Summer is just around the corner. I am very much looking forward to doing things with my family that I don’t get to do in term-time — wearing shorts, eating Coco Pops, doing roly-polies down hills, foisting our two boys on the in-laws. I think the word ‘foist’ must have been invented with in-laws in mind — it seems to fit perfectly the action of ‘encouraging good relations between grandchildren and grandparents’.
Summer can also feel slightly bitty, especially if holidays are mixed in with helping on a Christian camp, attending weddings or going to the Olympics (I failed in my application for family tickets to the second round of the women’s weight-lifting, so no Olympics for me this century then). All this summer activity means a lot of coming and going through July and August, which is tough for churches musically, as in my experience musicians do more going than coming.
Getting ahead
For this reason, it’s worth getting ahead with planning as much as possible so that we’re confident that there’ll be at least one musician to hold the fort at each church meeting.
