourne
Off to beautiful Melbourne, one of our family’s favourite cities. I visited St Jude’s in Scoresby and then, for the first time ever, I got to perform in “Outer Space”! Holy Trinity School in Wantirna South has three gathering spaces called, the “Mini Space”, the “Greater Space” and finally “Outer Space”! So now I’ve gone intergalactic!

They can really sing at St Timothy’s at Vermont. As well as singing some of my songs the children also sung me a few songs from their musical. And we have new contenders in the “Grooviest Teachers of the Year” award. Taking it right up to the teachers of Good Shepherd in Lockridge, WA, were the teachers of St Timothy’s, including their principal, Mr Faulkner!

I had another lovely day and night at St Finbar’s, East Brighton where there was another “best” of the year involving teachers: best performance of “Lord of the Dance” both in singing and dancing. Many lovely redheads again too.

And finally the week finished with a fantastic Feast Day at Holy Cross, New Gisborne. We began the day with a Mass which featured powerful links to our indigenous heritage. The children of Holy Cross were given a message stick a a link to the Wirundjeri people, the original caretakers of the land in and around Melbourne. The principal, Joe Caruana, is a hard act to follow! He nearly stole the show. On the left of the picture is a mosaic created by all of the students as part of their “Making Jesus Real” program.

September 1-5: Western Victoria/Ballarat Diocese
Much of this week was spent working with teachers in the Ballarat Diocese. I ran full day workshops for teachers in the Northern Zone at Swan Hill, in the Southern Zone at Koroit and in Ballarat. One of the activities I did with the teachers was to get them to create artwork inspired by a song of prayer. Here are some of my favourite pictures from the week, all created by the talented teachers of the Ballarat Diocese.

On the Monday night I stayed right on the Murray River at a town called Euston. I went for a short walk along the river at sunset and got some photos of the river and its reflection:

The following day I visited the children of St Mary’s, Robinvale, and was treated like a rock star! The children there were just so friendly and they could really sing. I only got to hear the Preps to year 6 sing. I’m hoping all those kids keep singing next year, especially when they get in to high school.

The other school I got to visit was St Francis Xavier’s in Ballarat. One of the highlights of the day was being shown the school’s Butterfly Garden by Tom and Sam. They love butterflies there as much as I do.

And a rainbow picture to finish with on the road from Koroit to Ballarat!

August 25-29: Dungog, Singleton (A Cross of Stars) and Liverpool
The following week I made a two day trip to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, stopping first at St Joseph’s at Dungog where I caught up with an old friend, Mick Maloney, the principal and some fantastic singers. From there it was a lovely country road drive over to Singleton where I had dinner with the Williams family who, like me, are old Redgum fans. I had a day with the children at St Catherine’s at Singleton where they gave the best performance of “A Cross of Stars” that I think I have ever heard a group of children sing! Mary MacKillop herself would be proud!

Every year for the past five years I’ve made a visit to the first school I taught at, All Saints at Liverpool. Here’s a report from their newsletter:

“Last Friday the famous Andrew Chinn made what is becoming his annual appearance at the school, being greeted very enthusiastically by teachers and children.  Andrew is a past teacher of this school and is now an Australian religious songwriter and singer.  Many of his songs are regularly used within our classroom and church liturgies as well as around the world.  Kindies, 1, 2 and 6 were the lucky classes to take in his performances/workshops.  Many of the children had favourite song requests to start off the performances, Rainbow and These Hands being among the top.  The children were immersed in singing and performing songs of our faith.” Mrs Alice Gobeli (she’s an old friend of our family’s)

Year 6 Marum continue to be an amazing class. Each year, Mrs G gathers a group of children, randomly selected, and embarks on a year of music immersion. Every child in the class takes up an instrument for the year, either guitar, keyboard, recorders (some of them are pink!), voice, or drums. By this time of the year they can pick up a piece of music and put something in to shape very quickly. They performed a lovely version of An Irish Blessing for me. What an amazing opportunity! Well done Mrs G!

