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Dear supporter,
Happy new year!
I hope this letter finds you well and that you have enjoyed a great Christmas. This week is when most of us return back to work or school from our well earned break, and if you are like me you will be finding it difficult to wind back up. I found it a great help though to look back at what we had achieved togerther during the latter part of 2005. I hope that you enjoy sharing with us.
Schools
We've come to the end of visiting our usual 13 schools with a Christmas Special assembly in which Carl, Mary, myself and Neil (on placement from Church Army College) have been helping the children think about the real meaning of Christmas.
The story had the boys give their Christmas present lists (drawn from the Argos catalogue) to Santa (alias Rocky in Santa beard) Santa helped them see their lists as very selfish, and told them his own story. His real name is Nicholas, he grew up in a Christian home and followed the example of Jesus making poverty history for one family in his village by dropping a bag of gold coins down the chimney..the rest is history.or legend! Apart from school assemblies we also spent a lot of time each week through out the term with 6 of the schools who took part in the new show. |
We wrote Neil a part as Carl's school friend Pete (Why we didn't call him "Neil" is anybody's guess!) Our storyline had Pete at Carl's house for a sleepover. Carl pushed Pete into the school hall in a wheelbarrow. Pete was wrapped up in his sleeping bag -still asleep! Carl and the schoolchildren particularly enjoyed trying to wake Pete up in various ways including water (of course) and an inflatable hammer (wielded enthusiastically with some force by the children).
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Theatres
Queen's Theatre
Sadly, our show at the Queen's was also our swansong at the venue! As you know from previous letters, we've been hoping to move in to the theatre properly for nearly 2 and ½ years. This has not materialised and so the decision was made to start looking elsewhere for a base. We are currently exploring our options with pressure on as we have notice to vacate the church hall which has been our home for over 5 years. We're looking for storage space for scenery & props (around 600 sq ft) as well as office and rehearsal space. If you can help please get in touch.
Events
In order to focus on the production we took on fewer event bookings including our annual visit to St Leonard's Bilston to help lead the Church Family weekend, and a turn at the Burslem Christmas Festival. We had a great spot on a small stage inside "Ceramica" - an all glass showpiece pottery museum and shop. It felt a bit like being a bull in a china shop at times as Rocky negotiated his way through thousands of pounds of glass and china ornaments. But as you can see, we had a great time sharing the message of Christmas with children and shoppers.
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Rocky Kids
We welcomed 4 new children to the company for Rocky in Space - James, Richelle, Joshua and Sam. They were all brilliant! We're now at the point again where it's time for some of the children to move on, one or two having been with us for many years! During the past 5 years the Gospel Rocky Theatre Co has given scores of young people the exciting opportunity to "tread the boards" of some of the biggest theatres in the UK in front of thousands of people. It has given them chance to develop natural talent, increase confidence and share the gospel in a fun way.
For some, being part of the company has also been their "church". These children, young people and their families have come through local auditions, and have little or no church involvement. Through the shows and events they have been in the unusual position of sharing the gospel without having accepted it themselves. Rehearsals have been the place where they have explored Christianity and learnt to pray to, and worship Jesus. We were thrilled last month when during performances of the new show
We will be holding auditions for Rocky Kids early in the new year. We will be publicising the new show around the UK looking for bookings. We have a couple of events lined up including fronting a special children's day at Wells Cathedral. We are also working on follow up material resources for our new show to enable new Rocky Kids Clubs to be set up as at Bilston,(which continues to meet weekly in its 2nd year now) one of the young people accepted Christ as Lord. 18 year old Paul joined the company 4 years ago and performed in "A Reason to Celebrate!" When he became "too old" to be a Rocky Kid he continued making the journey from Stafford for rehearsals to help out behind the scenes. Being part of the company over the years has helped Paul discover Jesus and begin to understand the commitment he's just made.
Gospel Rocky in Space!
