News 2009
This page was affected by a crash at the Eftel domain on June 18, 2010, and will be restored over coming weeks.
November 17: Prouille and St Lucy's: Amanda O'Brien has been playing flutes on all of my albums since 2004 and is one of the best music teachers I've seen anywhere. To work with her students was an absolute dream! Many outstanding performances, but no better than Hannah's lead on These Hands. Great singing too from Olivia and Adelaide, and I got to sing the Irish Blessing with James and Paddy! And yes, Sean, a great gopher face from you! We were joined for much of the day by the beautiful children from St Lucy's. Joining them for their morning song will be a lasting memory of the year for me.
November 15 and 16: St Martin's, Davidson and OLGC Forestville- Together As One: I spent two days on the north side of Sydney working with these schools. As well as the normal workshops and concerts we were also preparing for a big Mass on the Sunday, celebrating the amalgamation of the Forestville, Davidson and Terrey Hills parishes.
Ollie was one of the stars of the day at St Martin's as were Sara and Mikayla. The choir made up a unique move for the "Walking Out The Door Song" and Caleb was the Fuzzy Wuzzy of the day. I wrote "Let Your Let Shine" for Our Lady of Good Counsel School in 2005 and now it's become much-used around Australia and New Zealand.
November 14: What a night for a reunion! Back in 1989 I was teaching a Year 6 class of all girls at St Mary's in Liverpool. That year we made a time capsule to be opened in 20 years time. So three of the students, Julie Straub, Juliette Pantaleo and Natalie Bonanni organised a reunion. They managed to track down about half of the class and about ten of the students got together for a meal in Liverpool. 1989 was the year of "Tow Strong Hearts" so Natalie had put a photo of John Farnham in her capsule. It was amzing to read what each of the girls had predicted for their future. So many of the girls have become teachers, including Natalie, Rita and Julilette, all pictured here.
November 13: St Leo's, Devonport: The week finished at St Leo's where I met an old friend, Imogen. Imogen had actually sung with me earlier in the year at St Mary's in Hampton in Melbourne and now she's has crossed the ditch to live in Auckland. I think she is the first person to sing with me on both sides of the Tasman in one year. St Leo's has a great way of naming their classes. Instead of using numbers, each room is named after a saint: St Dominic's, St Anne's, St John's and so on. Each class knows their saint and their special qualities.
November 12: On tour with Bernard: On this trip to New Zealand I was accompanied by my good mate Bernard Cumming, who spent the days visiting schools in Auckland examining how they maintain the Catholic character of their schools in an integrated education system. We did get some time after school to visit some of the sights in and around Auckland. And of course, Bernard couldn't resist becoming a bit of a sight himself at times! The higlight of Thursday was our visit to Josephite headquarters in Mission Bay and the an evening dinner up the Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere.
November 11: Mt Carmel, Meadowbank: Yesterday there was a red-headed Eleanor and today, two red-headed Andrews! I worked with a very talented choir with one of the highlights of the day being the singing of Sophie and the dancing of Libby. We got Sophie to sing the Irish Blessing while Simone and all of the redheads helped me with the blessing.
Thanks to Danielle, who danced "Lord of the Dance" with me three years ago and then we teamed up again. Special thanks to Room 10, one of the grooviest classes I'm met all year! And Mrs Byrne, thanks for the feast!
November 10: Good Shepherd, Balmoral: This was another return visit. The best thing about the day was hearing how much the school's singing had lifted in the last two years. And there was another red-headed Eleanor. There were quite a few red-heads, including Hannah and we all had a bit of a laugh at Tahlia's attempts to put on the butterfly vest!
November 9: St Anne's, Manurewa: In 2003 I made my first trip across the Tasman and St Anne's, Manurewa, was the first school I ever visited in New Zealand. And in 2006 they helped me by providing the Cook Island Maori Choir on the recording of Hold My Hands. It was great to be with them again. They are one of the best behaved schools I have come across anywhere in my travels. They've just refurbished their office and have really emphasised their Catholic character and particularly, their Mercy tradition.
Enzo stole the show with his many moves, particularly his Elvis move. Thanks to Jaiden and Eunice, Jaz, Sulio and the gophers!
November 8: Back to New Zealand: A Week in Auckland: Set off for a week in Auckland and this time I'm accompanied by a friend, Bernard Cumming, who works for the Catholic Schools Office in Broken Bay. He's going to be studying Catholic Schools in Auckland and how they maintain and nurture Catholic character.
November 6: Holy Cross Kincumber- get an Andrew Chinn Happy Meal! With only a few weeks until Christmas I visited Holy Cross Kincumber to be part of the launching of the Minnie Vinnies Christmas Appeal. With the help of REC Chris Franklin we came up with a lineup of songs all with a mission focus. One of the highlights of the day was the performance of Year 4 of "Live in Harmony" which was so good I've promised to put them on my next DVD.
Great performances from Ben, Kai, Jordie (Eduardo) and the hair girls. And a big thrill was the canteen manager, Marie Connolly, made a special "Andrew Chinn" meal deal menu! I had the "Together As One" meal.
November 4: St Mary's, Warwick: I had the pleasure of working with one of the best choirs in Queensland at St Mary's in Warwick. It was great to see as many redheads as there were last time and Michael hasn't lost his fish face. And Anna, who is just 6, did this fantastic picture of our day together:
November 3: Melbourne Cup Day at St Francis de Sales, Clifton: Not a great day at the Cup for me- Shocking in fact! But I did have great fun at St Francis de Sales just south of Toowoomba. There was a bit of fashion and a great lunch for me and the teachers. Tyson, Victoria and Meggan were outstanding in the singing department and boy, can Sally dance!
They have a beautiful Peace Garden at St Francis de Sales built on each year by the graduating Year 7 Class. There are rainbow trees and this large tin sculpture of Sadako's paper crane.
November 2: Going Digital- Andrew's music now on iTunes: After quite a few requests, and as part of making Butterfly Music a little greener, our music has now gone digital and can be downloaded on iTunes. As of today "These Hands" and "Many Roads, One Journey" are available, with the remaining four albums due to go on line by the end of the week.
November 2: St Thomas More's, Toowoomba and news from Jade and New Birghton Catholic School: This was the school where a few years ago I met Paul, a Sudanese refugee, who shone in concert and described how he had had "the best day of his life". It was a sign of how his life had changed for the better in his new land. Today there were many talents on display, with special mention to Greg and Catherine, Lauren and Amy, Jok, Catie, Chloe, Hannah and Ben, he of the many faces! We got to do a few new things and a few oldies. "Let Your Light Shine" worked well as did "Walk Humbly With God". Here are the beautiful choir of St Thomas More's.
Last week I was at New Brighton Catholic School in Christchurch. One of the stars of the day and night was Jade and she wrote this terrific report about our day together.
October 31 and November 1: Farewell to New Zealand: On Saturday we said goodbye to our good friend Sr Jill McLoughlin. Sr Jill's house is called "Providence" and we took a photo of her with Eleanor, standing in front of a picture of Mary MacKillop who, in turn, is holding children in her care. We then spent a day walking around the beautiful city of Christchurch, including the Botanical Gardens, the museum and we saw this Groovy VW!
On our last day in New Zealand we went to a School/Parish Mass at St Teresa's in Riccarton. The music teacher, Angel, was unable to play at the Mass so young Bridget Thwaites, second from left, stepped in and led the music ministry at Mass at the young age of 13! She was simply brilliant not just on the keyboard, but also in terms of her organisation and leadership. We then flew back across the alps to Australia.
October 30: St Joseph's, Temuka: The beginning of the Josephites in New Zealand: When Mary MacKillop's sisters first arrived in New Zealand, they came ashore at Arrowtown and then established their first community in Temuka. The old convent, which featured in my video clip for "A Cross of Stars", is about to be demolished but they are saving and restoring the chapel.
St Joseph's School in Temuka was having a mufti-day fundraiser for the Samoan tsunami victims so they were all dressed as brightly as the could with many laes and grass skirts to be seen. Above you can see the very talented, very groovy Chantelle enjoying the butterfly bow and below you can see her doing one of the best gopher faces of the year.
October 29: New Brighton Catholic School: In the Footsteps of Jesus and An Official Opening: Like St Teresa's, I have had a long association with New Brighton Catholic School and have watched it flourish as a Catholic community. They have recently adopted "In The Footsteps of Jesus" as their school song and sing it each week at their beautiful Special Assembly each Monday. Each Monday, they prayerfully reflect on a Catholic value and consider how they can bring that value to life in the week that follows.
I have had two singers from NBC sing on my albums: Alice Louise Barker and Hannah Kathleen Margaret Bell. And maybe next time there might be another from the school: Shakira has an amazing voice and Charlotte and Caitlyn can sing and dance. I was privileged to be part of the official opening of a new room in the evening before we shared an evening concert. I got to catch up with Piper, who three years earlier had featured in some fabulous photos that I used in brochures and on the website. Here are the groovy Year 8 girls, including Roma who has a sister called Milan, and Cameron, who is very good at holding guitars!
October 28: St Teresa's, Riccarton: It has been beautiful to watch this school blossom and grow over the past few years. When I first visited in 2004 there were less than 100 students. Now there are over 160 and it's still growing. Their music is really blossoming too, thanks to the staff's love of music and the addition of an "Angel" to the teaching staff!
October 27: St Joseph's, Papanui: St Joseph's is the largest primary school in the Christchurch Diocese. It's a pretty musical place with a very talented musician, Mark Gregory, as principal and Josephine who teaches music. We had a string quartet entertain us as we packed up at the end of the day. Got to sing with my old pal, Hannah Kathleen Margaret Bell, and caught up with Josephine and Vanessa.
October 24-26: Tourists, old friends and signs: We spent the Long Weekend in New Zealand being tourists, mainly in and around Kaikoura. On Saturday we visited a sheep show and then went to revisit one of the seal colonies. Eleanor had a seaside practice on the violin. I think she was hoping to pick up some busking money, but no luck yet.
On Sunday we went to St Joseph's School Gala in Kaikoura. Here's Michael in the "before and after the sponge is thrown" shot. One of the best things about the gala was catching up with some old friends from my previous visits to Kaikoura. Below are Kate, Veronica (Vo) and Leticia (sorry if I spelt it wrong again!) and her sister Emily and her brother, Michael.
And then we went on the Whale Watch Cruise. I have to say the seas were a bit bumpy and I got pretty sea sick but we were lucky enough to see three whales! It really was amazing to see the whales swimming in front of Kaikoura's beautiful mountains.
We then headed down State Highway 1 for our week in Christchurch. On Monday we visited the Antarctic centre in Christchurch and experienced a sub-zero windstorm. In the afternoon we went for a gondola ride on the beautiful Avon River.
I think I've started to collect interesting signs. Here are a couple from the past three days. Eleanor saw the third sign in the city and said, "They must really like Rugby in New Zealand".
October 23: St Joseph's, Kaikoura: As well as being inspired to write a song about God's wonders that surround Kaikoura, one of my better known stories comes from here. It was here that I met the famous Chloe who said her name so beautifully that I've imitated it in many places. It was great to share that song with the children and they sing it really well here. Got to try out some moves for the song which I haven't done for a while. Here are some of the Kaikoura children: Finn, who plays a mean version of "Sweet Home Alabama", Jeremy who does the moon walk and Claudia who sings beautifully as does young Helena!
Kaikoura is famous for whale watching and even their speed humps are in the shape of a whale!
October 22: From Nelson to Kaikoura: One of my favourite places, not just in New Zealand, but in the world, is Kaikoura. It's a beautiful place with snow-capped mountains that reach down to the ocean. Seals, dolphins and whales dance close by. It's so beautiful that it inspired one of my own favourite songs, "I Am The River". It was great to be back there and to share it's beauty with Bernadette and Eleanor. They've fallen in love with the place too.