August 18-24: Toowoomba Diocese and Studio
August 20 and 21 saw a quick flying trip to St Stephen’s at Pittsworth- my third visit there in 6 years. Shared a great pizza dinner and then an evening concert. The following day it was off to Our Lady of the Southern Cross College in Dalby- what a lovely name for a school. Would love to write a song for them one day.

On August 23 and 24 we spent a bit of time in the studio finishing the Christmas Album, “Under Your Star” as well as working on “Let Your Light Shine”. Here’s some photos from the two days: Amanda O’Brien on flute, Mark Raue on keyboard, Noel Dixon, my brother-in-law on sax, Tim Hart, my son-in-law on bandolin and Matthew Parker on trumpet.

August 10-15: Bowral Snow, Childers and Wide Bay
After living in Bowral for more than three years it finally snowed on Sunday, August 10. Just as we were driving home from the shops we saw the first flakes fall and by the time we got out of the car it was snowing fairly heavily. We had seen snow before in Tasmania but not in our own home town!

The week started at St Joseph’s, Childers, where I’d visited in 2003. Back then they had so many red heads that they were the red head capital of Queensland. Not so many there now, but enough for me to feel at home. Great singing performances from Josh, Stella and the rest of the choir.

From there to Xavier Catholic Primary, one of the newest primary schools in the Brisbane Archdiocese. There was one class called 3K that had 8 redheads out of 25 students! One third of the class! FANTASTIC!

On Wednesday I was at Star of the Sea, Torquay. Great day, lots of fun. On Thursday I was back at St Mary’s Maryborough for the fourth time in six years. A busy day, getting ready for a night concert and the Feast of the Assumption. We had a lovely combined primary and college choir. There’s a picture below of the college girls practising on the lawn of the school grounds. I got to sing once more with Anna Parker, who led I Sing To Mary beautifully. Special thanks to Annie and Rachel for their leadership and to Sydney and James for their grooviness.

What a beautiful school St Mary’s is. They’ve got a lovely old convent which has been restored and renovated to make the new offices.  The principal, Luke Brown, has decorated his office with the beautiful artwork of the children. They also have a great Strings Program at the school. Before I left I was entertained by the beautiful String Quartet who performed this great Chinese Market Song, and then I went to see the Year 6 Orchestra perform too.

August 4-8: Two Feast Days and a Song for St Patrick’s Gympie
On August 5 I got up early for the drive to Canberra to be part of Rosary Primary’s Feast Day. They celebrate the Feast of St Dominic because the Dominican Sisters founded the school. Children sometimes ask me what the best part of my job is. It’s when a child comes back after everything is over and looks me in the eye and says thank you. Alexandra from the Rosary choir did just that and I was really moved by her heartfelt thanks. And Alexandra’s going to come and sing on the new album as well!

On August 6 I got to sit down with Larry Gilmore, my video engineer and got to have a look at the first edits of my new DVD, “Come Dance With Me”. It’s looking good with the highlights for me being “Wherever I Go” and “I Sing to Mary”. We’re on target for an October release I think.

Then it was a quick flight north to Brisbane and then on to Gympie to help St Patrick’s write their school song. As I sit here typing I’m on a break having just completed two verses and a chorus with one verse to go. As well as catching up with one of my favourite singers, Miranda Robertson, who did lots of leads on “Many Roads, One Journey”, I also went off to a studio in Gympie to do some recording for the two new albums with Jules Maher, my harmonica playing friend. Here’s a photo of Jules who seems a bit uncomfortable with the headphones!

On Friday I headed to St Mary’s Church in Maryborough for a combined Josephites School Mass, celebrating the Feast of Blessed Mary MacKillop. St Mary’s Maryborough hosted St Joseph’s Childers to remember and honour Mary MacKillop, one of Australia’s greatest heroes. A really beautiful Mass with some lovely singing. Thanks to Stacey, Ellen, Stella and Kaitlin and the gang from St Joseph’s and to Rachel and Annie and the lovely little and big gang from St Mary’s. See you all next week!

