Ashfordton Place

The river

Highlights of the week!

Well, this has definitely been an absolutely FANTASTIC week! So much has happened!

Firstly... the BIGGEST NEWS ... I auditioned to get into the Questor's theatre in Ealing, and I GOT IN!!!! WOOHOO! It is a big amateur theatre with about 2000 members of which at least 200 are acting members. I really didn't expect to be up to their standard (in fact it was a bit of a cheek that I even auditioned), but I thought it was worth a try, and I got in! Still can hardly believe it. About 8 of us auditioned on Monday night... and all of them were either at Drama school or already involved in other companies ("well, last season I did Macbeth"..."oh really, did you see our production of Lysistrata?..." Need I say I felt a bit intimidated!) It turned out to be a very long evening, but I will never forget the moment and the look on the director's face when at long last, at about 10:30pm in the bar he said, "Well, congratulations, you're in!" Walked home on clouds! Only three of us got in, and we were ecstatic! Now I will be able to get parts in plays - they put on about 20 a year. The standard is about the same as that of the main productions in The Fringe at Grahamstown Festival . So that was MOST DEFINITELY the most satisfying feeling I have had in YEARS. :) My pieces were "Her Big Chance" from Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" and a scene from Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart".

Another great thing in recent events was a trip down to Battle, in East Sussex, for the church camp. About 250 of us! Lots of families and students and all sorts! The place was absolutely stunning - this old old mansion with lots of lodges all about it, set smack in the middle of beautiful rolling English countryside with woods, hills, fields, cows, sheep, rivers, ducks and a stunning river winding along the front of the ornate gardens with a beautiful bridge! Oh I was in my element! The weekend was stunning - so restful and really intimate with God. He was drawing us all deeper and closer to him...what a lovely change from "pull up your socks and get deeper" to "come close to me, rest and go deeper". Also spoke LOTS to me about purpose and destiny...timely considering my audition was on Monday. In breaks I was frantically practising my pieces and performing them for captive friends (hehe). It was quite funny - we wanted to have communion along the river on Sunday, but there was so much bird-poo on the grass we had to relocate! Needless to say Caleb Robb wasn't perturbed at all - kept going straight to the best bits!

So I am happy and content, excited about life, and definitely looking forward to a break from teaching. Today was the last day of term! Yay! Going to be doing office jobs and temping work now...draining but at least not emotionally exhausting.

Reading the most amazing book - "Light Force" by Brother Andrew (my hero of "God's Smuggler") all about the Middle East. It is absolutely LIFE-CHANGING and CHALLENGING. I have been reading and researching more and more - all books, articles and newspapers about the Middle East I can find! I will have something to say if anyone asks me about the conflict! Would actually relish a good satisfying argument with someone...so please write and ask me questions or give me your thoughts! teehee :)