Just on the edge of Kaikoura is a seal colony and we spent almost an hour watching and photographing them in the evening. Eleanor even got to hold one!!
October 21: We Are Called To Shine: back to St Paul's in Richmond: In 2004 I visited St Paul's for the first time and I was really taken by their motto, "You Must Shine Among Them Like Stars In The Heavens", which you could see in every classroom. I was so taken by it that I asked the teachers and students to send me some words, telling me what the motto meant to them. And then I used their ideas and mine to write "Shine Among Them".
So I returned for another visit and an evening concert at the church in Richmond. It was a lovely night with a very good choir and two great performances from the boys, Tom and Seph, as well as Olivia and Morgan and the others. Got to catch up with John Phillips and his daughter Holly. John produces great CDs here in New Zealand and my daughter has been listening to and loving his music for years. Juhn's written some great songs like "With Eyes That Are Open" and "Jesus Is My Rock".
October 20: St Joseph's Nelson: I met a few special people at St Joseph's. There was Calena, who now holds the record for the most badges I've ever seen on any student in New Zealand, beating Rohan's record at St Anne's in Wanganui. And there was Enya, who made me feel as though I wasn't the clumsiest person in the world, like my wife often tells me. Poor Enya had a disastrous five minutes as Mrs Phillip's class were clearing out the room for me for the day. Thanks to Jake for the moves and to Patrick for being my roadie.
We then had a fabulous musical evening with my old friends, the Nott family. Josie played the violin, Hannah and Rebecca played the flute, and Alex played come beautiful piano. Even Richard had a bit of a sing, singing his infamous line from "Cats". Hannah and Josie sang some of their songs from Annie which they were both in last month.
October 19: St Arnaud to Nelson: We went for a couple of beautiful walks around beautiful Lake Rotoiti. We found this beautiful "Chapel by the Lake" where they hold ecumenical services each Sunday. We then headed north to Nelson for a sunset wlak along the beach..
October 18: Off to New Zealand: On Sunday Bernadette and Eleanor and I packed our bags and got on Qantas flight 45 from Sydney to Christchurch. Eleanor and I took some photos of the land of the Long White Cloud. It was pretty cloudy but we managed to get some glimpses of the alps. From Christchurch we headed north, through Lewia Pass to the beautiful village of St Arnaud.
October 16: Sick again! The sickness that hit my family finally got me too and I had to cancel my last school visit. Sorry St Mary Magdalen's, I hope to catch up with you next year. Thanks to the Mercers again for being my hosts.
October 15: St Brigid's, Evanston: I have to admit to feeling pretty sick this day but managed to get through a full day with the children of St Brigid's. Thanks to Leum and Nathan in Year 7 for their grooving and to Dakota and Alyssa for their singing and dancing. Special thanks to Abbey who took extra time at lunch time to make sure she knew Arky Arky perfectly.
St Brigid's is another school who honours their patron saint and makes her story known throughout the school. In the hall they have a large Brigidine cross with an explanation as to its origins.
October 14: St Columba: One of the highlights of 2008 was my visit to St Columba and this year's visit was no disappointment either. This year there was another Andrew Chinn Committee! Alicia, the girl with the singing eyes, sang a beautiful blessing duet with Emily, which I am hoping to get recorded before the end of the year. Last year I received a beautiful ceramic butterfly as a gift, made by Michelle, one of the parents. This year, Dana, who contributed some beautiful artwork for my This Day video clip last year, created this beautiful artwork below.
And speaking of art, the entrance to the main building of the secondary part of St Columba is adorned with beautiful canvases which tell the story of St Columba. St Columba College is a combined initiative of the Anglican and Catholic Dioceses of Adelaide. They have 8 houses honouring various Catholic and Anglican role models.
We shared a great evening concert that night. Many highlights to list including the singing of Alicia and Emily, my fabulous dancing partners Jenna and Ashleigh, and the dancing of the teachers in "Lord of the Dance". Georgia did one of the year's most spectacular fish faces, I got to catch up with my old friends Josie, Lilly the Irish Dancer and Miriam who loves roses. And in the middle down the bottom is another in my name collection: I've met Sydneys and Adelaides and now I've met a Londyn!
October 13: Catherine McAuley School, Craigmore and "Sneaky Irrigation System": What is a Sneaky Irrigation System? It's the name of a SA band of the future, featuring Hayden (rhythm guitar), Braden (drums), Cameron (vocal and front man extraordinaire) and Adam (guitar and voice). These are some of the Year 7 boys I met at Catherine McAuley School. They're all great movers and we shared some ideas about organising a band and they showed me their signature move here below. Between us we came up with an idea for their first album cover too.
And these are my old friends Samara and Caitlin. Caitlin's a great singer and Samara is a fabulous dancer. Speaking of singing there were some really good perfomances in the choir with special mention going to Jake in Year 4 and Aiden in Year 5. Good stuff boys!
October 12: I See Red! At St Thomas More, Elizabeth Park, SA: They really went out of their way make me feel home at St Thomas More in Elizabeth Park! My friend Peter Mercer is the principal there and I think he may have had something to do with the number of redheads on staff. It was a colourful day in other ways too. there were gold headbands and these spectacular gold shoes which I just couldn't resist getting a photo of!
The two teachers below on the left here are Kerry Harrigan and Eugenia Stopyra who lead the singing at St Thomas More and they must do a great job because there was a great energy and enthusiasm for singing at the school. Great singing performances from Tamika and Bobbie and all of the choir. Kiara did a great job helping with the pack up in the afternoon. Brad you are a star! Thanks Natalie, Angela the Superfish, Jack and Matt, Andrew and Riley!
October 9: School Song Day in the Studio: It's been a week of sickness in the Chinn household with my wife Bernadette being so sick I had to cancel a tour to Queensland schools. She was a bit better by Friday so Eleanor and I headed up to the Robertson Brothers Studio in the Blue Mountains to record three school songs: for St Martha's in Strathfield, Our Lady of the Southern Cross College in Dalby, and Dawesville Catholic Primary School in WA.
October 7 and 8: Redheads in the news in the Highlands: A couple of weeks ago we had the redhead photo shoot in the Southern Highlands and this week we made it into the papers:
October 2: Staff Development Day with St John's Campbelltown: I travelled down the big hill from Bowral to Wollongong to spend a reflective day with the staff of St John's, Campbelltown. There were many teachers there who I had connections with, through St Gregory's, Mt Carmel High School or shared life experiences.
One of the highlights was meeting Joel Duvall, now a creative arts teacher at St John's, but years ago he was in the same class as our Belinda at Mt Carmel High School. He was a good friend of hers and I remembered that one day, when Joel and Belinda were the last two on the bus, they convinced the bus driver to deliver them right to the front door of their houses!
October 1: The Feast of St Francis of Assisi at Glendenning: St Francis of Assisi is one of my favourite saints. He seemed to be a man at such peace with his world and so in touch with the gift of creation. So it was a pleasure ot be part of Feast Day Celebrations at St Francis of Assisi at Glendenning in Sydney's west. Below is a photo of their St Francis Garden and on the right is Tamar, doing her best gopher face. Tamar and her sister Ashleigh are great dancers. Thanks to to Alyssa, Olivia, Bob (Mark), Brianna, Tahlia, Eliza, Rhiannon and the crowd favourites, Jake and Blake! Courtney, your singing was a real treat as was Mansha's, Patrisha's and Decoda's and all of my special choir.
September 30: World Premiere of Under Your Star DVD! There was no red carpet or paparazzi but an excited crowd of teachers and students gathered in the library of St Paul's Moss Vale to view their performance as stars in the new video clip for "Under Your Star" and "Silent Night". Both clips feature on the DVD that will accompany my new Christmas picture book due out next month. Parts of the videos will be launched on YouTube next week.
September 28: A new baby for the Chinn family! Cecilia Therese Hart is born! At 8:34pm our sixth grandchild, Cecilia Therese Hart was born. She weighed in at 3.25kg and is 49cm long- and is very beautiful as you can see. The photo on the left shows her 5 minutes old and the photo on the right sees her at one day old. Nicole did very well, Tim is a proud dad, and Eden is thrilled to have a new baby sister. She can already say Cecilia!
September 28: A School Song for St Martha's, Strathfield: Worked with the teachers and children from St Martha's today, developing a new school song around their new motto: "Strive, Achieve, Serve". We managed to get it all done in one day. It' quite a catchy song and special thanks to Patrick, Sam, Annabelle, Matthew, Simone, and Isabella for helping me write the words and to my choir of Annabelle, Jacqueline, Antoinette and Emily who helped with a bit of music and with the recording.
September 27: A Highland Gathering of Redheads! A couple of weeks ago in Scandinavia there was a gathering of redheads to highlight the act that we are literally a dying breed- no redheads left in two or three hundred years! So a local journalist thought it would be a great idea to get the redheads from the Southern Highlands for a gathering.
So we gathered on an extremely cold and windy Sunday morning. It was amazing to see car after car of redheads turn up at Lake Alexandra and the smiles as we all kind of delighted in the spectacular colours and shades of our hair. A couple of other people wandered into the park and must have wondered what in the world was going on!
We finished with a whole group shot, of all colours and all shades of glorious red hair!
September 26: Messages from the past and present; Every so often I get a letter from a student that I taught years ago. This week I got an email from Mikayla Pirillo (she was in the same class as the famous Ryan from the Nothing Song). Here's what she wrote to me:
"Hi Andrew, its Mikayla Pirillo from Good Shepherd Kindergarten 1998 Class. I just wanted to say thank you for teaching me, I really enjoyed it. You were the best teacher I ever had. I wish you luck with what you do now and I thought I would send you the card you gave to me at the end of Kindergarten.
Thanks,
Mikayla"
I also got some great letters from the children at St Joseph's School in Chinchilla, including this one from my pal, Carmelo.
September 25: A Pair of St Joseph's: Denman comes to Merriwa: The country tour finished with a shared morning with the children from St Joseph's, Denman, who travelled up the Golden Way to St Joseph's at Merriwa, where I had such a beautiful time back in 2006.
Merriwa has one of the most beautiful historic churches I've seen anywhere in my travels, with another favourite being Boorowa. Good singing performances from Anna and Jacob and Lucy and Lachie were great performers among many others. I finally got to meet Aaron Moon, who introduced my music, along with the Mahy Family, to Cobar. He's much missed in Cobar but much loved as the new principal at St Joseph's, Denman. The last photo is of one of those great pioneers of the Catholic Church in Australia. Fr O'Reilly, whose grave overlooks the rolling hills around Merriwa, was the first parish priest in the area and used to travel great distances on horseback to serve his people.
September 24: St Mary's Dubbo: It was another day of reunions. I hadn't been to St Mary's since 2003 and that year I met Grace Fuller who was then a beautiful little red-headed singer in Year 3. Not only did she sing on "Wherever I Go" but she also sang on "Many Roads, One Journey" and "Let Your Light Shine" and she'll probably be on the next one too (likely to be called Ubuntu). She's now in Year 9 but made a guest appearance at the spectacular church of St Brigid's for our evening concert. St Brigid's is one of my all time favourite places to sing, along with Cathedral in Palmerston North and the beautiful little hall at St Mary's in Robinvale.
St Mary's is 99 years old and they have a foyer which tells their story so well, both past and present. Along with their historical stained glass window, which looks as though it may have been moved from an earlier site, they have an explanation about who their sporting houses are named after. Often at schools children have no idea why their house is called Gilroy or Mannix, but at St Mary's their own local Catholic heroes are honoured in name and in this display. The school's vision statement has been brought to life artistically by one of the teachers Susie and one of the teachers told some of the history of the Mercy Sisters using dolls to show the evolution of the habit!
