Preparatory School
| CRAIGCLOWAN Preparatory School |
Music Tour to Norway | |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| On
Thursday morning the 17th of April, 54 children and 6
staff members left for Edinburgh airport on their first
leg of a trip to Tretten, which is a small village 30
minutes drive north of Lillehammer in Norway. A comfortable flight with Norwegian Airlines brought the party to Oslo Gardemoen airport in blazing sunshine and after a two hours’ drive through beautiful winter scenery they arrived at Aurvoll School, Tretten to be greeted by excited children and parents of the school who had kindly offered to accommodate the pupils of Craigclowan for the three nights they were staying in Norway. Tired, but happy to be in Norway after a whole term’s preparation, all party members went to bed ready for the action of the next day. The following day started for some of the Craigclowan children by walking to school with their hosts, which is probably an experience new to most of our pupils. After a warm up in the school hall, the Senior Choir and Pipers lined up ready to enter the Trettenhallen, which is an enormous sports hall next to the Aurvoll School. The audience was made up of the pupils and teachers of three neighbouring schools and although there were 500 of them they did not fill the hall at all. At the start we were greeted by the headmistress of Aurvoll School and then the Mayoress of Øyer Kommune of which Tretten is a part. After the concert the Pipe Band and the rest of the party walked down to the centre of Tretten village for a performance outside the only shop in the place which drew a crowd of onlookers. On the way back up the hill the matron of the local nursing home ran out and asked in Norwegian if the band would be willing to entertain the old folks for a little while. Of course the pipers obliged and played for some of the residents who had been wheeled out into the square of the complex. The afternoon was spent in Lillehammer where the house museum of Maihaugen, a museum complex on the outskirts of town provided a Grimms fairytale setting to the choristers’ and pipers’ performance in the snow, which was still lying thick on the ground after the heaviest snowfall in Norway for 10 years. The afternoon concluded with the party climbing up the Olympic Ski Jumping Arena for a group picture. Needless to say most party members suffered trembling thighs for a while after the climb! The evening concert took place in Tretten village church, a beautiful 18th century timber building which was the perfect setting for the performance of Bob Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass and other works performed by groups and soloists. The Senior Choir and Pipe Band were given a standing ovation by a capacity crowd and all performers left the venue with their hosts, tired but pleased with the events of the day. After a lie-in (!) on Saturday morning the party assembled at Aurvoll School for a short drive to the Norwegian Road Museum for a concert in the small theatre there. After a rehearsal and lunch in the open air the concert took place to a good sized audience. The Senior Choir was joined by a small children’s choir from the local music school and the Pipe Band did their usual splendid rendition both inside and outside the theatre much to the audience’s delight. From the Road Museum the party went to Peppes Pizza to enjoy the juiciest pizzas imaginable in glorious sunshine and heat on the veranda surrounded by glistening snow on the skiing slopes of Hafjell, one of Norway’s main skiing areas. The late afternoon was spent enjoying a colourful performance by some of the children of Aurvoll skole in Tretten village hall. During one of the intervals the Senior Choir gave a guest performance. Needless to say the Senior Choir rose to the occasion under the rousing leadership of Mrs Grant, who stepped in as the conductor in one of the songs as Mr Ólafsson was negotiating the piano score with borrowed glasses from Mrs Stronach, who was therefore unable to see the pages she was meant to be turning. A particularly tall Norwegian served as a music stand for Mrs Clark, who was playing the violin and our splendid spoon player, Ross Davies managed his part with panache. After this memorable evening’s entertainment all Norwegian and Scottish performers gathered in Aurvoll skole for some hot dogs Norwegian style and some playing around in the playground on the last evening of the tour. At around 10 o’clock everyone was home with their hosts to pack for the returning flight to Scotland. After fond farewells early on Sunday morning the party left for Olso airport and a comfortable flight back to Scotland, and school the following day! I think I can safely speak on everybody’s behalf when I say that the hospitality and kindness of the Norwegian people was outstanding and will not be easily forgotten by all those who went on the tour. What better fitting words to finish with than ‘Tusen Tak!’ Ástmar Ólafsson (Further information on Aurvoll School can be found on Craigclowan’s web-site under ‘Comenius’). |
o0o
|
|||||||
