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I have been struggling with technology to get this video off my camera so the cute gosling update will have to wait until tomorrow

The church stands next to Palazo Corvaja and dates from the 17th-18th century. The facade, above which is a short bell-tower, is simple and adorned with an 18th-century Baroque door. Above it in a niche, is a sculptured likeness of St Catherine of Alexandria executed in the 18th century by P. Greco. The interior, of modest proportions, is brightly lit and characterized by the usual baroque ornamentation.

At the high altar but also at the side ones, are fine spiral columns.*

The distinctive feature of the building is its foundations, which are laid over the remains of a Hellenistic temple and casily visible from inside the church.*

*From the guidebook – Taormina the Peal of the Ionian Sea

On Saturday evening I had the pleasure of attending a candlelit concert in the Wrekin College’s Chapel. The performance was by; Wrekin College Combined Choirs and Orchestra, The Old Hall School Chapel Choir with Piano and Choral Soloists.*

As we  approached the chapel it was very atmospheric because the outer porch window sills were illuminated with tealights. Once inside the chapel I found it quite delightful, a place I would love to explore and photograph. Every window sill was covered in tealights and as the lights dimmed at the beginning of the performance the sight, sound and atmosphere was quite stunning.

The opening piece was Overture to the Opera Idomeneo by Mozart, this was followed by Howard Blake’s If (A setting of the Poem by Rudyard Kipling); the Chapel choir pupils filed in and lined the walls their hair glowing in the candlelight as they sung the poem.

The first half piano concerto by Mozart to be played by Yuki Kagajo (a music teacher at Wrekin) is going to be fab too! #talent #soldout pic.twitter.com/2N5NLPJZpj

— Wrekin College (@WrekinCol) March 18, 2017

After the pupils had filed out Yuki Kagajo took her place at the piano and treated us to a stunning performance Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major accompanied by the orchestra. After this it was time for the interval and refreshments in the Memorial Hall. This meant a short walk across the campus over one of the roads that divides it, thankfully the wind and rain from earlier in the day had subsided. On arrival we were pleasantly surprised to find that refreshments were fruit juice or wine rather than the expected tea and coffee.

Here’s a sneak preview of our soloists in rehearsal with the orchestra this evening – tickets: https://t.co/f9q6iyzXb5 #DontMissOut pic.twitter.com/4q4v9JKSsV — Wrekin College (@WrekinCol) February 27, 2017

We returned to the chapel for the second half of the concert; Mozart Requiem. This was performed by the combined choirs and orchestra, accompanied by choral soloists: Lucy Gibbs, Ruth Theobald, Themba Mvula and Robert Tilson. The Requiem was performed wonderfully. It is a powerful score and to hear the orchestra and so many voices performing it whilst the candles flickered around us was very moving.

* All photos and videos are from practice sessions posted on the Wrekin College Twitter account

On Saturday, Mr C, my mum and I set off for Droylesden to celebrate my aunt’s 90th birthday. I had recently upgraded our SatNav so that now we have live traffic information and newer maps. This trip was its inaugural outing. I keyed in the destination and off we set on our journey…

Just after Market Drayton the SatNav surprised us by choosing a different route to our usual one, which takes us via Newcastle Under Lyme and Macclesfield to Wilmslow. The suggested route was to head towards Woore and we decided to stick with it and see where it took us. We were taken through Woore, Crewe and right past Jodrell Bank Observatory where the Lovell Telescope looked particularly striking in the sunlight. We rejoined our usual route in Wilmslow and continued into Manchester until we were again diverted from our usual route of Coronation Street roads and houses. Instead we traveled along wide, open roads and past The City of Manchester Stadium.

The new route was a pleasant change and it shaved 15 minutes off our usual journey time. I confess to having momentary doubt when it took us in such a completely different direction than usual. Had I programmed it correctly??

On arrival at my aunt’s, we sat and chatted for a while before heading off for lunch at The Sheldon Arms where we were joined by my brother and his lady. After enjoying a delicious carvery meal we returned to my aunt’s house for a natter. The house was so full of flowers it looked more like a florists shop. At tea time we cut the celebratory birthday cake before it was time for us to retrace our steps and we decided to entrust ourselves to the SatNav once again.

We usually visit on a Sunday so we didn’t give it a thought that there might have been a match on at the stadium… We got caught up in traffic as Manchester City and Toon (Newcastle United) fans were leaving the stadium after the match. The beautiful moon in the sky on our journey back more than made up for the few minutes delay.

Photo from Theatre Severn website

On Sunday evening we went to the Theatre Severn to see Magical Mozart by Candlelight. Prior to the show we ate a pleasant meal in the theatre’s Foundry Restaurant. The show featured sopranos Diana Evgenieva Vasileva and Li Li, baritone David Milner-Pearce and The European Orchestral Baroque Ensemble “SPIRIT”. The music was excellent, the show was good and the artists were obviously having fun. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

I invite you to join me at  Vision & Verb where I share my ‘musical memories‘ with you.

I delved even further back  into my archives to find these musical memories.

I went so far back the photos weren’t even scanned into my computer.  I also had to figure out how to use the scan to file feature on my new printer, not having used it before.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out Whistlestop PhotoHunt.

Anyone who has ever sung communally will connect with the emotions and feelings of this. Enjoy

As per the comment in the video, it appeals to my sense of humour too