On to the concert. As well as Grace still showing her amazing vocal talents we were all impressed by Alexandra's performance on "May God Be In My Heart". And Oliver stunned me by bringing his own Rainbow shirt for the performance! Speaking of Rainbow, great work by Zaide and Daniel and a grand all round performance by Chaz. And, of course, thanks to Alice, Ruby and Claire for letting me sing their songs!
September 23: Back to Dunedoo: I visited St Michael's way back in the beginning of my career, in 2003 and 2004. I had the pleasure of meeting Lucy Besgrove and Laura Adams who I invited to sing on "Wherever I Go" back in 2004. One of the great thrills of this visit was having them sing with me again. Their performance of Rainbow was stunning. And here's Sophie's fish face to add to our collection.
Dunedoo was also the place where the "nice prize" move began, first done by a girl named Ange, who also came back for the night and showed us that now famous move. Great moves from Luke and Hamish, and it was also great to catch up with Jessica and Sophie again.
September 22: St Lawrence's, Dubbo: Watch out for this name! Brigette Mulholland: On Tuesday I had the great pleasure of working with the children from St Lawrence's. I met many talented children but was amazed not only by the singing talent of Brigette but also her amazing songwriting ability. She has written and recorded a couple of original songs to enter in a local competition and they are amazing. One is about her lovely parents and the other is her prayerful response to the Black Saturday bushfires. Her poetry is well beyond her years.
St Lawrence's is one of those lovely school filled with many redheads, including one of the teachers who all loved my number plate. Nathan here has adopted the name RANGA2. Another highlight of the day was when one of the children said that I was even better than Michael Jackson but I'm not so sure how to take that!
September 21-25: A NSW Country Run: St John's Cobar: I've been looking forward to my trip to St John's at Cobar for a long time. Ten years ago, when my daughter Belinda was in Sydney Children's Hospital, we became great friends with a family from Cobar, the Mahys, as their daughter Kelly was sick at the same time and she and Belinda became great friends. So Bill (after whom I named my dog) and Faye were my guests of honour as were Bonnie, Kane, Georgie Chad and Daniel. And here's a picture of Ryan, a man of many talents, but his gopher face is hard to beat!
St Laurence's Church in Cobar has a couple of great signs out the front.
September 18: Mystery Reader at St Thomas Aquinas! My youngest daughter Eleanor goes to school at St Thomas Aquinas Primary School in Bowral. Every Friday they have a "Mystery Reader" where someone from the school community is invited to come along and share one of their favourite books with the Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students. This week it was my turn.
I chose a beautiful book from New Zealand called "Itiiti's Gift". It's about a girl called Itiiti who is very sad because her family has many gifts but she can't seem to find out what her own gift is. At the end of the story she stops looking and that's when she finds her own gift- the gift of song. It was one of those rare books that brought tears to my eyes when I first read it. It was given to Eleanor by some friends of mine in New Zealand, Richard and Helen Nott.
And speaking of Bowral, it's nearly Tulip Time and the tulips are in bloom in Corbett Gardens and in Eleanor's own garden as well!
September 16-17: Back to Melbourne: On Wednesday I flew back to Melbourne because a few weeks earlier I had lost my voice and now I was to go back and visit two schools whose concert days I had had to cancel. On the way down I flew over Mt Kosciusko which had a beautiful dusting of snow on it.
In what was one of the most amazing concerts of the year I returned to St Benedict's at Burwood. It had been five weeks since I was there but we were amazed at how many of the children turned up. And they remembered everything, especially my little band of singers. I even had a mosh pit! Some great singing performances with special mention going to Victoria and Liam.
On Thursday I visited Holy Spirit at North Ringwood. As the first group walked in I was greeted by the beautiful Maddie who had made a special "Go Andrew Chinn" flag for me! Holy Spirit is a beautiful school in many ways. I was really impressed by the way the children spoke to their teachers. They call their teachers by their first name and there is sense of love and family when they do so. You can see below here the amazing family totems that have recently been installed at the school.
Special thanks to Alanah who drew this picture of me, her teacher Marisa and two of her other friends doing the actions to These Hands.
September 15: Feast Day with Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood: The last time I was at Our Lady of Dolours School it was the Feast of St Andrew, November 30, 2007. It was also the day my father passed away and the community there was just lovely to me. This time we shared their feast day. One of the highlights was singing and playing guitar at Mass with Joe and Mel, two of the teachers and we sounded lovely together. And the Year 6 class there is an absolutely fantastic class. I was lucky enough to be around at lunch time when they were practising their "Stomp" orchestra sound and movement with recycled materials.
September 14: Feast Day at St Michael's, Kaleen, ACT: I travelled down the Hume and Barton Highways to visit St Michael's Primary in Kaleen in Canberra to be a part of their early Feast Day celebrations. St Michael's have always loved my Rainbow Song because of their logo and now they have another reason to love me- I wrote a song called "Live In Harmony" which also happens to be their motto! As part of their Feast Day, the Year 5s ran some stalls to raise money for new computers. The highlights were the Pink Cupcake Stall and Tony's card tricks. They even had a "Throw the Sponge at a Teacher Stall".
September 10-11: Back to North Queensland: For the third time this year I boarded a plane to Townsville to catch up with two more schools. First stop was St Joseph's, The Strand, where the principal is Patrick Dempsey who taught me how to kick an Aussie Rules football many years ago at St Mary's School in Cohuna, Victoria.
The highlight of the day for me was a reunion! When I visited St Joseph's back in 2006 I met Hannah, who was then, and still is the best ever conductor of all the nearly 2000 children who have done the job for me over the years. She and her fellow conductors from back then, Amy and Jackson, are still around so we posed for a reunion shot. Hannah's a great dancer as is Brady and they led the 60's dance move in "Walk Humbly With God".
I went for a walk along Townsville's famous Strand at lunch and saw some spectacular art work on the beach and a fountain that was dyed red for the day to remind people to donate blood!
On Friday I made a return visit to Holy Spirit School in Cranbrook. When I visited in 2006 I was lucky enough to meet the fabulous and famous Katie Jones who has been my poster girl for the past few years and for years to come as well. This time I met some very talented people too. I'm sure we'll see Brooke on stage at some point in the future and thanks to Maegin, Damien and to Rebecca for their help and sense of fun- Rebecca I loved your question about what inspires me to sing. And thanks to Cassandra who did this great piece of writing and a brilliant picture!
We shared a lovely family concert in the early evening which was a lot of fun. Here's a picture of me with Mary and her family, Daniel, Anna and Denise. I was very honoured when Mary told me she was a bit of a fan!
"It's a Gift, My Lord" is the history of Holy Spirit, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It is without doubt the best school history I have ever seen. It is full of recollections from past students, priests, teachers, and parents, and has copies of old canteen menus, notes that have been sent home over the years. I was honoured that I even scored a mention after my visit in 2006! So if your school is ever considering writing a history, this would be a good place to start.
And the clock? The clock is in the office of Justen Orford, the APRE. As the seconds tick by the cat's eyes follow it around the dial!
September 8: Some letters from Holy Name, Toowoomba, and Don Bosco, Narre Warren: I often receive letters from children from schools all over Australia and New Zealand, thanking me for the time we shared at their school. This week I received two great bundles, one from Holy Name School in Toowoomba, Queensland, and the other from Don Bosco School, Narre Warren, in Victoria. What I loved about both bundles was how individual they were and how much effort had gone into them. Thank so much kids! Here are some of your pictures:
September 7: Australian Catholic University: Each year for the past seven years I've made a guest appearance at my old university, the Australian Catholic University at Strathfield. I presented a lecture on Music and Liturgy and Sacraments. The lecturer in charge is Graham English, without doubt the best, and most entertaining lecturer I ever experienced in nine years of undergraduate and postgraduate study. He retires at the end of this year having helped to so positively shape many students, young and not so young adults in their education and in their faith. Go well, Graham.
August 31-Sept 4: Queensland Outback: I don't do as many of these country trips as I used to in the early days but it's great to be out here in the Western part of the Toowoomba Diocese. After flying into a beautiful Sunday afternoon sunset in Brisbane I drove for just over four hours west to the town of Goondiwindi, famous for, among other things, being the home of one of Australia's great racehorses, Gunsynd, the Goondiwindi Grey. The signs below show what a big state Queensland is: in Goondiwindi you're actually closer to Adelaide than you are to Cairns.
I spent Monday at St Mary's Primary School in Goondiwindi. I think I met about seven Lachlans (one with red hair and one who became number 5 for the day!) and five Claires. Two of the standout performers were Georgia, seen here doing her gopher face, and James, the dancing "on behalf of" Captain. Great singing from the choir, especially Aleisha, Emily, Nina and Annabelle.
From Goondiwindi I headed north to St George, passing many roos and emus on the way up. I have to say that based on the people I met on my morning walk along the Balonne River, and in the bakery and coffee shop, that St George is one of the friendliest country towns I've visited. And of course the kids at St Patrick's school just added to the welcome. St Patrick's is a school that really values music. For such a small school they have many bands and choirs and when the big Eisteddfod comes around in Goondiwindi they go and stay for the whole week!
On Wednesday morning I headed north again, through a town called Surat and on to Roma and St John's School. I had great day working intensively with the choir the whole time. Special thanks to the LaLa girl, Claudia, to Rachel, who learnt how to say Alleluia, to Aaron and the boys for their great performance of Rainbow, and to Harry, who put up with me singing Happy Birthday to him three times. I met a girl with a lovely name, Melody. It was only a few weeks ago that I met a Harmony and many years ago I taught a girl with the most peaceful name ever- Harmony Dove! Arrivaderci Roma!
From Roma to Chinchilla. As I said to the children at St Joseph's, there's only one thing wrong with Chinchilla- not enough 'n's. They could rename it CHINNchilla! They've grown so much as a school since I last visited them in 2005 which is fantastic for a country town school. Thanks to Daniel and Ben, my Kiwi mates and to Alice (I don't know why she's leaving) for her amazing voice, and to all the redheads.
The week finished with a school song that I've been waiting to write for a long time. I first visited St Columba's in Dalby in 2003, right at the beginning of my music ministry. When I returned last year they had merged with the high school, St Mary's to become Our Lady of the Southern Cross College. I think it's a beautiful and very Australian name. Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a school with a sense of history. Its four houses are named after four pioneers of the Catholic faith in the world, in Australia and in Dalby itself: McAuley, Rice, MacKillop and Nolan (after Monsignor Thomas Nolan, parish priest of Dalby for the first half of the twentieth century). I've nearly completed writing the song and hope that I've managed to honour the past, present and future of the college.
August 30: Hand to Hand- Song for the Orangutan- now up on YouTube. Earlier this year I visited the Perth Zoo as part of my research to write a song for the Australian Orangutan Project. In the months that followed I was deeply moved by the plight of the Orangutan and wrote a song for them called "Hand to Hand". To view the clip click on the image or link below:
August 27: DVD Shoot for Under Your Star at St Paul's, Moss Vale: No sooner have we got one picture book out and then there's another one around the corner. In November we're going to release "Under Your Star" as a picture book. This time as well as a CD to accompany the book there's also going to be a DVD with video clips for Under Your Star and Silent Night and a digital Big Book as well.
So I headed off to St Paul's at Moss Vale, with my old friend and video engineer Larry Gilmore to shoot the video with Year 1 (Under Your Star) and Year 2 (Silent Night). The day ran very smoothly thanks to the organisation of Lynn Shepherd the REC and the other teachers, Mrs Syrros and Mrs Leishman. Here are a few images from the day.