After a false start in July when we had to cancel at the last minute because we weren't ready, I'm pleased to tell you that we finally had "lift off!". November 9 -13th saw the successful launch of our new show "Gospel Rocky & the Rocky Kids in Space" at the Queen's Theatre in Burslem, Stoke -on-Trent. Over 1300 people enjoyed the show. Many thought it even better than the first one! It was certainly different, more thoughtful and more explicitly Christian.
As you can see from the pictures it looked great.
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Our production team of Andy, Carl, Mary, Neil, Martyn, Alan & myself, plus loads of others at the last minute, came up with terrific scenery, props and costumes. The show was very well acted by the cast who went from strength to strength as the week progressed. The icing on the cake was the totally amazing involvement from the guest star performing aliens - over 100 children from 6 local primary schools. It was great to give so many children a wonderful opportunity to make their big stage debut. |
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We've had some good feedback and some really helpful advice on how to make the show even better. One lady wrote to our local newspaper:
Burslem show was brilliant
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Nov : Sir, - Last week I travelled from Kidderminster to watch my daughter take part in Gospel Rocky And The Rocky Kids In Space at the Queen's Theatre, Burslem. The costumes and special effects were worthy of a West End production and it was a joy to see so many young people obviously enjoying themselves on stage. May I congratulate the performers and backstage crew on an excellent performance. Your hard work paid off. Well done to you all.
MRS A WILSON Kidderminster
A teaching assistant emailed us:
I was just mailing to say what a wonderful time I had on Thursday at a Rocky Gospel show in Burslem. I am a teaching assistant at a school whose pupils were making a guest appearance in the show and was lucky to be able to bring the class I work with in to see them perform. I wanted to thank the whole cast for such a wonderful afternoon and pass on my appreciation to all the team for an excellent show. I admire the commitment to spreading the 'Good News' that you all seem to have and I pray that God blesses you all in everything that you do. May He be with you and encourage you to continue.
Peace be with you
Sue Stephens
(Abbey Hulton Primary School)
In the new year we will be fine tuning the script, finishing the costumes and replacing the sticky tape holding some of the last minute props together! We will also be putting a publicity pack together in order to offer the show to churches and groups interested in mounting a production in theatres around the UK during the next couple of years.
Looking to the future We will be holding auditions for Rocky Kids early in the new year.
We will be publicising the new show around the UK looking for bookings.
We have a couple of events lined up including fronting a special children's day at Wells Cathedral.
We are also working on follow up material resources for our new show to enable new Rocky Kids Clubs to be set up as at Bilston,(which continues to meet weekly in its 2nd year now)
Fundraising
As you know, Gospel Rocky costs many thousands of pounds a year to run and depends upon the charitable giving of people who support Church Army.
Thank you to all of you who have generously given during the past few years.
Can I ask you to consider the following: Make a regular donation. This will help ensure that this exciting way of sharing the gospel can continue well into the future.Our new office and rehearsal/storage space is likely to cost 2 or 3 times as much as our local church hall. Make a single donation towards the cost of building our new show. It has cost around £8,000 to stage. We hope to run the show for the next 2 - 3 years around the UK. Sponsor a school assembly Thank you to the family who read about our schools work in the last newsletter and became sponsors of their local school for the year ahead. There are currently 13 schools. It costs £75 to do one assembly. It would be great if another 12 supporters would be willing to cover the costs of one school each - £225 per year, 3 assemblies.
Make a donation of at least £12 and receive an inspirational gift - PSALM CD As I've mentioned in previous letters, I have produced a CD of psalms set to music as a way of helping raise funds. A copy can be winging its way to you at the click of a mouse.or your biro. It's directly available through the website supporters page. www.gospelrocky.co.uk/supporters.html or by writing to me. You can hear samples on the website too. If you complete a gift aid form we can also increase the gift with recovered tax.
On behalf of Carl, Mary, Andy, Neil, myself, and the Church Army, thank you again for all for your prayer and support during the past year. We pray that in Christ you will be filled with His hope in this New Year.
Yours on the Rock,
Frank McGregor
Director of the Gospel Rocky Theatre Co.
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January 2006