Sunday 19th August

Pamela, Musical Director, and Frank, Treasurer on Radio Gloucestershire talking about the Choir visit to India. John Hellings was concentrating on the money raised for the visit, £37,000, but this was only to get us there. The main purpose was to raise money for the India Missionary Society and in India they were always introducing us with the fact that we had sponsored ourselves to go there.

Pamela talked about the phone call from Danny Jesudason last April when we first heard about the invitation. It seems Danny and Rani come from Chennai and went to visit this time last year when there was another concert called India Sings and he made contact with the organisers. Subsequently they planned a concert called 'One World, One Voice' and they intended to be an international event inviting choirs from different continents. The IMS contacted Danny and asked if he knew of a Christian Choir. Living in Gloucester, I think we were the only one he knew about. One of the organisers of the concert, Mr Moses, came to visit us in Gloucester and we were invited to represent Europe no less.

The meeting was attended by Pamela, soon to be known as Mrs Pamela, Frank and Mike. Now Pamela lives on Cloud 9 so Mike and Frank were intended to bring us back to reality. Was it practical to take 50 people, several with disabilities and not able to afford fares, could we raise enough money? Mike embraced the idea with enthusiasm and it was left to Frank as Treasurer to be sceptical. We are all involved in many things and did this visit serve the purpose of God?

Well, the visit would encourage fellow believers in a far away land. It would raise money in a poor country to help others and to spread the gospel. We would be giving out the good news through our presentations of Jail Break. But was this to be a 'Jolly' or was it in the Lord's service?

It was time to put out a 'fleece' (Judges 6:36). Frank believed that if it was not of the Lord, there were so many obstacles it just wouldn't happen. But if God wanted us to go, he would overcome all the problems of finance and flights. Yes, we probably could raise the money, but could we raise it in time, deposits had to be paid almost immediately? Could we secure flights for 50 people at such short notice? Could we keep within a reasonable budget?

We first of all set a budget of £650 per person and we spent hours on the internet researching flights and it seemed impossible. This is when we formed a relationship with Albatross Travel based in Chennai and they pulled out all the stops to help us. Their Managing Director is Secretary of IMS and his staff, particularly Irene were determined to make it possible. They obtained flights within our budget, although it was on a roundabout route from Heathrow to Helsinki, on to Mumbai and from there to Chennai.

When we first announce the visit at a concert in Red Marley, Frank presented the bleak picture, we needed to raise £32,500 and we needed £7,625 immediately to pay deposits. After the concert, generous people offered the choir interest free loans, they had amazing faith to believe that it would be possible to repay it. Once the deposit was paid there was no turning back.

The Choir have been amazing in their efforts to raise the money, we have had an Indian Evening when Rani cooked up traditional Indian fare, we have held concerts and barn dances, we have had sponsored slims, swims, walks and cycle rides. We have had sponsorship from Books Plus, Staples, CCCF, local churches and bequests.

We raised the money and our visit to India is recorded on other pages of this blog.