August 25: Rainbow Picture Book launched! My third picture book, Rainbow, has just arrived from the printers and is available now. It continues the theme of God's Creation from my two earlier books, "In The Beginning" and "I Am The River" and again features the artistic talents of Jacqui Brown. For more information click on the picture below.
August 24: Neale Newcombe- a life celebrated: I first met Neale when I was doing my Masters in 1997. Neale and I had both applied to be principal at St Joseph's in Uralla in 1993 and Neale was successful. He did an amazing job as principal there, taking enrolments from 70 to well over 100. I was so impressed by what he had achieved that I did a study of him for a unit of the Masters. One of the key elements of Neale's leadership was that he always considered himself to be a teacher first and then a principal and he was always passionate about learning.
Neale was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. He faced this challenge with love, courage and faith. And you could see how passionate he was about encouraging these same gifts in others. He constantly encouraged people to tell each other "I love you" and to never be ashamed to hug a friend. I was honoured that Neale requested I sing at his funeral.
August 22-23: Central Coast Parishes: Made my once a term visit north to the Central Coast to be part of family Masses at Holy Spirit Parish, Kincumber and St Patrick's Parish East Gosford. It's been amazing to watch these grow from being me leading the singing to being part of large, diverse and talented teams. In both parishes now we have primary and secondary students involved as well as some talented parents.
Here's a few pictures from Holy Spirit Kincumber:
On Saturday night I had a fun night with the Cumming and Franklin families which included a bird's nest fest. And here's another in the Bernard Cumming silly shot series.
August 21: Dress Rehearsals Under Your Star at St Paul's Moss Vale: I went to visit Year 1 and 2 at St Paul's Moss Vale, where we are in the final stages of preparing for the video shoot for "Under Your Star" and "Silent Night".
August 19: News from Walcha: I received a lovely email from Anna Flanagan, who teaches kindergarten at St Patrick's School in Walcha. During writing time Elana came up with this. It's the lyrics for one of the songs from Let Your Light Shine. It took a little while for my kindy teaching memory to come back but then I got it....
I light a candle, I say a prayer
And with your blessing, your Spirit's shared
Well done Elana!
August 17-19: Melbourne and a lost voice: Flew to Melbourne for what was meant to be a four day visit. I started the week at St Mary's Primary in Hastings and we were joined for the day and evening by St Joseph's School In Crib Point. Great singing from Amy and Casey and Chris probably took out the dancing award.
On Tuesday I made a return visit to Don Bosco School in Narre Warren where two years ago I met young Teah, whose signing was so beautiful I asked her to sing on "Let Your Light Shine". Here are some photos of the beautiful stained-glass windows from the church.
I made my third visit to St Benedict's in Burwood. We were supposed to finish with an evening concert this time but unfortunately by lunchtime my voice was going so we had an afternoon concert instead. A lot of the school has been rebuilt since I was last there and the picture is of Carla the Apple Girl, who was hacing so much fun she wouldn't even put her apple down!
So then I had to fly home early and delay my visit to Holy Spirit, North Ringwood, because I had no voice at all by Thursday morning.
August 13-14: Sale Diocese: So one morning I wake up in tropical Cairns and the next morning I'm driving through some reasonably alpine country at Rawson. I spent a day with the Religious Education Co-ordinators from the Sale Diocese, working on some musical strategies to bring their key scripture to life. By the way, in terms of singing, the Sale RECs are right up there with the RECs of the Sandhurst Diocese and the Music teachers and APREs from the Archdiocese of Perth. I caught up with many old friends including Jane Mitchell, who showed me some great craft ideas for RE.
We did one of my favourite art activities and again I collected some beautiful pieces of art which we put together to shape our Sacred Space:
On Friday morning I made my way down the mountain to St Ita's Primary School, just outside of Warragul. And there I found some real prodigies. Jenny Aldrichem is the music teacher and does an amazing job. The morning I was there the choir went off to the Eisteddfod and took out first prize with a 92% result. I met Jeremy, who is in Year 6 and is probably the most gifted musician for his age that I've met anywhere over the last few years of travelling. Cherie is a talented young drummer, Emily and her sister Meg have great voices and Aaron does the fuzzy-wuzzy thing. One of the highlights of the day was being part of the prayer service to honour Mary which was organised by Abbey and her liturgy team. I'd heard at lunchtime that Joe (the drummer below) was an exceptional singer and he and Emily led a beautiful performance of "May God Be In My Heart".
August 12: From North to South: Made an amazing journey to day from the top of our country in Cairns to the south, finishing the day in Warragul, about an hour east of Melbourne. As the flight unfolded I saw the country change from tropics to desert to increasingly greener pastures the further south we flew. I love watching clouds- in one of these photos you can see them just sticking to the land, almost afraid to venture out to sea.
August 10-11: Cairns: Another Sunday night flight out of Sydney, this time heading way up north to Cairns. You can see below here the view from my hotel room out over Cairns Harbour at low tide. And you see this young fella here? He's holding what I call the FNQ (Far North Queensland) lunchbox. All the kids walk into school carrying these to keep their lunch cool all day. The bonus is that they double up as a seat as well! I spent Monday with the children and staff at St Francis Xavier and met one of the teachers, Jan, who 6 years ago helped to inspire "A Cross of Stars", after I'd seen her dress up as Mary MacKillop.
On Tuesday I visited the school with the best name in Australia- St Andrew's. Among many of the thrills were singing the Ruby, Alice, Claire and Georgia songs all in one day. And I also got to meet Monet! I've met a couple of girls called Matisse over the past couple of years and now a Monet! Great fish face and Gopher face from McAlister too!
Just before the choir came over an announcement came over the loud speaker for the "Serious Choir" to meet me in the covered area. You see, they're called the Serious Choir, because there's a fun choir that sing just for fun at lunch time but the Serious Choir sings at special and important occasions. Here's a picture of me with them looking especially serious.
St Andrew's at Redlynch Valley has one of the best logos I've seen. As you can see it's based on the hills that surround Cairns in the valley; the winding road of our journey together forms the S in Saint, and the Cross of Jesus makes the t.
Before flying out of Cairns on Wednesday morning I got up early to make a quick visit to St Monica's Cathedral. It was after seeing these beautiful windows six years ago that I was inspired to write "In the Beginning".
August 4-7: Toowoomba: Celebrating Mary MacKillop: Began the working week with the staff and students at Holy Name School in Toowoomba. There's been so many changes there since I last visited in 2005. It's a school that just looks so good, with so many attractive features. Around the school they have their key values on billboards with photos of the students. There are several gardens: an ANZAC Garden, completed in conjunction with the RSL, a St Francis of Assisi Garden and a Path to Reconciliation, where each year they're going to plant a new tree.
Singing performance of the day was split between Isabelle and Mr Adams-Jones, the Principal! thanks to Peter, David and Jade for being such good roadies too. We even made it onto Channel Seven News in Toowoomba!
With the children from St Mary's Taroom
From Holy Name to St Saviour's. I couldn't believe it would be possible to have an even better day there this time than I did last time, but I'm pretty sure I did. Not sure if it was because I finally got to meet Miss Wagstaff. Megan has invited me to three schools over the years: Our Lady's College in Longreach, St Francis at Tannum Sands and St Saviour's but by the time I've got to these places she's been gone or away! It could've been because it was Maddie's birthday and she had such a lovely time. Paige and Georgina sang "May God Be In My Heart" so beautifully that it brought tears to a few eyes. In the spirit of Mary MacKillop we were joined by the children from St Mary's Taroom, who travelled for four hours to get there and stayed overnight in the St Saviour's Library. Great dancing from Hannah and Gillian and I got to meet Joshua and Jacob, twins born on different days!
Of all the Queensland schools I've visited the one with the most "Frequent Chinny Points" is Mary MacKillop at Highfields, just out of Toowoomba. This was my fifth visit to their school having visited them for the first time in 2003 when they had about 70 students. Now they have nearly 500! In the second Mary MacKillop moment of the week we were joined for part of the day by the children from St Joseph's in Tara and we shared a Macca's lunch together before they headed back out bush.
In the evening we gathered at the Highfields Cultural Centre where we began the evening with a lovely prayer service, remembering the life of the school's patron, Blessed Mary MacKillop. My old friend Domenica played the role of Mary MacKillop again and did so beautifully. Many highlights in the concert but Annabelle and Montana sang beautifully throughout, especially on "May God Be In My Heart". The cross Mr Moyle is holding has the signatures of every student at Mary MacKillop to commemorate Mary's 100th Anniversary and during the prayer service Eddy carried it throughout the building for all to see.
The week finished with a visit to St Anthony's. When I visited them a couple of years ago I met James and Michael and was so impressed I asked them to sing on "Let Your Light Shine". The singing there now is even better. I finally got to meet Laura, sister of Mandy and Clare, as well as Genevieve, Catherine and Michael, the brother and Sisters of James. Emma's singing was outstanding as was Laura and Catherine and Jodie. It was a week of great joy and celebrations of faith- Mary MacKillop would be pleased I think.
July 31: Staff Development Day with the Artists and Singers of St John Vianney Staff: On Friday I finished the week with the very artistic staff from St John Vianney's School at Fairy Meadow who came up to the Highlands for a Staff Day at Kerever Park. We had a great day singing and praying today and the highlight was the amazing artwork created by the teachers. Here's a sample:
July 27-29: Back to the Golden West: I flew back across our great country for a few days in Perth. On Monday I re-visited my old friends at Dawesville Catholic Primary School, where I worked with the staff and students on a new school song, called "Christ Shines". I had some really good ideas to work on from the staff and students with special mention going to Emma and the two Jessicas. By the end of the day we had the song pretty much in shape and I'll record it in the studio over the next month.
Dawesville Catholic Primary School has one of the best assemblies I've ever seen anywhere (and a fantastic canteen too!). The best feature is how Mr Dowie, the principal, talks to the children about the Gospel from Sunday's Mass. I also love how they say the "Our Father" by all linking arms together.
On Tuesday, it was off to St Jude's Primary School at Langford. I was really impressed by the singing of Year 3 and 4 and the great moves of the Year 7 boys, especially Fionny!
And what a beautiful way to finish my days in Perth with a visit to Padbury Catholic Primary School. At Padbury they have one of those outstanding music teachers, Mrs Sylvia Cusack, who has been part of creating a beautiful culture of children who love to sing. I told them that they are one of my favourite WA schools and look forwad to wroking with them again. We found some great fuzzy-wuzzies and a fish face or two. And I even inspired one young fellow in the fabulous 1W singing class to make his own guitar! Some brilliant singing from Niamh and many others. And Amy let me use her glasses. I also found out that pink tights make go-carts go faster!
As usual I got to catch up with my favourite WA family the Oorschots. We had a great time over dinner singing "Delta Dawn" and some Weird Al Jankovic songs! Here's a picture of Emma and Joseph.
On Thursday morning I enjoyed one of the most peaceful flights over our continent. I saw the salty lakes of WA, the Great Australian Bight and some spectacular cloud formations.
July 20-22: Melbourne, Ballarat and Pi Day: We got on board a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne on the Saturday and a had a great day in Melbourne on the Sunday visiting the Aquarium and the Melbourne Museum. On Monday I headed out to Holy Family School in Mt Waverley, where there is a family with three generations in the school: Marg Waldeck is the REC, her daughter Treasa is one of the Prep teachers, and her daughters, Caeligh and Caitlin are in the school as students too. Some fantastic performances from Peter and his brother, great singing from Alexandra, and fabulous dancing from Breanna and many others. On Tuesday I headed out to St Mary's at Greensborough- a huge school. The highlight for me was the amazing singing of the choir, especially on These Hands, Rainbow, Shine and Light of the World. Thanks to Dempsey, Ben and Tall Charlotte as well as Johanna and Mad Maggie.
