I became a Christian, in 1972 at a presentation of a musical written by Jimmy and Carol Owens called ‘Come ‘Together’ at Sidmouth in Devon.
Shortly after, in the early spring of 1975 I had an opportunity to join the National Tour of another musical written by the same couple. It was called ‘If My People’.
The central theme of ‘If My People’ is a prayer of intersession and I have put a copy of it here I couldn’t find a copy of it on-line, and our nation is still so desperately in need of healing.
I was part of the technical team, which took care of projection, P.A. and lighting. It was a wonderful formative experience to be working with people like Jean Darnell, Teddy Saunders, Paul Harris, and a whole host of really dynamic Christians drawn from all over the UK. It was February 1975, the 'Jesus People' movement in America was well under way, and we were in the the high days of the Festival of Light, when marches and rallies all over the world were encouraging people to lives of purity and godliness, and when it really did seem that the tide of decadence in Britain could be reversed.
The tour started in London at All Souls, Langham Place. The following evening we were in the cathedral at Truro. This was followed by a whirlwind when we were in a different venue just about every nig the Festival of Light. We didn’t have the luxury of two tech teams leap-frogging each other, and Truro for example is a long way from All Souls!
Feb 3rd. – Truro Cathedral,
Feb 4th – Paignton Festival Theatre,
Feb 5th – Oxford Town Hall,
Feb 6th – Bristol Cathedral,
Feb 7th – Chester St Paul’s Baughton,
Feb. 8th – Liverpool Anglican Cathedral,
Feb 10th – Leicester De Mountford Hall,
Feb 11th – Nottingham Albert Hall,
Feb 12th – Newcastle City Hall,
Feb 13th & 14th – Glasgow Tent Hall,
Feb 15th. – Bradford St Georges Hall.
Initially we had rented some stage lighting, which we actually used at All Souls, but we quickly ditched it, in favour of using the lighting that the venues already had. With productions on consecutive nights, many miles apart, there was simply not enough time with only one tech crew to rig and strike everything and travel each day.
It was quite fun, to set up the PA and get the Kodak Carousel projectors and 12 foot square screens set up. We called the screens Spree 73 because they had been used at the ‘Spree 73’ festival that Billy Graham did at Earls Court and the Wembley Arena two years earlier. There was a certain degree of urgency to get the show on the road, even though it was February, and bitterly cold. The transport, a Mercedes truck with 8 seats and space in the back for the equipment, was loaned by a band called ‘Eleven Fifty Nine’
After the tour, the show went up at the Royal Albert Hall back in London, where technicians had to be in the Union, so I was quite relieved not to have to take on such a large and prestigious venue
I was quite glad to return home. But shortly after, I was asked if I would be able to join the team taking ‘If My People’ to Ireland. The ‘Troubles’ were at their height, having kicked off in 1968 and from then, it would be thirty years before the Peace Agreement, during which time around 3,500 people would die.
The ‘If my people’ team, choir, band, leaders and techies all met up at Heathrow and flew out to Aldergrove airport just outside Belfast. The place resembled a fortress with razor wire and troops toting machine guns. We were quickly moved to the hall in Belfast where the show would go up. Afterwards, we dispersed as individuals from our touring company were offered digs for the night by local Christians. As my host raced for home, his route took us down the Shanklin Road, where huge murals on the ends of houses and lit by street lights told of the war.
The next day the company all met up at the hall again, and we boarded the coach which would take us over the border to Dublin, where we did the show at the Catholic Cathedral. Straight afterwards we returned back to the north. We did one more presentation in Belfast, and immediately afterwards were taken straight back to Aldergrove to catch the plane home.
I will always remember a magic moment on our return, when in the dead of night at Heathrow Airport, the choir sang ‘Behold the Man’ from the show. It must have been one of the first Flash Mob events, and it sounded beautiful as it echoed around the empty airport.
From there we all said goodbye and the show just melted into the night. I never saw any of them again, with the exception of Teddy Saunders whom I came across years later, and who reminded me to keep my sword sharp.
If My People