St Andrew’s Parish Youth Band rocked the foundations of St Andrew’s Church when they performed their concert of Christian Worship Music entitled ‘Shout to the Lord’ on Wednesday 29th October. People from various parishes in the Middlesbrough area descended on Teesville for the band’s new venture.
The six members of the band belted out 12 hymns and Christian worship songs in an hour and a quarter and raised a magnificent £340 for Zöe’s Place Baby Hospice in the process. The hymns and worship songs the band had chosen for the first half were: Shout to the Lord; Be still for the presence of the Lord; All who are thirsty; Bread of Life; Shout to the North; Our God Reigns.
During the interval, Danny Regan, representing the Parish Youth Cabinet, gave a short talk on the work of Zöe’s Place and told how on a visit to the baby hospice during the summer to play for a Christening in the chapel, they found not sadness but a really happy atmosphere, full of laughter, singing and clapping. Danny added that this concert is a direct result of that visit.
The band then continued in the second half with Hungry; Christ be our light; How great is our God; On Eagles wings; Shine Jesus Shine and they topped it all off with their favourite Sing it in the Valleys which had everyone up dancing and clapping. At the end, the band was given a mighty applause and came back for an encore which was a reprise of ‘Shout to the Lord’.
As people were leaving, the big smiles and positive comments told the organisers and the band that the evening had been a huge success and all the hard work that had been put in had been worth it. Some of the comments made by people as they left were:
- ‘That was excellent, I really enjoyed it!’
- ‘We need more of this.’
- ‘They are a real credit to your parish, well done!’
- ‘Are you doing another?’
to which the Parish Youth Leader would only answer ‘watch this space!’