July 29-August 1: Up to the Top End
On Monday night of July 28 I made the longish flight up to Darwin. The plane didn’t land until after 1:00 in the morning but that’s when Darwin Airport is at its busiest.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Sacred Heart School in Palmerston, working with the students and the teachers and because it was over two days I got to workshop some old favourites like The Well Song, Flutterby Butterfly and I Have Called You By Name. A fabulous choir and I met the amazing Samantha who has such a beautiful voice I had to invite her to come to Sydney to be a part of the choir recording for Let Your Light Shine. And she’s going to come. Some great boy singers at Sacred Heart too.

I spent Thursday at St Paul’s at Nightcliff and as with Sacred Heart, it was my third visit. They really sing well at St Paul’s and sang “May God Be In My Heart” as well as it’s ever been sung anywhere. At St Paul’s I got to meet old friends, not just Shane and Mary who’ve been there for a while, but old friends from far away, like the Ogles from Tasmania and others from Canberra too.

On Friday it was off to Humpty Doo to St Francis of Assisi, which for some reason, always makes me think of the Wiggles. There were no Wiggles to be found and my voice was starting to go missing too. We managed to get through the workshops thanks to a brilliant choir. By the evening I had almost no voice at all, but Shayne Kidd promised me that the choir would get me through. So for the first time ever (last year I did a half concert like this) I did a concert where I didn’t sing at all and let the children do the singing. Fantastic work by the choir, with special mention to Connie and the girls who kept it together really well.

Here are a few photos from St Francis, including me sitting behind a principal’s desk for the first time since 1998 when I was Acting Principal for a term. It was tiring just thinking about it!

July 21-25: Victoria
I flew out to Melbourne on the Sunday night to begin a week in Victoria. Began with a day and a night at St Dominic’s Broadmeadows and met an amazing and well-travelled teacher called Cath Woodhouse. One of those teachers who is committed to educating the disadvantaged in our world. Cath spent a lot of time in indigenous schools in WA and now works with the diverse community at Broadmeadows. Amazing children from all parts of the world and many refugees who love the new home they’ve found at St Dominic’s.

From there to a very, very cold Ballarat. Ice on the window in the morning before heading to St Columba’s in North Ballarat. Got to be one of the first performers to work in their fabulous new hall. A great day.

From Ballarat to an even colder Colac and the beautiful community of St Mary’s. Many highlights but none better than the two biggest boys in Year 6, Jack and Josh I think, who did amazing deep voices in the Rainbow song. And lots of rainbow coloured children at the evening concert too. Then to Sacred Heart in Colac, home of Madeleine and Millicent who sang on Many Roads, One Journey. And now there’s the lovely redheaded Charlotte who’s coming to Sydney to sing on Let Your Light Shine.

The week finished with the fabulous kids and the teachers from St Aloysius. Their teachers love their music so much they often have a very special choir practice on a Friday afternoon after all the kids have gone home! I got to join them for one as well! Met the fabulous Dana the Bega Cheese girl and her sister Catherine.

July 14-18: World Youth Day and a quick visit to Nambour
July 16 was a pretty special day. Late last year, Fr John Pearce, a Passionist Priest from Endeavour Hills in Melbourne, invited me to be a part of “Songs of Passion” an official World Youth Day Event held at St Brigid’s in Marrickville.

It was an amazing night with youth from all around the world singing. There were singers and dancers from Tonga, Vietnam, USA, Argentina, and pilgrims from around the world. Among many amazing performances was Daniel Belle singing “You Raise Me Up”- I saw several adults with tears in their eyes as he finished.

