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This page contains news and reviews of the events that have taken place at
Norwich Citadel recently. Details of upcoming events can be found
on our Weekly Bulletins and Special Events pages.

 
Ladies Fellowship - February 2010
Despite the cold and very wintry weather a good number of the fellowship turned out for our first meeting of 2010. The subject for the evening was Bulgarian Children’s Home and you might be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be a slightly depressing topic given some of the media coverage we have seen televised over the years.  However, far from it.  We were presented with a story of great Christian love and faith.  An example of putting into practice Jesus’ commission to his followers to look after those less fortunate and take the Gospel message abroad casting your bread upon the waters.  [read more / hide]

Mr Peter Barnes recalled how he was first asked to visit a children’s home in Bulgaria some 19 years ago and of the appalling conditions he encountered.   The progress made has been astonishing, and the improvement to the lives of the children immeasurable.  The work continues today under the name of Krasif Aid.

KRASIF AID was only founded in May 2008, and provides help and hope to the people of Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. The need in Eastern Europe remains great and is only slowly changing for the better. The most vulnerable are still very much at risk and desperately poor. Many lack adequate health and social care. They have well-established links inside Bulgaria, and a number of significant people and projects. IN CASE YOU WONDERED, Krasif is the Bulgarian word for Beautiful.

'How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.' Isaiah 52:7

Jan Allen thanked Mr Barnes for bringing us up to date with his churches work.  Also for his Christian witness and work on behalf of all Christian people in spreading the word of God and representing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Meryl Turners brought us a thoughtful epilogue and prayer.  Whilst having tea and coffee some ladies expressed the wish to make a donation to this continued work.  A bowl was placed alongside the biscuits, and £102 .10 was collected and presented to Mr Barnes. 

Next month 1st March Tales from the Housemaids Cupboard with Britain’s Top Mrs Mop.  Not to be missed.
(Jan Allen February 2010)

First Sunday - February 2010 - Inspirations with Richard Phillips
The February “First Sunday” meeting at Norwich Citadel was entitled “Inspirations” and featured Bandmaster Richard Phillips of Kettering.  CSM Hazel Sommerville welcomed the large congregation, and the bandmaster, and his wife Lyn who supported the multi-media control team. In responding to the warm welcome the bandmaster recalled previous visits to the corps as piano accompanist to the International Staff Songsters and on one notable occasion – accompanist to well known tenor and radio programme “My Music” personality – the late Ian Wallace.  [read more / hide]

In presenting music that reflected significant moments in his life, an early reminiscence at Chatham corps which left a lasting impression was the band marching back from the Sunday morning open-air meeting playing the march “Flag of Freedom”. The bandmaster then played a stirring piano/band arrangement of the march.  Other piano/band arrangements presented included “Put Your Hand in the Hand” – written for an army national music festival, and the first movement of Grieg’s First piano concerto.

In recognition of his involvement with Gowans and Larson musicals the bandmaster presented “Love Cannot Fail” from the musical “Spirit” to an appealing band accompaniment. Piano solos were included as well as piano/band arrangements and in a reflective period the bandmaster indicated that the words of the song “In His Time” became important at a crisis time in his life. The sensitive words and music of “Somebody Prayed for Me”, and “I’ll Follow Thee of Life the Giver” concluded the “Inspirations” evening.
(Bandsman Brian Cushion 13/02/2010)

Carols by Candlelight - 13th December
As songster pianist Beverley Baker played her first notes at the commencement of this year’s Carols by Candlelight Service an expectant hush gathered around a packed Norwich Citadel. The songsters processed to their places carrying candles and following songster Lisa Hall’s prayer, and Major Denis Lomax’s welcome, the congregation accompanied by the Young People’s band sang the evening’s first carol – “Joy to the World”.  [read more / hide]

The Christmas story was told in 6 Bible readings by Alison Gibson from Isaiah’s    foretelling of Christ’s birth and Kingdom,  Mary’s encounter with the Angel Gabriel and the birth of Jesus in St. Luke’s gospel, to St. John’s revelation of Jesus as “The Light of the World”.

Songster contributions included “His Glorious Name” to the music of “Finlandia”, “Magnificat”, and “Jesus, You are Him” with Gemma Welch, and Eve Woodrow respectively as soloists. The Young People’s Band had a busy evening accompanying carols and playing “Little Christmas Suite” prior to this year’s appeal collection.

Songster Leader Hilary Winch indicated that this year’s fund raising appeal would follow the pattern of recent songster initiatives in supporting the Salvation Army’s response to emergency and crises situations around the world.
 