On July 22 I had the great privilege of working with the children from four Ballarat schools as they prepared to celebrate a special Mass for their Parish Priest, Father Adrian, who reaches forty years as a priest next month. During the day I held workshops with the children from St Alipius Primary, St Francis Xavier Primary and the newest school in the Diocese, Emmaus Primary from Mt Clear. In the afternoon we had a combined choir and were joined by some amazing singers and musicians from Damascus Catholic College. One of the highlights of the day was when Carla from Year 11 sang a duet with Laura from Year 4 on "May God Be In My Heart". A few people, including Carla, were moved to tears. As was eye when Hannah joined me as a partner in the movement earlier in the day. The picture on the right above is of one of the banners the children were making for Fr Adrian's Mass on August 7.
St Alipius is the oldest continuously running Catholic school in Victoria. It began as a tent school and church in the Ballarat Goldfields in 1853! In the school's beautiful new foyer they remember their heritage with paintings from the day and a photo of children from the school when they re-enacted the old days of their own school out at Sovereign Hill.
The foyer is beautifully decorated with indigenous artwork from one of the parents, the scriptural motto of the school from John 8:31 and a stunning image of Jesus, held by Eileen Rice, St Alipius's principal. It is one of the most vibrant entry points to a school I have ever seen.
And Pi day? Wednesday, July 22 was 22/7, which is Pi. Right up there with Star Wars Day- May the Fourth be with you!
July 11-18: Bundaberg to Gayndah: from the Big Bottle to the Big Orange: On July 11, the Chinns boarded a plane to Brisbane and then headed north towards Bundaberg. We spent the week as guests of the lovely Gahan family. We've known them for a while as the oldest Gahan daughter, Kyria, sang on "Many Roads, One Juurney". They do an amazing thing in the Gahan family. Each daughter is given a clour and many of their belongings are colour coded: things like towels, gowns, washers, plates and cups. Courtney is green, Jacinta is yellow, Kyria is blue and Jess is pink. So they all made Eleanor feel at home by making her the "Orange girl" and she even got a gown as a keepsake!
As you can see the Gahan girls have many faces and many talents. Courtney beat me at Singstar, not just once but twice! Kyria can balance spoons on her nose, Jess was the bubble champ and Jacinta nose a lot!
Had a grand week visiting a lot of old friends from the three schools in Bundaberg: all the teachers from all schools on the Monday, St Patrick's on Tuesday, St Joseph's on Wednesday and St Mary's on Thursday. The Bundy days finished with a night concert at Shalom College with the highlights being the signing of the Gahans, Annie's amazing acrobatic walk out the door, William's Elvis impersonation, the purple shirt girls, Georgina, and a little girl whose name (I think) was Milly.
From Bundaberg we headed south to Gayndah, home of the Big Orange and the Big Orange Man. Gayndah is one of the best citrus growing areas in Australia and is now famous more for its mandarins than its oranges. And it's also famous for the kids of St Joseph's. Here are some of the highlights from the day: Holly who did a great fish face; my old pal Kelsey doing the "nice prize thing", Clancy being a Wallaby, some "pick me" smiles from the choir and Garth, who was one of the best quiz contestants ever. The young fella in the beanie wore it especially because it had pigtails and that way he could swing them in "Shine Among Them"- clever stuff!
July 9: Old Friends: Back to St Christopher's. From 1996 until 2002 I was a parishioner at St Christopher's in Holsworthy. Having played music their for many years it's lovely that I now have a new musical connection there. After visiting in 2006, last year I worked with two former students of mine, Juliette Pantaleo, who is now the REC, and Julie Straub, who is about to bravely venture into the last frontier of teaching- Kindergarten! Together with their students they helped produce two of the video clips for the "Come Dance With Me" DVD. Five of the children were still there: Jema, Harry, Luke, Jess and Lauren. Had a really fun day finishing with an outdoor concert.
July 7: Unto us a Xavier is born! Our latest grandchild, Xavier, arrived on July 7. He's our fifth grandchild and our first grandson. Here's a picture of him along with the proud grandparents.
June 30-July 3: Old Friends and Adelaide: One of the joys of the work that I do is catching up with the friends I've made along the journey. In Adelaide I get to catch up with Peter, Robyn and Claire Mercer and even get to stay at the Mercer Hilton. The flight to Adelaide was a bumpy ride with winds of up to 200kmh. As we turned into Adelaide Airport we could see a wall of storm heading towards the city. We touched down just ten minutes before it did.
From the airport I headed out for a very special day at St Ann's Special School. I was greeted by one of the most spectacular banners of welcome that's ever been done for one of my visits. We were joined by the students from St Patrick's Special School on the other side of the city. And to complete the trio of schools I was joined by a small group of the younger children from St Columba College choir- complete with a couple of interesting redheads to make me feel at home!
It was a very moving day. I wasn't too sure what to expect but as soon as we started to sing we were mobbed (in a very friendly way) by the children from St Patrick's and St Ann's. Dale was a fantastic welcomer and fareweller, thanks to Emily and Caitie for all of their grooving, thanks too to Sean, Sonya and the very groovy signers- well done Ros!
When the concert was over the children from St Columba were presented with a piece of artwork done by one of their students and Dale gave me a piece of his own artwork which is just beautiful and is in rainbow colours. Before the St Columba children left we sang each other a song of blessing. They sang "Deep Peace" to me and I sang "An Irsh Blessing" back to them. I really look forward to catching up with them in October.
On Wednesday I visited St David's School at Tea Tree Gully. What a beautiful choir and I came across two spectacular voices belonging to Cherie and Chelsea. I'm hoping to get them to record with me in the future. On Thursday I visited my old mates at St Michael's Junior College at Beverley. Their singing has really come along since my last visit and I had a really strong choir of 30 boys from Year 6 and 7. And the week finished with an end of term Mass at St Augustine's at Salisbury follwed by a day of workshops and concerts. I really love playing at Mass with schools. Great singing and organisation, especially Mikayla and Andrew. Great dancing in the concerts from the Fuzzy-wuzzies and Carly and Jade.
June 21-28: Aotearoa- New Zealand: What an amazing week! Eleanor and Bernadette left Australia for the very first time to accompany me on a trip to New Zealand, mainly to see the "World Premiere" of "In The Beginning", a musical created by the community of St Peter's Catholic School in Cambridge, which featured my music.
I couldn't think of a better country for them to see first. New Zealand is simply a stunning country, filled with many natural wonders. In these pictures you can see beautiful Mt Ruapehu which we passed on Monday and again on Friday as we headed from Wellington to Hamilton. The picture on the right is a Waikato Sunrise taken through the mist on Tuesday morning. We did plenty of sightseeing on Sunday, riding Wellington's Cable Car, visiting the Botanic Gardens and spending many hours in the spectacular national museum, Te Papa, which means "Our Place".
On Tuesday we made our way out to a small town called Waihi, where we spent the day with the children and teachers from St Joseph's. It was my third visit to Waihi where we caught up with some old friends of mine, Mark, Anne, Matthew and Thomas Kennett (Matthew and Thomas are in the photo above with Eleanor), and made many new ones including Geoff and Marie Bright who took us out to their beautiful home for dinner. Thanks to Jo Corney and all the teachers and children from St Joseph's for a beautiful day together and for making my family feel so at home.
June 24 and 25: "In The Beginning" World Premiere! On a very cold Wednesday morning we journeyed down Highway 1 from Hamilton to Cambridge and walked into St Peter's Hall to meet all the children- every single child in the school had a part to play- all 180 of them! We sang a few songs together and then headed off to the other St Peter's School for the first performance of "In The Beginning"- a matinee for children and senior citizens. Below are some of the cast including one of the lead angels as well as the Yellow Gang from the Rainbow Song.
That night we had our first evening performance with a near full house and by now everyone was humming along in all senses. One of the amazing features of the performances was the school band, directed by Gillian Kneebone and comprising teachers, parents and students. Below is Trevor Sills on drums, Steve Dolan on guitar (complete with matching rainbow guitar strap!) and Mitchell, who begged me to come and sit next to him and play during each performance so eventually I did.
Catherine Fry wrote the script with Steve (multi-talented man) and it was produced by Catherine and directed by my old pal, Susie McCreery, mother of Lizzy, and the writer of the New Zealand lyrics for If I Were A Butterfly. The script was full of joy, humour, and never lost sight of the true beauty of the Creation story. This was due partly to two very strong performances: Alex who took on the role of God, and did so with grace, authority and dignity; and Rebecca who not only read with poise and dignity but sang "In The Beginning" brilliantly.
Here's a picture of me with Alex and Alex with Sebastian, who played the role of a slightly sneaky spider who couldn't wait for the sixth day when all the creatures of the land were made. And lastly is a picture of Ila and Martin Wehipeihana. Many years ago, Ila first brought me and my music to St Peter's and each time we come she and Martin have shown me lovely hospitality- Martin cooks a mean roast.
Words can't express the joy I felt in watch my music used in such a beautiful way. Thanks to Catherine, Steve, Susie, Debra and all the teachers and above all to the children of St Peter's. You have given me a career highlight and lifelong memories for my family.
June 26-28: More of New Zealand: On Friday we left Hamilton for Rotorua and visited one of the thermal wonderlands. Rotorua is built near a major faultine in the earth's crust and as a result there is plenty of thermal activity with steam rising from holes in the earth. This place was called "Wai-o-tepu" and you can see the bubbling mud pools as well as the spectacular coloured and steaming lakes.
And our journey ended on Saturday when we returned to Wellington and flew home on Sunday. On our journey we did spot some great numberplates. The first one belongs to Anne Kennett. Her husband Mark has the original one which is "IAMMAD"!
June 19: Song for the Orangutan Update: On Wednesday and Thursday nights I wrote my song for the desperately threatened Orangutan as part of my work for the Australian Orangutan Project. Will be recording it in the studio on Monday week. And now off to New Zealand- for the World Premiere of "In The Beginning"- the Stage Play at St Peter's Catholic School, Cambridge. It's Eleanor and Bernadette's first trip out of Australia!
June 15-19: Sunny Townsville: Many years ago I heard a man named Phillip Adams talk on the radio about how lucky we are to fly. I remember him thinking that Leonardo DaVinci would have given anything to experience flight yet when we do we often watch a movie or listen to an iPod. So I always try to get a window and marvel at the view for at least some of the flight. On Sunday night I saw a pretty spectacular sunset, including this second shot where we were above the clouds and the sun was shining up from underneath so it looked like a river of flames.
The working week began at Southern Cross School in Annandale in Townsville. This was the school, along with St Paul's in Richmond, that I wrote "Shine Among Them" for. Highlight of the day was Lachlan in Year 7, who did a fabulous baritone on "Rainbow". On Tuesday I revisited old friends in the Peace Shed at Marian School. The tree frog was a new friend as was "The Girl In The Yellow Headband", Caragh!
On Wednesday it was off to Good Shepherd at Rasmussen- they love their music there! Have got so many beautiful photos from Celeste- here's a few here below. Thanks to my team of dancers- Luke and the gang- and good luck with "Holy Ground". It was good to be a teacher again as I gave some practical hints on liturgical movement.
Then it was off to Palm Island. Thanks to Venus who gave me this beautiful rainbow picture! As you can see the plane is a small one and the flight is great fun- more like a joy ride. It takes just 15 minutes from Townsville and you have great views, not only of Townsville and Palm Island but also of the pilot flying. Palm Island lies off the coast of Ingham and is an Aboriginal community. Had great fun with the kids, with special thanks to Emmanuel and Jayda for helping me out. We also spent some time working on their school song with Archie, who is a really lovely singer and guitarist.
