UK Tour - Day 6 (June 1)

The sixth day of our tour found us making the trip from Norwich to Leeds. The actual trip was uneventful although delayed by a major accident on the A17. In spite of the delay we arrive at Leeds in time for a wonderful cooked lunch before departing for a civic reception with The Lord Mayor of Leeds (Rev'd Councillor Alan Taylor). Prior to meeting The Lord Mayor the Sergeant-at-Mace took the time to explain the Government structure of Leeds and answer questions. Leeds is the third largest government in England with London and Birmingham being 1 and 2 respectively. The Lord Mayor was very gracious in his remarks to the band and took additional time to pose in a group photograph with us.

Following the reception we proceeded to Morley Town Hall to prepare for the evening concert. We were keenly aware of the brass band tradition of the area and the fact that the Black Dyke Band has used Morley Town Hall for recording on a number of occasions. Their conductor, Dr. Nicholas Childs, was in attendance and greeted several members of our band prior to the concert.

The very responsive Morley Town Hall was nearly full and in addition to friends from the UK we met people from the USA who have traveled to the UK in order to be part of the ISB120 celebrations including a young man from Virginia and the divisional music director from the Kansas & Western Missouri Division in our own USA Central Territory. Personally I was able to meet a Salvation Army officer that was in Zambia while my parents served for a short term there in retirement.

The "B" program was presented and included "Let Everything Praise" and "Artist of My Soul" (Heidi Strand, soloist). Alberto Rapley provided his personal testimony.

Following the concert we loaded our equipment for transport and storage at the Morley Corps in preparation for our morning departure. We then retired to host homes for the remainder of the evening.

A big thank you goes out to our official hosts at the Leeds Central Corps and the other Salvationists from Morley and elsewhere in the Yorkshire Division.

Tomorrow we head to our most northerly destination of the tour, Consett in County Durham.