Hilary explained that a portable water purifying tool called a Life Straw (or Filter Straw), requiring no electrical power or spare parts, has been developed. The individual straw (25cm long) and family life straw filter system can be used in areas of the world where up to 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. In places where disasters occur they are an effective method of providing quick safe water until more permanent sources of clean safe water are put in place. Following the appeal and Deputy Songster Leader Ian Grimshaw’s brave demonstration in using a Life Straw in a tank of muddy water a sum of £1,505 was raised for the Salvation Army’s International Development department.  
 
The songsters gave spirited and stirring renditions of “King Jesus is His Name”, and “Angels from the Realms”, and in quiet contrast lovely singing in a gorgeous setting of “Midwinter” by Bob Chilcott – former King’s Singer and currently Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers. Further contrasting music was heard in “Jesus Light of the World” and “Mary Did You Know” which included a solo by Lydia Barron. The evening’s final carol was “O Come All Ye Faithful”, and Deputy Songster Leaders Ian Grimshaw’s final thoughtful words preceded the songsters’ final presentation “Go Light Your World” with Lindsey Johnson, Jayne Frost, and Sarah Frost as soloists. In accord with the words of the final song lighted candles were handed to members of the congregation “to carry their candles into the darkness – go light your world”

Major Olive Lomax gave the benediction and the appreciative congregation responded enthusiastically to the young people’s band’s exciting finale item – a “big band” presentation of “It’s a Great Day”.
(Bandsman Brian Cushion 14/12/2009)

Ladies Fellowship - December 2009
Our December meeting started with a welcome and thanks to all the committee for the past years hard work and commitment.  A special thank you went to Jo Osborne and Phyl Mapes who after 25 years service to the fellowship were retiring from their role as hostesses.  Jan Allen praised their example of loyalty and service and wondered how many cups of tea they would have served between them over those years as well as all the catering they had been involved in.  There were gifts to them both with love for all they had done within the Fellowship.  It was hoped that they could now sit back and enjoy the fellowship without the need to pop out and “put the kettle on”.  [read more / hide]

The evening commenced with the singing of two favourite Carols and a reading from Isaiah.  This was followed by Sophie Grimshaw’s demonstration of cake decorating.

Sophie showed us a number of techniques including frilling.  This is putting an icing frill around the cake, with a threaded ribbon along the top.  This looked really effective and Sophie made it all look relatively easy, but when two of the fellowship attempted something similar it was obvious that practice was needed to accomplish Sophie’s professional finish. Sophie’s confident presentation and easy narrative brought smiles and laughter from her audience.  We were all grateful to Sophie for giving up her time to share her skills and entertain us especially at this very busy time of year.

Ladies then retired to the William Booth centre to find a substantial buffet and mulled punch prepared by the committee waiting for them.  Along with the food and chat they were visited by a very Jolly Father Christmas and were able to purchase a gift from his sack for £1.

To end our evening Major Olive brought us a thought about the significance of light at this time of year when people are now decorating the outside of their homes with lights.  She reminded us that it all started with Jesus The Light Of The World.  The evening was a good start to our Christmas celebrations.

There will be no meeting in January but we would love to see new people join us for 2010.  We start on 1st February 2010 with Peter Barnes who will talk about Bulgarian Children’s Home. 

We wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful New Year May God bless you real Good.
(Jan Allen 15/12/2009)

YP Annual Meetings - 15th November
Young People’s Annual Prizegiving meetings have been held at Norwich Citadel. In a further initiative to involve children in worship at Norwich Citadel, YPSM Sophia Grimshaw and her team were delighted a group of pupils and their teacher from Town Close School Norwich accepted an invitation to attend the Sunday morning meeting. The special guests were warmly welcomed at the commencement of the meeting and joined corps members for tea, and coffee following the meeting when they were able to ask questions.  [read more / hide]
 
Meeting leader for the day was Captain Richard Welch – Anglia Division Director of Business Administration, and the Young People’s Band and Singing Company took part throughout the day. Each junior soldier at Norwich Citadel has a senior corps prayer partner, and the young people were supported by their prayer partners in joint prayers, bible readings, testimonies, and the corps announcements.