And the week finished at St Joseph's Mundingburra where they have very big, enthusiastic, and talented choir children. Thanks to Rhiannon and Jayden, the Dancing Queens, all the redheads, Jacob who tried to sing with no voice, Miguel, Gun Ho and the Fuzzy Wuzzies.
June 9-11: Melbourne: I flew into Melbourne (or should that be I swine flu into Melbourne) on Monday night. I began the working week at St Philip's Blackburn North. Had a great day and we finished with an evening concert. Thanks to Eliza for her great vocals. On Wednesday I worked at St Simon's at Rowville, a huge school in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs. St Simon's has many beautiful cultural images both in the school's foyer and in the church. Thanks to Caitlin and Mitch for being star performers and Estelle and Chelsea for their fish faces.
Finished the week at St Patrick's Pakenham, which has to be me the most visually spectacular parish/school community I have ever seen in Australia or New Zealand. It's surrounded by stunning pieces of modern sculpture, artwork and historical architecture and all adorned with sacred texts.
Met up with some old friends from my last visit: Mick O'Brien the principal, Sr Christina, Sam and Grace who I'd met at Sacred Heart in Yarrawonga, and Bob and Cathy Edwards who I'd last seen at St Patrick's School in Napier, New Zealand a few years ago. In fact our evening concert began with an impromptu Maori version of "God Defend New Zealand". Special thanks to Annabelle, Lauren, Charlotte, Jake, Robbie, Michael, Lachlan for the way they led the concert. Here's some picture of my fizzy wuzzy friends:
June 2-5: Brisbane, Gatton and the Tweed Coast: I began the week with a return visit to St Finbarr's School in Ashgrove. It was a lively day with a really dynamic choir, especially Sarah (both!), and Bridie, but there was a little fellow in prep who stole the day with his performance of Rainbow during the great "Arky, Arky" quiz.
From Brisbane to the beautiful town of Gatton, just over an hour out of Brisbane. It reminded me a lot of my home town, Bowral: simple country life yet still close to the big city when you need to be. It truly was a wonderful day and a wonderful evening concert. Over the years I have met many, many brilliant performers but at Our Lady of Good Counsel School, I met the amazing Rachel! What a stunning performer! She can dance, she can sing and she can act! There were many other fantastic performers- they really love to sing at OLGC. I can't wait to return!
I drove from Gatton to the Gold Coast on Wednesday night listening to yet another great Queensland State of Origin win on the radio! On Thursday I had a fun day with the children from St Joseph's, Tweed Heads- great performances from Billy, the Jasmines and Trent. On Friday I visited St James, Banora Point. They have an amazing choir there led by Kathy Twohill. Charlotte did an amazing, wiggling fish face and all the Georgias danced their shoes off. And I met another red-headed Andrew who played guitar! In terms of singing Brodie simply blew us away as did Miss Portia. I'm hoping to return to sing with the choir at a Parish Mass later in the year, perhaps in September.
May 30- May 31: Parish Ministry Central Coast: For a couple of years now I've travelled up to the Central Coast once a term to work with the children of the St Patrick's Parish, East Gosford. And since Holy Thursday I've added the children of the parish of the Holy Spirit in Kincumber to the weekend. On Saturday night I joined with a terrific young choir from Holy Cross School in Kincumber to sing at the Vigil Pentecost Mass. On Sunday I returned to St Pat's where we're really growing. We've added more singers and now we have a couple of dads, Brendan and Alan, on guitar and bass.
May 27-May 29: Canberra and a Song for St Oliver's: On Wednesday I made a return visit to St Thomas More's in Campbell, ACT, home of "One Lord, One Faith" which the choir sang beautifully. On Thursday I enjoyed a fabulous fun day with the children of St Benedict's in Narrabundah. One of the highlights was catching up with Hannah Redman who I first met in 1999 when she was a brave little patient at Sydney Children's Hospital- she's looking great! Met some old friends from other places: Gabrielle From St Joseph's, The Strand, in Townsville and Shania from St Mary's in Orange, home of the talented Don Pansini.
The week finished with a songwriting day at St Oliver's, Harris Park, in Sydney. It was amazing to sit around a table with parents and their children from all corners of the world. Fittingly their song looks like it's going to be called "We Are One".
May 25: St Bede's Day: Celebrating 150 years of Catholic Education in Braidwood: On Monday I made my fourth visit to work with the staff and children of St Bede's in Braidwood, a beautiful town between Canberra and Bateman's Bay. I was fortunate enough to be asked to be part of their 150th anniversary celebrations. Here's a lovely review by Jessie, one of the Year 2 students who was part of my choir:
St Bede's is home of the beautiful Peace Room and it was great to go back and visit it again after first seeing it in 2002. It's a beautiful prayer space where the school gathers each morning. "God of All Hearts" is the school's theme for the year and I was amazed to see a beautiful rainbow of butterflies! Two of my favourite things! The day featured some fabulous singers, especially Marnie and the two Matthews, but Simon's fish face was a true standout. And after checking out the relatives you could see where his gift came from!
May 23: Orangutan Day! Part of the reason for our visit to Perth was to visit the zoo to meet the Orangutans as part of our commitment to writing a song for the Australian Orangutan Project. Heidi Bullo is a retired teacher whose daughter, Kylie, is the head Orangutan Keeper at the zoo. Both Kylie and Heidi are passionate about the preservation of the Orangutan, and beyond that, our planet and as part of their passion they have assisted in creating an educational package for schools. Heide asked me to write a song about the plight of the Orangutan that may be included in that package. (This was part of the reason for my new numberplate- as you can see Kylie's is even better!)
We had one of the most memorable days of our lives, being fortunate enough to visit the rooftop and assist in the feeding of the "Rangas". They are very intelligent and friendly animals- Kylie had some amazing stories to share about the way they shared their sense of humour, their fears and their sadness. We gathered many memories and many facts and over the coming weeks will hope to write a song worthy of the Orangutans and their plight.
We finished our week with a dinner with our favourite Western Australian family, the Oorschots, and flew home on Sunday night.
May 16-24: The Golden West- Western Australia: On Saturday, Bernadette and Eleanor and I got on the plane for the long flight to Perth. Our first day, Sunday, was spent being tourists travelling around the beautiful beautiful city of Perth. We spent time in Kings Park, on the magnificent Ferris Wheel that overlooks the Swan River and the city, and fell in love with the city.
On Monday, I travelled south on the Kwinana Freeway to Dawesville to Dawesville Catholic Primary School. I was privileged to see one of the best school assemblies I've ever seen in a Catholic primary school: attentive children, a terrific reflection on Sunday's Gospel by the principal, Steve Dowie, real student leadership, and meaningful awards on a personal, class and whole school level. One of the photos shows how this community prays by joining arms with each other. The groover of the day was Adam and some great singing performances. Ashton was pretty pleased that I named my guitar after her!
From south to north on Tuesday, I headed up the freeway to Currambine Catholic Primary School. This is one of those schools like Good Shepherd at Kelmscott WA, or St Anthony's Pahiatua in New Zealand, where music and generosity flow through the place. As I arrived in the morning there was a fitness club going on, voluntarily run by the teaching staff. I met Pasquale and a couple of other roadies. Nancy Giannisi has been running the music there for a few years and the children from Kindy to Year 7 just love their music.
One of the things I like best about what I do is when someone comes out of their way to say thanks. In the afternoon I had a procession of thank you people. Keelan, who's now in Year 6, came to say that when he was in Year 1 they sang "These Hands" at a music festival in Perth, and how much he loved the song. And Patrick in Year 7 had this quote: "You know I thought it was going to be boring but you made it lots of fun- thanks!". And I promised Shannon and Keeley I'd put their letter to me up here: "Dear Andrew, I really enjoyed your show. It was great. You are really good! I hope you can come again. I know everyone loved you!! Lots of love, Shannon and Keeley".
Orana is a north Western Australian aboriginal word for "Welcome" and that is the name of the Catholic School in Willetton. They have a beautiful welcome garden that sits in the middle of the school. As well as being a place of welcome it is a place where they remember the students and staff that have passed away during their time at Orana. Fabulous dancing from Carys and Hayley and it was lovely to sing "These Hands" with Maddie and Tom who had learnt to sing the song at their old school, Sacred Heart, in Diamond Creek in Melbourne.
On Thursday it was a return visit to Our Lady's Assumption School in Dianella. I was really honoured that so many of the bigger kids had remembered my last visit there in 2005. And I was really touched by the friendly way the children greeted me when I walked into the school in the morning. The school week finished with a morning visit to St Michael's in Bassendean. Ben had some fabulous Elvis moves and Ally couldn't stop dancing the whole morning. And another fabulous music teacher at St Michael's, Doreen Panizza. Some great ideas at St Michael's from the cultural- a foyer display of the "Sorry Statement"- to the practical- visitor's coffee mugs!
May 15: From Melbourne to Adelaide: All Saints, Seaford, SA: One of the more physically beautiful schools I've visited. It has a spectacular round, castle-like main building, one of the best logos I've seen anywhere and some welcoming banners that billow in the breeze as you enter. We had a fun day together with the workshops and concert held in the Ecumenical Worship Centre at Seaford. Part of the fun was meeting Adelaide from Adelaide! Because the day before I had met Victoria from Victoria!
And what made it even more beautiful were the number of redheads. Below here is a cute picture done by Hayley of me and giggling Maddie walking out the door- thanks Hayley!
On Thursday night I was fortunate enough to meet and stay with Fr Charles Gauci, the parish priest of Noarlunga. I had heard so much about Fr Charles from my good friends the Mercers and it was great to share a meal or two with him. In the morning he was generous enough to take me on a tour of the spectacular Noarlunga coast. Here's some pictures below:
And the day finished beautifully with a past meal with my very good friends the Mercer family as well as the very talented Ali Bright, the fantastic music teacher from St Columba College.
May 14: Our Lady of the Nativity, Aberfeldie, VIC: A beautiful school near Essendon in Melbourne, with a beautiful name and founded in the Franciscan tradition. Our Lady of the Nativity has a beautiful entry point which features the school's Franciscan tradition. And each year the graduating Grade 6 class leaves a mosaic behind. Worked with a very talented choir: special thanks to Rachael, Adelle, Victoria, Mark and the rest of the gang.
I received some really great letters from one of the Grade Two classes who wrote some really nice things. Here's one of my favourites from Madeline, who was one of my conductors for the day: "I loved the actions that you taught us! Your songs were great and I can tell you that it was a very happy experience!"
May 8: St Therese's, West Wollongong: Started the day with the St Therese Choir who are going to sing "Ka Waiata/I Sing to Mary" at the Wollongong Eisteddfod. So I had to give them some tips on Maori pronunciation and some ideas around echo and harmony. I'm sure they'll do well. Spent the rest of the day in workshops and concerts- a lot of fun.
May 4-6: Family Week in the Melbourne Archdiocese (with a little bit of Star Wars Day!) Happy Star Wars Day to everyone for Monday- May the Fourth be with You! I spent Star Wars Day at St John's Heidelberg, a very historic school in Melbourne. Their library is more than a century old, being the site of the original school (called St Monica's). They've done a great job of restoring it to a building of great character. Some great singers their with Bridget being exceptional.
On Tuesday I was at St Margaret's, East Geelong, where a star was born! I think everyone at St Margaret's knew that Brianna was a star, very experienced in musicals around Geelong. But they didn't all know about Jake who sang "Light of the World" and "If I Were A Butterfly" brilliantly. I'm hoping to see his name in lights in the years to come, fronting a rock band of some sort. Thank you to Monique for being a great dance partner and Anita, you are a brilliant dancer too!