I was joined by the lovely children from St Christopher’s at Holsworthy, Holy Spirit at Carnes Hill and St Brigid’s at Marrickville. We sang three songs: “One Faith, One Hope, One Love”, “This Holy Cross” and “These Hands”. The children were just brilliant. It was an honour to be part of the event and to witness the joy of World Youth Day.

Then on Friday I headed off to Nambour on the Sunshine Coast to St Joseph’s School and finally got to meet Bobby McGhee (busted flat in Baton Rouge!). No Bob is the lovely APRE at St Joseph’s who actually opened the bowling for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield!

July 7-11: In the Studio: “Let Your Light Shine” and “Under Your Star”
The entire week of July 7 to 11 was spent in the studio recording voices and instruments for my next album “Let Your Light Shine” and my Christmas album “Under Your Star”. Friday was when we recorded the soloists and the choir for the Christmas album, featuring children in and around Sydney, Canberra and Bowral. Here’s some images from the week:

June 30-July 4: “We Are the Body of Christ”; Perth and Adelaide
“We Are the Body of Christ” is the title of the song I wrote for Corpus Christi School in St Ives. Corpus Christi means “the body of Christ” and with the help of some parents, students and teachers we came up with a catchy school song.

On Tuesday I popped in to St Brigid’s Marrickville to work with the choir who will be helping me at a WYD Festival event on July 16 and then it was off to Perth for a quick visit to two schools, St Brigid’s, Lesmurdie (my third visit!) and to Our Lady of Lourdes, Nollamara. Then it was on to another plane across the Nullarbor to Adelaide to St John the Apostle, Christies Beach (I still want to know who Christie is and how they got the beach named after them). Met some fabulous singers that day. Paolo and I sang the New Zealand national anthem and Alison, Sheridan, Steph and Sarah were brilliant as were the whole choir.

June 16-27: Tweed Coast, This Day Art Work, Sandhurst and a song for St Rose
June 16-20 was a week on the beautiful Tweed Coast of northern NSW. I visited some old friends at St Joseph’s, South Murwillumbah and St John’s Mullumbimby, as well as making first visits to Mt St Patrick’s, Murwillumbah, St Anthony’s at Kingscliff and finishing the week at St Joseph’s, Alstonville. Alstonville is famous for Fr Mac’s Heavenly Christmas Puddings and I was lucky enough to be given one on the day.

During this time I was beginning ot receive artwork from around Australia and New Zealand for the video clip for “This Day” which will be part of me new DVD. Here’s some of the children at work from, in order, Sacred Heart, Goomalling, WA; St Andrew’s, Ferny Grove, QLD; St Columba College, Andrews Farm, SA; St Michael’s, Mittagong, NSW; St Paul’s, Nightcliff, NT and St Theresa’s, Invercargill, NZ.

I spent two days on the New South Wales-Victoria Border at St Augustine’s, Wodonga and then at Sacred Heart, Corryong. Corryong is such a beautiful town and in the afternoon I headed up to the hills to look over the valley as sunset came over Corryong- just beautiful. Most of my favourite places are set in valleys with a river running through: my home town of Bowral, Yea in Victoria and Te Aroha in New Zealand.

On Friday, June 27 I wrote my first school song of the year for St Rose’s at Collaroy and by the end of the day we had the song written and performed it at the school assembly. It’s called “May the Love of God Be With You”.

June 2-13: Victoria, More DVD Shoots, and Sydney
From June 2-4 I was in Victoria, firstly in Melbourne, visiting St James at Vermont, and then out to the Sale Diocese. First stop there was Sacred Heart in Morwell, where I met the first of the talented Hayes family, Rod Hayes the Principal. Later on I was lucky enough to play the guitar of the famous Mrs Hayes! And the next day I got to meet the little Hayes, Alicia and Kate. Alicia is one of Jane Mitchell’s (she wrote Gifts) Archangels. Kate wrote me a beautiful letter and has even started to write her own songs at the age of 9!

