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Hello everyone,

Welcome to my August update.

At the start of June I spent a very relaxing few days in Italy at Palazzola on Lake Albano, south of Rome. It was very very tranquil and peaceful, and I came home very rested. We went to the General Audience at St Peter's with Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday and were right by the barrier he passed in the Popemobile. We got some great photos and videos

For the last couple of weeks in July I was the organist for the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes. The pilgrimage was a great success, full of prayer, praise and laughter. I played many different instruments ranging from a harmonium that I had to pump through to the thrilling four manual organ in the underground basilica. If you'd like to see some photos and a video of me playing this behemoth please drop me an email and I'll try to work out how to upload them!

Now I'm back home and my diary is starting to fill up once more, although I have a few days away with friends coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm also very happy that St Mary's Primary School wants me back for another year of teaching singing and liturgical music.

On my last Thursday at St. Mary's before I went to Lourdes, I had a Meet the Organ Day in the school hall. Thanks to my wonderful friends at Allen Organs UK, I was able to have a new digital organ for the day to introduce the instrument to the school pupils (and teachers!). I took along a large collection of pipes (thanks to Andrew Stevens) that the children could look at and blow. I had each year in turn for about 40 minutes and we all had great fun. Some of the kids had a play, even if they had no keyboard experience. Unless children go to church they won't come across the organ, and I'm very keen on training the next generation of organists. Being able to take an instrument into a school is a real game changer, and it costs the school NOTHING! Allen Organs UK provide the organ free of charge, and I don't charge for my time. If you know of a school that might be interested in this event, please send me an email and I'll see what can be done.

At the start of the year I branched out into the world of mobile live-streaming. I've streamed a number of services including a few where I have streamed and played...what a niche market the Catholic Streaming Singing Organist is!

You'll find a new page on this site all about my live-streaming.

That's it for now. Enjoy your summer, and have a good break if you're going away Take care and be good!

Best wishes,

Richard