As some of you might know my daughters go to a church school. It’s the school my brothers went to, the school my Mum taught at, and the school attached to the church in which I was confirmed and married. (Confirmed as a Catholic, not, you know as a human being, or a pigeon or anything.)
As some of you may also know, I am not a ‘practising’ Catholic, as in , I don’t attend church regularly. There is a lot about the Catholic church I disagree with, but I have kept a certain relationship with a ‘God’, in whatever form he/she/it may be. It’s not always a comfortable relationship. I have many questions and at times am not sure whether I believe or not, but memories of my Gran keep me holding on to a little bit of something, because then I might see her again one day.
SO why am I telling you this?
Well, at Miss E and Miss M’s school there is school mass every week and parents can attend. The kids do the readings, the thank you prayers, the sorry prayers, and they sing so brilliantly that whatever my mood I find myself calm and happy and uplifted by the end. I suppose I’m saying it feels like a really happy place for my kids to be.
When I was younger I also attended Catholic schools and to be honest the songs we used to sing were generally fairly dismal affairs. Durges, sung down in the depths of the throat that tended to make small girls look like chinless old ladies when they sang them. I used to have this image in my head of a stern faced nun sat at an ancient piano lumbering away at the keys in a windowless room coated in dust and cobwebs writing her songs to torture the masses. She probably never smiled and lived on a diet of dry bread and piety.
But, at my kids’ school they pick beautiful hopeful and fun hymns that you can just tell the kids love. It’s fantastic to hear, and today Miss E was singing some of them in a small show outside our Town Hall with two other schools. It was really great to see, but what was even better was that as myself, my Mum, several other parents and of course their teacher walked the twenty four 8-11 year olds back through the town centre and up to school, almost as one the children began to sing. There was no prompting, no suggestion, they just burst into song as they marched in twos, holding hands, smiling and occasionally breaking into little dances.
At first a few of the older ones at the back were a little shy, but as our group were met by smile after smile, they relaxed and for the whole of the 15 minute journey they serenaded the folks of Mansfield. It was just the best thing. People from every walk of life, harried parents with wailing kids, business people in smart suits having a quick smoke outside their offices, even teenagers hanging outside MacDonalds with tight jeans, trainers and faces like f*ck off, couldn’t seem to help but grin. Dapper old gents and soft old ladies in long woollen coats nodded and waved. Buskers took a moments pause. The people in the burger van did a little dance, and our kids just sang.
Oh my Bob it was weird but good, and I felt so so proud to be with these happy little monkeys who didn’t care whether people might laugh at them, but who just felt like singing.
![[MFM's mummy bloggers you really should read]](http://www.madeformums.com/news/images/mummybloggerlogo.jpg)
October 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Flipping lovely!
Makes you realise the world can be a great place.
I feel all happy after reading that.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Talk about somethig to inspire warm fuzzy feelings! And what a great way to teach those kids how to share happiness with the whole world.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Inspiring!
Cheering and inspiring.
The innocence of children…
October 8th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
PS Love the way the posts are set out now. Fabulous!
October 8th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
life is good! ♥
October 8th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I know exactly what you mean!!!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Life is full of these little moments, which come from nowhere, which make the whole shebang worth it. What a lovely morning!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:48 am
But how can you not smile at something like that?
Well, okay, I might scowl inwardly if they’re all singing off-key, but I wouldn’t dream of letting that show and hurting their feelings. I love the way children can shrug off the mantle of convention and What-Would-The-Neighbors-Think and just sing. Amen.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:25 am
I agree, the atmosphere at that school is quite amazing. The children all feel loved, that’s why they are happy.
You’re not planning to break into song walking around Mansfield are you, Jo? Please do warn me if you plan to at any point.
October 9th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Heavenly!
October 9th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Singing is so good for the soul.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am
The boy is at a faith school, it was his Harvest festival last week, which while great is two hours of my life I’ll never see again. And he’s all ‘god made everything’, to which I reply ‘if he made the Sony Ericsson C905, he needs to have a serious word with himself’. Nothing like adding to the confusion.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am
That exact thing happened to me when I took Gilda and her friend to the grocery, and the two of them sang their song – LOUDLY – all throughout the store. I was pretty embarrassed, but everyone else seemed to like it. Also, they go to Catholic school, too. What’re they teaching these kids these days?!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Looking forward to your breaking into song next week Jo!
October 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
H! Nothing like a little impromptu singing!
I was raised Catholic as well, but no longer practice… although I went to public schools because my parents thought the ones in my town would give me a better education than the Catholic ones.
And I know what you mean about the traditional hymns… when I was a kid I preferred the “folk mass” which involved tons of music with a more popular/folksy angle—very tune-filled and fun. And they used a guitar instead of the organ. One of my favorite songs was called “Shout From the Highest Mountain”—very rousing!
October 9th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Awwwww, how lovely! I have great memories of singing and improvising lyrics to hymns at school! Nice post.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I remember being a kid and liking nothing better than singing in a big group and the wonderful loud joyous noise that we made. That really makes you feel happy.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Hi Jo,
(hahaha, “not confirmed as a pigeon.”
This is cool that the school has so many family memories for you and you had the pleasure of making new ones while remembering. Poignant and open. Enjoyed this.
(Yes, I changed my blog again, hopefully for the last time.)
October 20th, 2009 at 9:52 am
That is the sweetest! Music is magic