On June 5 we had a big day of filming at Holy Spirit Church at Carnes Hill. The day was spent filming the children from Holy Spirit on five songs: This Holy Cross, God of All Hearts, Spirit of God, This Day and Wherever I Go. The children from St Therese at Sadleir also came up and recorded their movements for Hold My Hands and Garden of Gethsemane. Here are some of the photos:

On June 6 I spent the day with the beautiful children of Sacred Heart, Cabramatta, including the now famous Wilson and Sock Girl! It was a mufti day and there was a girl with these spectacular black and white socks so she became known as sock girl for the day.

On June 7 we headed off to the studio and recorded Matthew Santucci on bass guitar. On Tuesday June 11 I returned to St Francis Xavier, Lurnea where I taught for four years in the early 1990s. St Francis has many, many memories. It was where I met my wife, Benradette, where my music ministry really began to blossom, and where I wrote my first two songs, Together As One and Go Now In Peace.

June 13 was our last filming day for the DVD spent at St Joseph’s Moorebank, filming the children of St Christopher’s Holsworthy. We filmed the last two songs, I Sing to Mary and One Faith, One Hope, One Love. Here’s some images from the day. Even the teachers, Mrs Straub and Miss Pantaleo wanted to get in on the action.

And the week finished with a quick trip to Canberra to visit Sacred Heart in Pearce. This was my third Sacred Heart School in two weeks. And we also celebrated the arrival of my new and beloved Maton guitar.

May 24-30: Recording CD, DVD shoot and Gladstone, QLD
On May 24 Cliff Coy returned to the studio to lay down the drums for our new album “Let Your Light Shine”. Cliff’s deep voice will be returning for two songs as well, “Live in Harmony” and “In God We Stand”.

On Monday, May 26, we began shooting the local footage for the new DVD. The children from St Thomas Aquinas in Bowral will feature on four songs on the DVD. Here’s some photos from the day, with images from “Lord of the Dance”, “May God Be In My Heart”, and “Our Hearts Burn Within Us”.

The last three days of the week I headed up to Gladstone in the Rockhampton Diocese. I caught up with old friends at St Francis of Assisi at Tannum Sands and St John the Baptist in Gladstone. I also met some new ones at Star of the Sea Gladstone. One of the highlights of the day was meeting the talented Mrs Richardson who can not only teach and cook she can also so Rainbow colours and donated new greens for the Rainbow song to replace the faded old ones! Thanks Kellie!

One of the children said these lovely words to her teacher: “Normally I would be really scared, but Andrew just made me feel like I could do it!!”

Here’s the fabulous Star of the Sea Choir and a couple of stars of the show:

May 15-23: Sydney, Newcastle and Bulahdelah
On May 15 I returned to St Therese’s at Padstow and got to meet one of my all time favourite Year 6 classes. What groovers they were! May 16 saw me at St Michael’s at Belfield where we invented the Kendall Line, named after a terrific singer in Year 4.

May 19 and 20 were two visits to St Joseph’s schools in the Newcastle Diocese. On Monday I visited St Joseph’s, Bulahdelah, a small school of just 27 students (but growing!) with lots of talent. Michaela was a particular talent in the singing department. On Tuesday, I spent the day at St Joseph’s, Kilaben Bay, where we finished the day with a lovely outdoor concert. The Year 6 boys were the stars of the show.

The rest of the week was taken up with preparations for my new DVD, called “Come Dance With Me”. I visited St Christopher’s at Holsworthy, St Thomas Aquinas in Bowral, and Holy Spirit at Carnes Hill to prepare the children for their part in the making of the DVD. I met a fellow redhead at St Christopher’s called Connor, who has some great dance moves. Keep your eye out for him when the DVD comes out in October.