There was evidence of thoughtful, careful preparation and practice in all contributions presented throughout the day, and contributions in the evening meeting included cornet, vocal, and dance duets, and a cornet and bass solo.
(Bandsman Brian Cushion 15/11/2009)

Remembrance Sunday at Norwich Citadel
The corps band took part in a Remembrance Sunday Service, when wreaths were laid in front of the Norwich City Hall. Ex-servicemen, civic, and military representatives, and the band then marched through the city centre to a service at Norwich Cathedral when the address was given by Professor Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, the University of Oxford. Bandsman David Woodrow sounded Last Post and Reveille at both civic and cathedral services.

Representatives of Royal British Legion organisations attended a corps Remembrance Sunday service led by C.O. Major Denis Lomax on Sunday evening.
(Bandsman Brian Cushion 15/11/2009)

Ladies Fellowship - November 2009
Fellowship members did not know what to expect from the evening entitled Flame and Flowers and was surprised when our speaker Richard Wright introduced himself as a pig farmer.

Richard explained how some years ago he had witnessed other farming families lose their homes and livelihood to foot and month and swine disease.  Worried by the events and needing to increase the family income to support his wife and triplet daughters, he hit upon the idea of the lamps as a sideline.  It took a lot of determination and experimenting with the product before getting it into production, but now some eleven years on, they have a thriving business.  [read more / hide]

Flame and Flowers offer unique, hand made Botanical Oil Lamps made on a farm deep in the heart of the Norfolk Broads.


Each lamp is individually hand crafted combining the soft, flickering flame of the oil lamp with the vibrant colours of locally grown dried flowers or the everlasting beauty of silk flowers.   

The lamps come in a variety of shapes and sizes ranging from 250ml to 500ml, and are refillable using the funnel supplied with a full set of instructions.Their cottage garden range of oil lamps consist of a full arrangement of at least five dried flowers and foliage or three silk flowers with foliage including roses, larkspur, grasses, lilies, pansies etc (varieties may vary with seasonal availability) and in many colours

Others include Old English arrangements, woodland and countryside plants with pheasant and partridge feathers. The Seashore arrangement offer plants that resemble an underwater scene with seashells.

Richard brought some lamps for sale and a number of ladies purchased one for an unusual Christmas gift.

Richard was a good speaker and kept his audience entertained with the story of his life and progress with the lamps.  Whilst he spoke he gave a demonstration of how the lamps were made.     

Our December meeting will feature Sophie Grimshaw showing us some cake decorating techniques. We will be having a buffet supper and our usual exchange of Christmas gifts.  Each Lady is asked to bring a wrapped gift around a £1 in value and a £1 coin to purchase one back again.  Money raised from this will go toward this years Helping Hand Appeal.   We look forward to seeing everyone as we get into the Christmas spirit.  Why not come and bring a friend.  Jan Allen 01508 570011.
(Jan Allen November 2009)

First Sunday - 1st November
Special guest at November’s First Sunday event at Norwich Citadel was John Pantry from Premier Christian Radio. John is a pianist, singer, songwriter and audio engineer who worked with top pop groups and became a Christian through the influence of many Christian artists with whom he worked.  [read more / hide]

In his work with Premier Christian Radio John currently presents the “Inspirational Breakfast Show” between 7am and 9am Monday to Friday. Phone-in’s and e-mails to his programmes have brought him heartbreaking and sad stories, although training as an Anglican minister and experience over 15 years working in Christian Radio has helped him deal with issues raised by listeners.

John sang a song entitled “Wonderful Grace” to is own piano accompaniment, and corps music sections also took part.

An interesting Question and Answer session enabled John to give further insights into his work relating to funding of Premier Christian Radio via donations, and undertaking appropriate advertising.

The station also covers major Christian events such as “Spring Harvest”, the army’s own “Roots Week-end”, and receives many rewarding responses from listeners to it’s round the clock broadcasts.
(Bandsman Brian Cushion 01/11/2009)

Music United - 31st October
Thinking of ways to attract children to Norwich Citadel, YPSM Sophia Grimshaw and her team wrote to a number of schools in the area inviting young instrumentalists and vocalists to a day at the army. 12 children responded and joined forces with the YP Band (Andrew Gibson) and Singing Company (Lindsey Johnson) for a fun day of activities and music making.  [read more / hide]

Special guests for the day were Colin Sneade (Derby Central) and Ira Thomas (Music Ministries) who led most of the items performed to an enthusiastic audience of family and supporters, in a celebration concert. Featured, were a good blend of contemporary and gospel items including “Amazing Race”, and “Deep River”  by the band, and “Just under the Rainbow”, and “This Little Light” by the choral group.