On May 6 I climbed the hill to visit Sacred Heart in Croydon. As I pulled up there was a beautiful mist hanging over Melbourne's east along with the colours of autumn, with the Sacred Heart Statue standing proudly above. Among the highlights were the fish faces of Sarah and Kaitlin, Sean's Elvis impersonation and the amazing singing of Maddie and Eliza on "In The Beginning". And it had to be one of the most amazing parent turnouts for an afternoon concert with about 100 adults in attendance.
Hi Andrew,
Just had to tell you we have had the most wonderful feedback from all our parents who were at the concert. The common thread in the comments was the joy that you brought to the children certainly showed in their faces and their participation in concert. We have the best display of photos from the workshops and the concert. The children haven't stopped talking about you. In my class they have asked me to play all the songs you did and they know all the actions. They are just gorgeous. We loved the photos you put on your website and the comment about the day.
Thank you again, it was just the best way to celebrate Family Week.
Susan Annunziata, REC, Sacred Heart Primary School, Croydon, VIC
This week I need to publicly thank Dean Barcello of Allen's Music in Adelaide. Qantas has caused me some stress with its changes to excess luggage costs and so I had to organise some sound systems for Adelaide and Melbourne. Dean's service was exceptional from beginning to end and the fact that I had such a great week in Melbourne was due in no small part to him. I can highly recommend Dean's services to schools not only in Adelaide but across Australia.
May 1: Important Notice re "Take and Bless, Break and Give": It has been rightfully brought to my attention that one of the songs that I have written lyrics to, "Take and Bless, Break and Give" which appears on the album "Wherever I Go" has elements that make it theologically unsound and may cause some confusion in terms of our Catholic beliefs about the Eucharist. This was never my intention and I unreservedly apologise for this. I am in the process of re-writing the lyrics but in the meantime I officially withdraw the current version and do not recommend its use at any Catholic Mass. The re-recording and accompanying lyrics will be available free on the CD page of this website as soon as the recording is complete, which should be by early July.
April 28-May 1: Western Victoria: Catholic Education Week in the Ballarat Diocese: Unfortunately Qantas, who used to look after me so well, has now made things difficult for me and musicians across Australia by introducing new excess baggage allowances. While it used to cost me $44 to fly my musical equipment they now intend to charge me $600 per flight- an increase of more than 1000%. As a result I had to get in my car and venture across the Hay Plains to the oasis of Western Victoria: Mildura.
The week began with a really interesting afternoon and evening at the beginning of Catholic Education Week in the Ballarat Diocese. OLSH School in Merbein often have twilight days for special occasions, where all the kids and teachers (and parents) come to school from 1:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 in the evening and finish with a sausage sizzle. It gives working parents a really good opportunity to come and spend a couple of hours at school after work. And how about that super singing Prep class and their groovy teacher!
On Wednesday I visited the children and teachers of Sacred Heart Mildura. Some great performances, especially from Jesse and the choir, and again the Prep teachers! There's something very special about Prep teachers. Sacred Heart has one of the most beautiful churches I've visited in Australia. Just below on the left is their Baptismal font. The other pictures are some sights I saw around Mildura and Warracknabeal. The sign on the right has a man with one of the easiest names: Stuart Stuart! The middle two pictures are taken from either end of the very impressive and very Australian main street of Warracknabeal- some sheep and a sheepdog on the wheat bags.
On Thursday I had the great privilege of being part of one of my favourite work days: a combined small schools day with St Joseph's Hopetoun, who hosted us, along with St Patrick's, Nhill (who travelled 90 minutes to be there), St Mary's Sea Lake and my old friends at St Mary's, Warracknabeal. For small schools there were some very good singers, not least the Isabelle and the girls who helped me lead the singing during our opening prayer together. And I found out that 67% of Year 6 students at St Joseph's Hopetoun are called Blake! I made sure I visited beautiful St Joseph's before I left. Special thanks to the children for my new Butterfly Bag- the old faithful from the Cemmy Schools can now reture after 6 years of service!
Last stop for the week was St Mary's at Hamilton. Had a fabulous morning greeting from Zac- thaks Zac. Met the school cow out the front, apparently called Picowso! Another beautiful church in Hamilton with a very strong choir to finish the week. While travelling around Western Victoria I found out that there is a town called Rainbow!
April 17-April 25: North Queensland: In one day Eleanor doubled her number of flights from two to four. We left Sydney in the afternoon and after a stopover in Brisbane flew on to Townsville. We spent the Saturday morning walking along the Strand and visiting Reef HQ, the North Queensland Aquarium. We found Nemo! Actually, Nemo looked a lot like Eleanor. Eleanor got to spend some time with the fish and also found a tropical toilet!
And then on Sunday, we enjoyed one of the best days of our lives: a day on the Great Barrier Reef. We got up early and caught a bus and got aboard our Reefjet cruise. We saw the place where the Qantas choir recorded on the beach and where Lara Bingle shot her Tourism Australia advertisement. We went swimming and walking on and around Whitehaven Beach, which has the whitest and finest sand of any beach in the world.
The best part of the day was at the end when Eleanor and I went snorkelling on the reef. It is absolutely amazing to see the number and colours of the fish who swim almost up to your hand. It was one of the most amazing natural sights I have seen in my life.
And then it was off to work! On Monday I worked with the teachers from St Catherine's, Proserpine, and St Mary's, Bowen, working on how to use music to help in prayer and teaching. On Tuesday I worked with the children at St Catherine's for the third time since 2004. Majellan still bounces as much as ever and I got to sing with Jenni Gould again. On Wednesday we visited St Mary's Bowen. Tui, Artie and Fraser were some of the stars. A great thing at St Mary's is that as each Year 7 class leaves the school they leave behind a gift that adds to the colour and culture of the school. There's some beautiful murals (Bowen is famous for its murals) a mosaic compass and mosaic barbecue.
On Thursday I returned to St Colman's in Home Hill for another day of workshops and concerts. Caught up with Courtney and Stewart who are still very involved in music and singing. Great dancing and singing from Kate, Cassidy, Connor, Sam, James and Paris. The week finished with a day at St Francis in Ayr. Special thanks to Mr Dash and the teachers for being such flexible people! What amazing singers they have up here. One of the best Queensland choirs I've ever worked with.
So here we are on our way back home to the cold of Bowral- looking forward to it!
April 14: We're going to America! Good news yesterday. I received an invitation to present at the Religious Education Congress in Los Angeles in March 2010 and so now the Chinns will be off to the USA.
April 6-April 12: Holy Week: Each year I spend four days in schools helping them to remember the events of Holy Week through song. It's quite a different week with a more quiet, reflective atmosphere. This year I spent Holy Week at Our Lady of the Rosary, Waitara; Mary Immaculate in Eaglevale; St John's in Riverstone; and St Brendan's in Lake Munmorah. The highlights of the week were: the Year 6 performance of "This Holy Cross" at OLR; the best ever performance of "Bless Our King" at Mary Immaculate as well as an outstanding "This Holy Cross" by all of Year 6; the singing of Sarah Jane and Jordan at St John's; and the amazing liturgical dance done by Ben and the girls at St Brendan's to "Garden of Gethsemane".
On Holy Thursday night I had the great privilege of singing with the Liturgical choir from Holy Cross Primary School, Kincumber, at the very first Mass in the new Parish church, the Church of the Holy Spirit. It's an amazing church with equally amazing acoustics.
For the past two year my good mate, Bernard Cumming, and I have attended the ecumenical Easter Sunrise service on Terrigal Beach. We were there again this year. It's deeply moving to hear the resurrection stories read as the sun rises over the ocean. And like the disciples we then shared a meal of fish and bread with each other.
And finally I led the music at Easter Sunday morning Mass at St Patrick's East Gosford. We again danced to "Lord of the Dance" and thanks to Annie for being my dance partner.
March 30-April 3: Sandhurst Diocese and "You Are My Rock" in Coleambally: The week began with a busy day at St Francis of the Fields Primary School, just outside of Bendigo. The first part of the day was a songwriting session. It's a song I've been keen to write since first visiting the school in 2005. The school is very much aware of its patron Saint, St Francis of Assisi, and his great affinity for God's creation. There's some photos below of their chickens and pigs!
On Tuesday I was up early to have a guided tour of the new Catholic Education Office for the Sandhurst Diocese in Bendigo. My tour guide was my friend and long-time "encourager" Phil Billington who is the Director of Religious Education in the Diocese. The new building is beautiful and features a Reconciliation Garden.
I then I headed north to a beautiful little school in Elmore, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, home of Harley Hayes and all the other Hayes. Among many highlights were Sascha's smile, the lovely pictures of the Prep/1 class, sharing my new number plates with Mitch and singing my OLSH song, "Strength and Gentleness".
It was north again to Sacred Heart in Yarrawonga, one of the red-head capitals of Victoria. Caught up with our good friends, Tony and Helen Hunter and their girls, and lots of other old friends from my last visit a couple of years ago. On Thursday I did something I don't often do- worked with high school kids! I was a bit nervous at first but the day went from chaos to something quite amazing as we prepared for retelling the evnets of Holy Week through song. The highlight of the day was watching these Year 7-10s singing and dancing "Rainbow" at the top of their voices. Thanks to Luke for the back announcing and to Matt for being a great techie and roadie.
The week finished at St Peter's in Coleambally, where were joined by the children and staff from St Joseph's, Jerilderie. This was my third visit to St Peter's. On my last visit I wrote a song for the school, called "You Are My Rock" which was my favourite song on "Let Your Light Shine". On the album we dedicated the song to Claire Mannes, who died very suddenly in May last year. We began our concert with all of Claire's friends in Year 6 joining me to sing and lead a movement ot the song which we dedicated to Claire's memory. Claire's family were there to share the concert with us.
It was a day of great song and joy. Thanks to Rosie, Kelsey, Mardi and all the Toms and Joshes!
March 23-27: Catholic Schools Week in the Broken Bay Diocese: I was fortunate to be part of many Catholic Schools Week events in the Broken Bay Diocese this week, starting with a combined school songwriting and concert day at St Thomas Primary School in Willoughby. Special thanks to Maddie and Thomas for their help during the concert.
From there it was off to my old friends at St Patrick's in East Gosford for a concert day. Thanks to Tom and Lachlan and the Year 6 girls I've now got three more songs that work in concerts. Tom and Lachlan invented a "Christian hip-hop move" called the Tom Lachlan which we used in "Walk Humbly With God"- thanks to Georgia who helped with the chorus actions. The Year 6 girls did a beautiful movement to "I Light A Candle" which we used to start the concert and then used as a reflection the next day at our Catholic Schools Mass. It was an honour to be part of the Mass which gave thanks to God for Catholic Education. The children of St Patrick's were just beautiful at Mass, moving with ease from working in Christian concert the night before to celebrating Mass the next morning.
Last stop was Sacred Heart at Mona Vale. It was the day after I collected my special "Red-head" number plates so it was so great to be surrounded by so many red-heads on the day: James, Ben, Ryan, Kate, Stella and Amy to name a few as well as two or three teachers. It was a great day of song, with the highlights being "Arky, Arky" and "Sacred Heart, the Love of Jesus". Georgia won the quiz- she was quite an entertainer. I found out that she could draw as well- she gave me this drawing as a present- thanks Georgia!
March 20: Laura and Kaitlan in the Area News: Two of the girls who sang on "Let Your Light Shine", Laura Panarello and Kaitlan Rizzeri, featured in an article in Griffith's Area News last week. If you've got really good eyes you can have a look here!