May 23 saw the first filming day for the DVD. It took place across the Tasman in Wellington in New Zealand. Eight girls and boys from Cardinal McKeefry School recorded a liturgical dance for “I Am The River”. One of the dancers was the now famous Anna, who, when she was in Year 2, made up the now famous Butterfly Bow. She’s now in Year 7 and dances in the video, along with her sister.

May 6-9: Western Australia
On May 5 I boarded the Qantas 747 to Perth for a four day journey. First stop was Good Shepherd at Lockridge. We had a terrific outdoor concert in the afternoon followed by a smaller one in the evening. Perhaps the highlight of the day was the groovy teachers. I promised them that I would officially declare them to be the grooviest teachers I’d met anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. They ALL danced the whole night, even their principal.

Next stop, the beautiful St Munchin’s at Gosnells. I was really lucky because the principal, Mr Chris Cully is a fantastic photographer and he got some great photos of the day. Not only do they have a talented principal but they also have a fantastic music teacher, Anne Dalton. What a great day we had together. I was really moved when they sang the Irish Blessing to me and someone reached out and took my hand as part of the blessing.

Here are some of the magic moments from the day:

On Thursday, May 8, I returned to the other Good Shepherd, in Kelmscott, where three years ago I had met Diana Newman, another brilliant music teacher, as well as my favourite Western Australian family, the Oorschotts. I got to sing with Emma again- her voice has really matured, and shared a few laughs with her brother Joseph. Annalise Bogoni sang beautifully as did the whole choir. I’m hoping to get one or two Good Shepherd children to come and sing on my new album.Here’s a sketch by Kyle, who is in Year 5 at Good Shepherd who has recently made his first solo singing performance. Well done Kyle.

For the last day in WA I drove south to Mandurah to visit Assumption Catholic College where I met a few old friends from St Mary’s in Orange, including Ruby. Then it was the red-eye flight home through the night, leaving Perth at midnight and landing in Sydney just after 6:00am.

April 28-May 2: Brisbane, Adelaide and Sadleir
This was what I call a Frequent Flyer Week- lots of points. It began with two days in Brisbane visiting St Flannan’s at Zillmere before heading south of the city to visit St Matthew’s at Cornubia. I shared my St Matthew’s song with them and “Who Wants to Be A CD-aire” was based on the life of St Matthew.

From there I jetted over to Adelaide to visit two of the schools I’d had to cancel when I lost my voice.

My visit to St Columba’s at Andrews Farm was one my most memorable days and nights in quite a while. It began with spending time with Robyn, Peter and Claire Mercer at their home north of Adelaide. At St Columba’s they’d even formed an “Andrew Chinn Committee” to prepare for my visit.

Some of the highlights for me were:

• singing “I Have Called You By Name” with Eliza and all the kids from the Iona Unit.
• Being blessed by the choir as they sang “Deep Peace” to me, including Alicia, the girl who sings with her eyes as well as her voice!
• Josie, my roadie for the day, who can also sing beautifully and is a talented songwriter too.
• “Shine Among Them” complete with 600 silver streamers!
• The most beautiful gift I have ever been given- a Butterfly Music Mosaic made by Michelle which now hangs proudly in my office.

I finished my visit to Adelaide with a day and evening with the community of St Martin’s, Greenacre. Then it was back home. On the way I dropped in on St Therese’s Sadleir where the children there are helping me on my new DVD.

April 23-24: New album begins
I spent two days in the studio laying the foundations for my next album, to be called “Let Your Light Shine”. It looks like it will have 21 tracks, seven of which have already been recorded when we recorded “Many Roads, One Journey”. There’s a song for St Andrew, called “Attend With A Listening Heart” and one for St Peter, called “You Are My Rock”. Anyway, the beginning of a long journey which probably won’t see the album released until March 2009.

April 14-18: Victoria
This was a family week with Eleanor and Bernadette and I jumping in the car and heading off to Wodonga and then to Yarrawonga to catch up with some old friends, the Hunters, before continuing on to Echuca. Our first school stop was St Mary’s, Cohuna, where we had an evening concert in a grand old hall.

