It sounds so glamorous!  And we were, to be sure, quite honored and excited.  During our travel around England this past June, we were invited to sing for BBC Lancashire.  But even the most glamorous moments have their proverbial feet of clay.

By we, of course, I mean the combined St. Andrew’s Academy and Good Shepherd choir, together for almost three weeks for our tour of Britain which was highlighted in the special edition of The Standard this past July. This group, assembled in the BBC Lancashire studio, sang three pieces over about an hour of The Sally Naden Show.  The choir first sang “O, Praise God,” a choral rendition of Psalm 150, followed by “The Day is Past and Gone” by Christopher West. The finale was William Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus.”

The students and staff also talked with the hostess, Sally Naden, during the show.  Since America was to play Britain the following evening in the World Cup, this competitive topic took up much of the interview time. One Brit on the show predicted that England would beat America at six-to-one, but Christian Anderson, of Good Shepherd School, countered it would be an American victory at two-to-one.  As it turns out, Anderson was much closer in his call.  The game ended a draw, at 1-1.

The live broadcast was not available to parents and friends back home, but an archived recording was on the internet for a few weeks, so that loved ones were able actually to hear the choristers perform on their England trip.

This article was published in the November 2010 edition of The Standard.