Bandsman Matthew Peek compered proceedings, and interviewed 4 of the delegates as to their highlights of the day. All participants and congregation took part in the “action chorus” “What a Mighty God”, and a memorable day ended with an exciting presentation of “It’s a Great Day”.
(Bandsman Brian Cushion 01/11/2009)

Celebration and Commitment meeting - Sunday 25th October
A special Sunday morning Celebration and Commitment meeting has taken place at Norwich Citadel. Led by Majors Steve and Jean Russell, the celebration was for the 100th birthday of Mrs Brigadier Marjorie Whybrow. Many family members, and friends were present, and a basket of flowers was presented to Mrs Whybrow together with a birthday cake with 100 lit candles.  [read more / hide]

Family photographs depicting Mrs Whybrow through the years from the early 1900’s, her time at the Training College in 1929, and through to the 1980’s were displayed on a large screen above the platform.

Following the congregational singing of “Happy Birthday” a thanksgiving prayer was offered by son Bernard. At the conclusion of the meeting members of the congregation were invited to share a piece of birthday cake.


On Mrs Brigadier Whybrow’s actual birthday, Tuesday 27th October, she enjoyed a visit from the Lord Mayor of Norwich, received greetings from H.M The Queen, and General Shaw Clifton, and enjoyed a buffet tea with family members and friends.
Brigadier Marjorie Whybrow

The Sunday morning meeting also marked a special family occasion for Majors Steve and Jean Russell when the Major enrolled grandsons Jordan and James Morley as senior soldiers. The brothers spoke of their decisions to become senior soldiers following attendance at Army music schools in moving personal testimonies. Jordan and James chose the musical contributions of the Band and Songsters, and many family members and friends supported them on their special day.

James and Jordan
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(Bandsman Brian Cushion 26/10/2009)

October Ladies Fellowship - Monday 12th October
This month we  had a change from our usual meeting and instead of having a speaker we had some ‘Visions of Norwich’. This took the form of a video called ‘Do you remember? … 1950s Norwich’. This was a very interesting video with a narration by Keith Skipper who set just the right tone of light hearted information.  [read more / hide]

It started with a car journey through Norwich in the early 50’s. There was surprisingly little traffic but it was a Thursday afternoon – early closing day – remember those? We also saw how the city marked the 1951 Festival of Britain and the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 and were struck by how much effort was put into these events  by all the people of Norwich from the youngest to the oldest. There were parades, fancy dress competitions, a Miss Norwich competition, fun and games for children and adults – no thought of health & safety then!

Ladies saw people and places they knew and you could hear lots of memories being voiced all around. We saw how the housing estates around the edge of the city started to grow just after the war as city folk were moved from run down or bombed out areas into what seemed then to be wonderfully spacious homes with facilities they had not dreamed of .

There were old cinema adverts for local businesses and a short films of speedway racing at the Firs Stadium, now long gone, and the Norvic shoe factory. Football was not forgotten with films of the crowds heading towards Carrow Road and a newsreel of the match with Sheffield United in 1959.

All in all it was a most enjoyable evening and gave everyone some thing to talk about – memories from those of use who were here then and questions from the ‘newcomers’. We hope to have another evening like this before too long. The epilogue was delivered by Gill Burton.

The next meeting on November 2nd will be a talk Richard Wright entitled ‘Flame and Flowers’, do come along and join us for what promises to be a very interesting evening.
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(Meryl Turner 20/10/2009)

Visit of USA Western Territorial Band on their 2009 U.K. Tour - Monday 5th October
The 2nd leg of the U.S.A. Western Territorial band’s U.K. Tour was to Norwich Citadel and a Monday night Festival. Arriving in time for lunch, in Norwich, members of the band then visited historic city centre sites including the magnificent Cathedral dating from 11th century.  [read more / hide]

The visit was the climax of the home corps band’s 127th Anniversary celebrations 
and a large congregation were welcomed to the occasion by Bandmaster Richard Woodrow of Norwich Citadel. Warm applause greeted band members as they entered the hall to commence the festival following the Bandmasters introductions.

Bandmaster Neil Smith, who is also Territorial Music  Secretary acted as compere, and band contributions included “I’ll Walk with God”, “Cossack Wedding Dance”, and trombone ensemble, “I Will Follow Him”. Bandsman John Docter was the flugel horn soloist in “So Glad”.


Following a devotional period led by the band’s executive officer – Lt. Colonel Ron Strickland the festival concluded with the inspirational music of “Songs in Exile”, a stirring account of “Purcell Variations”, and as an “extra” “Stars and Stripes”.
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(Bandsman Brian Cushion 06/10/2009)
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