From there it was  off to Bendigo for two days beginning at St Joseph’s Quarry Hill. Our evening concert was held at the spectacular new hall at Catholic College Bendigo and we got some terrific photos. Here are some of them:

As you can see the teachers had a bit of a sing and a dance too.

Here’s me and my old mate Harley Hayes who joined me on stage for another guest appearance travelling down from Elmore for the event.

And this is Paddy with a couple of his mates. I’m giving Paddy a gift because he drew a portrait of me for me which I really love. And with Paddy’s permission, I’ve scanned the portrait and placed it here for you to see.

Next stop, St Monica’s, Kangaroo Flat. We had a beautiful day and headed outdoors for our afternoon concert. My wife, Bernadette, had our camera and got some great shots of the day.

And how’s this for an Elvis impersonation!

Fr Gerry seemed to be having a good time and there was a spectacular Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear as well.

The week finished with a visit to St Andrew’s at Ferntree Gully and then out to Warragul for the day on the Friday. Bernadette and Eleanor had fun shopping in and around the city of Melbourne. On Saturday we went to see Guys and Dolls before starting the journey home.

April 1-11: Waitara at last, Brisbane, Adelaide and no voice!

I was at Our Lady of the Rosary at Waitara for April Fools’ Day and was fooled by someone pretending to be me! Then it was off to Brisbane and Beaudesert for a few days starting at St Ignatius Toowong. And for the second time I was blogged by Mrs Mac’s class: http://mrsmcsclass.blogspot.com/ . Scroll down to April 2 for more details.

On April 3 I visited St Mary’s Beaudesert and thanks to a great young teacher called Luke, I was inspired to write a new song called “I Light a Candle” which will now appear on my new album. April 4 saw me visit St Joseph’s, Kangaroo Point for an amazing day. On Friday they have this dance session called “Funky Friday” and at the end of recess the whole school dances for five minutes. And “Shine Among Them” was the “Funky Friday Song” the day I was there.

And look- some more fish faces to add to the collection. Some amazing voices there too, with Arush and Sophie being particularly outstanding.

On April 7 I flew to Adelaide and had a great day at Catherine McAuley at Craigmore but unfortunately I had a cold, lost my voice and had to head home.

March 23-31: Central Coast, Sydney, JCI in Mittagong
Easter Sunday saw me lead the singing at the Parish Mass at St Patrick’s Parish, East Gosford. We celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus with a lovely dance to one of my favourite songs, “Lord of the Dance” and I got to dance with another redhead!

I returned to the Central Coast for concerts at St Patrick’s, East Gosford and St John Fisher at Tumbi Umbi and then returned to St John Bosco at Engadine for another Easter Concert.

Friday May 28, saw the WYD Cross and Icon arrive in my own parish in the Southern Highlands. All three Highlands schools, St Paul’s at Moss Vale, St Thomas Aquinas, Bowral and St Michael’s at Mittagong gathered at the Marist Brothers “Hermitage” in Mittagong for a combined schools celebration.

This was an amazing and moving event. The music was led by a combined choir from the three schools, backed by the famous St Thomas Aquinas liturgy group and a team of dancers from all three schools. Bishop Peter Ingham led the celebration. The highlight for me was to sing “This Holy Cross” as the Cross was surfed across the heads of all the children gathered there. This day will always hold very special memories for me.

March 2008

Well we’re well and truly back for 2008. January was busy with the final stages of getting our new picture book ready. “I Am The River”: arrived in late January and has now gone out to many schools around Australia and New Zealand. For more details on the book go to the Picture Book Page

The working year began with a couple of visits to Brisbane schools for some Professional Development work with teachers. During one of the days I was in discussion with Garry Montgomery, the APRE from St Mark’s Inala, about distinctly Catholic entries tot schools. As it turned out, St Mark’s had just completed this banner to be revealed to the community on their first day back this year.