March 16-20: New Zealand: Palmerston North Diocese: I flew into beautiful Wellington on Sunday afternoon and headed north to Palmerston North- I'm sure there is a Palmerston somewhere in the South Island. My week began with a visit to the home of that beautiful song, "Ka Waiata Ki A Maria- I Sing to Mary", St Joseph's, Wairoa. Richard Puanaki, who wrote that song many years ago is the principal at St Joseph's. We sang Ka Waiata to begin the concert. I met the lovely Rose who sings so beautifully and many others. The pictures below are of St Peter's Church, the Wairoa River and the man himself, Richard Puanaki.
After a big drive back to Palmerston North, the next morning I got up early for the drive to Wanganui. When I visited them back in 2005 the new hall was just arriving and I got to meet Annie Benefield who ended up recording with the NZ Choir on Many Roads, One Journey. This time around I caught up with Jacob and Ruslan, my fellow "Ginja Ninjas" and I also caught up with Annie's sister Rowan (which means red-headed, even is she's not really!) as well as Matt who came back especially from Cullinane College to sing with me- he's a bit of a talent who'll probably end up on the big stage one day. And at the end of the day the Year 8s from Mr Sheridan's class farewelled me with one of the greatest hakas I have ever witnessed- brilliant.
I returned to St James Palmerston North on Wednesday. I have been very fortunate to perform in some amazing venues: Mystery Creek at Hamilton, Shalom College Performing Arts Centre in Bundaberg, the grand old theatre in Milton NSW, but of any place I have ever performed the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North is my favourite. It has beautiful acoustics, warm lighting and a very close audience. I shared a wonderful evening with the children and parents of St James, remet some old fiends (Alex, Kate and Ronni) and made some new ones (thanks Charlotte!).
Speaking of Kate and Ronni and Angela, they say a family that fishes together sticks together. Well check out this family of fish faces! It looked like so much fun I thought I'd join in! Kate's doing her famous trout face!
And how about this! While walking around Hokowhitu I found this hairdresser that only cuts red hair!! Go Rangas and Gingas!
Some days I have this real sense of excitement as I return to a place that I've had a great time at previously. That's how I was feeling as I drove to St Anthony's in Pahiatua and it was a day that went way beyond my expectations. What a musical school! St Anthony's was the home for a long time of Susie (and Lizzy) McCreery- Susie made up the words for the Kiwi version of "If I Were A Butterfly". When I visited in 2005 I was amazed by the way this school could sing. They're even better now! Of the 90 children in the school more than 40 are learning guitar and more than 50 are learning keyboard. This is due in know small way to the passion and work of Geraldine, who gives four days a week and then some to directing the musical heart of the school. What an amazing lady.
Some amazing children too. I met the fifth Wiggle, Jacob (and yes, I can spell Isabella's name- thanks for the letter Isabella, I read it when I got home- I can also spell Phineas!). And I met a lovely girl called River so I just had to give her a present. Here's a picture of River holding my book "I Am The River"- and she is! I'm hoping that Frank Wafer, the principal os St Anthony's might send me a couple of photos of the day- he's a great photographer and his photos give great life to the school, both on the walls and on the school's website: http://www.stanthony.ac.nz.
On Friday I headed out to St Joseph's at Feilding. As I got out of the car, Mass had just begun and I could hear my own song being sung, "A School Prayer". I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia who is the RE Leader at St Joseph's- what a great job to have and she's perfect for it too. And a fella with a great voice and a great name, Chains, taught us all a new move and I think I'm going to call it "The Chains Gang". The other Olivia (Jaime's sister) showed amazing knowledge of the bible to take out the quiz and Jermaine and Corbin did great Elvis impersonations.
As I write I'm in one of my favourite cities, Wellington, ready to fly home tomorrow. Had a beautiful walk around slightly breezy Wellington tonight and took some touristy photos of the harbour and one the best museums in the world, "Te Papa".
March 1-7: A special baptism, A Walk In The Ashes, Yarram and Hampton. On the first Sunday of each month we have a small group that leads the music at our beautiful Baptisms at St Thomas Aquinas Church in Bowral. It's made up of me, my wife Bernadette, my daughter Eleanor, our friend Gerard Bennett and his daughter Sinead, and my son-in-law, Tim Hart. My eldest daughter Kylie usually helps by looking after the computer and sometimes my other older daughter Nicole takes over that role. It's great fun for us all and hopefully it's a good service and minstery for our parish.
Last Sunday was a special one though. We were joined by Peter Kearney who was there for the baptism of his two grandchildren, Sophie and Peter Kearney junior. Peter was and continues to be a real pioneer in religious music in Australia. In 1966 he wrote some some songs like "Fill My House" and "The Beatitudes" which became folk Mass classics and travelled to Catholic churches around the English-speaking world. As a young teacher I was forever shaped as a musician by Peter's first album for children "Celebration" which included the song which became a school song for many schools, "This Is Our School". I invited Peter to perform at four of the schools I worked at and was inspired by his ministry. Perhaps in those early concerts, when I performed with Peter once or twice, the seeds were sewn for what I do now.
So it was a great honour to sing with Peter at this Baptism, singing his beautiful Baptism songs, "My Daughter, My Son" and "We Welcome This Child" as well as two of mine, "May God Be In My Heart" and "I Light A Candle".
At my daughter Eleanor's school we had a fundraiser for the bushfire victims. We walked three kilometres from the school to a local park where we gathered in prayer to pray for those who had lost their lives, family members and homes. "The "Walk In The Ashes" managed to raise more than $2000 for Bushfire Relief.
And speaking of fires I spent Thursday at St Mary's in Yarram in Victoria's Gippsland, not far from the site of the Churchill fires. St Mary's had been touched before by fire with the school having been burnt down in 1992. The photo below is of the Parish Priest, Fr Ryan, holding the ashed remnants of the school's cross. As you can see the school has held on to that past and that cross is mounted in the beautiful learning areas that rose from the ashes. A timely reminder of hope for the future.
Congratulations to Alex and Chelsea for their great singing performances; happy birthday again to Laura; Eden- you were a fabulous Elvis; nice smile Gemma with a G and great dancing Shaun and Lauren!
Finished the week with a St Mary's double, visiting St Mary's in Hampton, a southern suburb of Melbourne. Highlights of the day were the singing of Anna and Sarah and the dance moves of Themi, Matt, Emily and Chloe among many, many others. The other story of the day was a strange autograph request. Over the years I've been asked to autograph many strange things: pie-stained lunch wrappers, hats, bags, reports but this was a funny one. Matt, who does a great "fizzy-wuzzy" bear, asked me to sign his acorn! Which I did! St Mary's has a beautiful display of the teachers photos in the foyer. They're done by one of the dads who is a professional photographer. They look fantastic. Speaking of teachers faces have a look at this website, the home page of All Saints Primary School in Portland Victoria. It features the pictures of their staff morphing from one to the other: http://www.asportland.catholic.edu.au/.
February 16-20: Three States in Five Days! On Sunday night I flew out of Sydney to Melbourne and saw some of the devastation of the bushfires from the air. On Monday I returned to beautiful St Monica's in Wodonga where I had the honour of writing a school song. I caught up with some lovely old friends: Sarah Morey, who sang on "Let Your Light Shine" and Brendan Flanagan, who I'd met on a great visit to St Joseph's Beechworth. With some help from the parents, teachers, children and Sr Carmel we came up with a pretty catchy school song: "Love to Learn, Learn to Love".
On Tuesday, I crossed the mighty Murray for a combined small schools day with St Patrick's Holbrook, St Joseph's, Culcairn, and my old mates from All Saints' Tumbarumba. Abbi from All Saints suggested we dedicated "Rainbow" to the memory of Maureen Wilson, the principal at All Saints for many years who passed away a couple of years ago. Much loved and fondly remembered. We had a great day together and managed to find some fabulous singers for our combined choir.
On Wednesday it was back over the Murray and down to Melbourne for a day with St John's Mitcham. I don't think I've been to a school with stronger links to its parish- what a vibrant place! Some great singers here too, especially Liam and Hannah-not-Freya, sister of Brodie.
On Thursday I flew from Melbourne to Brisbane and on to Rockhampton for the last of the Bishop's inservice days. It was one of those flights where I really enjoyed watching the countryside unfold below- it's a real privilege to see the world from above. A great day was had with teachers and catechists from in and around Rocky before flying out to Brisbane. As I write there's bad weather in Brisbane meanig flights are delayed so I think I'm going to miss my Sydney flight! Another night in Queensland
February 9-13: Gold Coast and Central Queensland: The week began with a flying visit to St Augustine's at Currumbin on the Gold Coast. They have a beautiful chapel with beautiful views to the coast- a window on God's Creation. Had a great day with the children there before heading back to Brisbane to catch up for dinner with and old friend, Sr Mathilde. She was my principal for the first seven years of my teaching career and looked after me so well.
On Tuesday I flew out of Brisbane heading for Barcaldine which sits right about the very centre of Queensland. I was there as part of the Bishop's Inservice Days held in different parts of the Rockhampton Diocese. Barcaldine is famous for its "Tree of Knowledge". Under a tree in the main street the Australian Labour Party met for the very first time. The tree has since died but they're replacing it with a spectacular monument. From Barcy we headed off to Emerald for more sessions with teachers. I took a picture of this beautiful cross which sits in the centre of Marist College in Emerald. From Emerald it was a wild old drive in the rain to Mackay for the last of the three days on this part of the tour.
January 28: New CD Released! "Let Your Light Shine" in 2009!
After many hours of fun and hard work, my latest album, "Let Your Light Shine" is now available. Here's a press release:
A new CD for use in Catholic primary schools represents a truly international effort. Catholic singer-songwriter Andrew Chinn’s latest CD, “Let Your Light Shine” features Catholic school students from every state and territory in Australia and from both islands of New Zealand.
The CD was recorded from May to November 2008 mainly in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, but also features remote recordings done in Gympie, Darwin, Auckland and Richmond, Tasmania.
Three main choirs were used on the recording. Two were gathered from Catholic primary schools across Australia and were recorded at the Robertson Brothers Studio in Springwood, NSW, in October last year. The third was a New Zealand Catholic Schools choir, comprising children from every Diocese in New Zealand. This recording took place at St Dominic’s School, Blockhouse Bay, in Auckland in November.
The CD features a recording of an Aboriginal Lord’s Prayer so Andrew was joined on the recording by a Year 8 choir of indigenous students from St John’s College in Darwin.
The primary school choir from St John’s Primary School in Richmond, Tasmania, also feature on the recording in a live performance of the Brendan Connor song “An Irish Blessing” where the children sing in both Gaelic and English.
A combined parent choir made of parents and teachers of the singers also perform on two of the tracks.
And one Canadian student, Natalie Artymko, from St John Bosco School, Barry’s Bay, Ontario, was part of one of the choirs. Natalie’s father, John Artymko, was on teacher exchange in Australia in 2008.
“Let Your Light Shine” features 22 tracks for use throughout the school and liturgical year, with the majority of songs composed by Andrew.
Children and teachers from the following Dioceses were involved in the recording:
- Archdiocese of Brisbane
- Diocese of Toowoomba
- Archdiocese of Sydney
- Diocese of Armidale
- Diocese of Bathurst
- Diocese of Broken Bay
- Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn
- Diocese of Lismore
- Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle
- Diocese of Wagga Wagga
- Diocese of Wollongong
- Diocese of Ballarat
- Diocese of Sandhurst
- Diocese of Sale
- Archdiocese of Adelaide
- Archdiocese of Hobart
- Archdiocese of Perth
- Diocese of Darwin
- Diocese of Auckland
- Diocese of Hamilton
- Diocese of Palmerston North
- Archdiocese of Wellington
- Diocese of Christchurch
- Diocese of Dunedin