Dr. Eric Conway writes:
Day 8 was the day when the choir would sing a concert in Windsor Castle, the summer home of the royal family. After the concert at Windsor, we would sing an outdoor concert at the Battersea Power Station.
We left Bristol, England for Windsor Castle which was about a three-hour drive. Everyone was especially excited about this concert, because Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel is where Prince Harry and Meghan were married approximately year ago, which captivated the entire world, but especially the United States! It has always been my dream to have the Morgan State University Choir sing for royalty! When the Queen is in the castle, the royal family’s flag is raised. Unfortunately, it was not raised on the day we sang at the castle. We still were pleased enough, just knowing we were singing where the royal couple was wed.
We arrived early enough for the group to tour the castle prior to the concert. Getting into the castle, we had to endure similar examination as going through airport security, making sure we did not have anything that could harm the castle or its inhabitants. This day was like every day at the castle, with tens of thousands of persons on hand to tour the royal apartments. We discovered, photography of any type was not allowed once inside of the Royal apartments. Once again, we were disappointed that we could not document our afternoon a cappella concert in St. George’s Chapel. Throughout our time there, castle employees spent their time asking tourists who attempted to take photos to stop.
The choir had to be vetted before singing in the castle. Our program had to be approved ahead of time by the castle staff. We were to sing a 40-50 minute program totally a cappella. They sent us to a holding room prior to the concert in the “dungeon”. Typically when you think of a dungeon, you think of a cold and damp area, but our space was quite nice, but in the basement as expected. Having said the above, a few among the group were stealth enough to take a few photos during the tour and our concert. See attached the snapshots and the bootleg video captured from our castle visit.
After our 1:10 PM Castle a cappella concert, with several hundred on hand to see us sing, we had an hour drive to our next concert at the Battersea Power Station. The original Battersea Power Station was demolished, with only remnants of the original structure now showing. After eight billion dollars, the power plant was in the process of being converted to a high-end business park. We gave a forty-minute concert outdoors to an appreciative audience. We were concerned with the cool temperature which was about 58 degrees F. but once we began singing, no one thought about the temperature! The presenters gave the entire group a Battersea Power Station keyring as a gift.
After the concert we traveled to our last hotel of the tour, the Doubletree Docklands hotel, in a district that was heavily bombed during the World War II. The docklands was literally a land of docks were many supplies were distributed all over United Kingdom during the war. The Germans repeatedly bombed this area. As a result everything seen had to be rebuilt, since 1945. This fine hotel had a buffet dinner waiting for us.
We had a full day, but very satisfying, in that we were in London, England, one of the greatest cities of the world and sang in the royal chapel in Windsor Castle. See attached photos from the day.
EC
Windsor Castle footage:
Wings over Jordan Spiritual Excerpts from Windsor Castle:
I'll Stand at Windsor Castle:
Aftermath of Battersea Power Station Concert:
Excerpts from Battersea Power Station Outdoor Concert:
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