February saw a few visits to schools, beginning at St Mark’s, Dingley in Melbourne and then back very close to home singing with the children at St Michael’s in Mittagong. I had a lovely evening concert at St Gabriel’s, Bexley, and met Malea, who had recently arrived from New Zealand. She told me that she knew all my music at her old school, St Columba’s in Hamilton. I told her that I was going to be at her old school the very next week. So we took some photos and I showed all of her old friends at St Columba’s!

And then it was off to New Zealand for the first tour of the year to the Hamilton Diocese. All four schools were old friends: St Columba’s and St Peter Chanel in Hamilton, St Thomas More in Mt Maunganui and St Peter’s in Cambridge. The first picture is me with Larise at St Thomas More (a lovely singer) and Nicole, the redhead, with Emma, her sister at St Peter Chanel. One of the highlights was the Year 7s and 8s at St Peter’s doing a huge performance for “I Am The River”, singing with some of my Many Roads, One Journey singers at three of the schools.

On my return I had a quick trip to the Sale Diocese in Victoria. I met new friends at St Mary’s, Newborough, and then met old friends at Lumen Christi, Churchill. I was invited  to be part of the Feast Day celebrations for St Kieran’s in Moe, which was lovely.

I also got to have dinner with Jane Mitchell. As well as being the REC at St Gabriel’s at Traralgon, Jane is the composer of the beautiful offertory hymn, “Gifts”, which I recorded on “Wherever I Go”. Jane has just released her first album which includes some terrific songs. Some of my favourites are “Rise Up” and “We Come To Your Table”, a stunning offertory/communion song. For more details visit Jane’s site: http://www.2d3p.com.au/Jane_Mitchell.htm

Then it was back to New Zealand to my favourite city, Wellington. Started the week at my wife’s favourite school, St Bernadette’s at Naenae. I was greeted by the fabulous Savilli, who was my roadie for the day. And the singing of the boys there was unbelievable: Rikki, Levi and the gang. And thanks to Ana for putting up with me!

Next stop was Sacred Heart at Thorndon where I met some brilliant singers, Sophie and Farren, George and Alice.

When I arrived at Cardinal McKeefry the next day I was met by two old friends: the famous Anna, who many years ago taught me the butterfly bow; and Francesca, who had moved to Wellington from Paraparaumu, who does the best ever harmonies for These Hands! For days afterwards every time I sang These Hands I could hear Francesca singing with me. Anna and some other senior children did a fantastic dance to “I Am The River” which I am hoping to get on to my next DVD.

At Our Lady of the Rosary, Waiwhetu, I met some great signers but none better than Tom English- what a performer! And the week finished at St Anne’s at Newtown. The senior singers were amazing and our afternoon concert began with the senior choir singing “I Sing to Mary” in Maori, English and Samoan- what amazing harmonies!

And as I write on Easter Saturday I’ve spent the week leading Holy Week Remembrances in schools in Sydney and on the Central Coast. OLR at The Entrance did a most moving liturgical dance to “Garden of Gethsemane”, led by Jordan; and Our Lady Star of the Sea at Terrigal had 12 angels leading a movement to the same song. These girls also led the reflective movement in their parish that evening.

Here's an intersting story from Robyn Mercer, REC at St Columba's, Andrews Farm, in South Australia: "Another funny story....I had a singing session at assembly yesterday (400 students Yr 3-6). We went through a few of your songs we will be using during Holy Week and the Easter season and finished with "I am the Light'...the actions which they love...teachers count it as a work-out!! When we had finished I said 'Now, one last question...who spoke those words'. Many hands went up and I chose a pretty smart, Yr 5 boy. In a booming voice he said 'Andrew Chinn!!' The staff had a good laugh and after hinting to the children that the words were spoken over 2,000 years ago they finally came up with Jesus!"

Wishing you all a Happy and Holy Easter!

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