The EASTER Missionary Choir

Our wonderful EASTER CHOIR.

This map is to help you orient our travels with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionary choir these last 10 days. We met in EDINBURGH at the mission home, with the 25 choir members on Monday, March 23rd.  At 7pm we began to practice our Easter Concert until Wednesday at noon. Then we were off to ABERDEEN. Look for the airplane on the eastern coast, where we performed at our Stake Center.

Next we traveled to DUNDEE, travel south towards Edinburgh on the coast where we performed at the Steeple Church which is actually 3 churches molded into one in the middle of a shopping center. The steeple dates to the 15th century and is one of only 16 bell ringing towers in Scotland. The rest of the building dates from the 19th century.

Steeple Church

This is inside the Steeple Church.

Later in the evening we sang at the Dundee Stake Center.

The next morning we were off to Stirling Castle in STIRLING and the Chapel Royal to share our love of the Savior.

Stirling Castle

This is the Chapel Royal where we sang our songs acapella.

When Mary Queen of Scots was a young girl she was sheltered here at the castle from the army of the English King Henry VIII. She was to marry the kings first son, Henry.

In 1594 a banquet was held in the Great Hall to celebrate the baptism of James VI's first son Henry. When fish was served, it was served from a mechanical ship.

Later that evening we traveled to Paisley Stake Center.

After the concert we traveled to GLASGOW to spend the night and then to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and museum to sing on Saturday.

Kelvingrove Museum

This museum initially opened 1901. It was refurbished in 2001 and now houses one of the greatest art collections in Europe.

Off to the Glasgow Stake Center and then home to EDINBURGH and the Mission Home for the night. We also had to turn our clocks FORWARD. 

SUNDAY was a wonderful experience of singing at Rosslyn Chapel. 

This chapel was constructed in 1456 founded as a Catholic Collegiate Church initially.

Our evening performance was in Edinburgh Stake Center. We have now sung in all the 5 stake centers in Scotland. Our choir consisted of 10 sister missionaries and 15 elders. They were from many different states in the United States as well as Czechoslovakia, Wales, England, and Canada. They ranged in age from 18-24.


Edinburgh Castle

The Great Hall where we sang.

This is one of 2 original hammer and beam ceilings in Scotland. It was built in 1511.  James IV commissioned this hall to be built but was killed in 1513. Oliver Cromwell stormed the castle and took it over in 1650. In 1737 he made this room in to 3 stories and it was used as a barracks for 312 men until 1790, then was converted to a hospital until 1887.

We traveled to St. Giles Cathedral on Tuesday for our final performance. 

This cathedral was built in the Gothic Midieval  time and was a place of worship for the Protestants. St. Giles is the patron saint of Edinburgh. The cathedral is on the Royal Mile which connects Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace.

You can't describe the beauty of the cathedral. A perfect ending to a perfect way to prepare for Easter.

Faslane Submarine Base

Dwayne spent much of the 1980-90's assisting the UK. He was design engineer for Trident Submarine simulators.
He would travel to Scotland 2-3 times a year to assist as needed. He couldn't get us on base today though.

Looking across the road from the B&B.

Where Dwayne and Mei Yen sometimes stayed. We had a nice lunch here.

Beautiful old church in Helenburgh.

Overlooking the base from on top of the hill.

Bannockburn

Our Battle Master-NED at Bannockburn

Brownings, Ned and Ladles-all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dressing the King of England in shield so you know who is on your side, shield, protective head dress and gauntlets.

Typical English battle garb.

Typical Scottish battle dress. The metal hat on the right you may remember from WWII. They could tip the hat over, fill it with water from the stream and then put it in the fire to make it clean.

Dress of the normal foot soldier.

They would wear a hat that had a long tail and fall over the back to keep the rain off their over clothes.

We wore 3-D glasses and stood side by side mid evil warriors and knights to understand the strategies.
Then we got to plan the battles and carry forth  the king's plans. In the end Scotland won even though they were outnumbered 2 to 1. English had 20,000 men vs 10,000 Scots. In the battle played here everyday for the last year, the English win 50% of the time.

Scene at Bannokburn where the battle was fought.

The English King Edward II was taken to Stirling Castle when the battle was being lost. The English held the castle and told him to keep going so he wouldn't be captured. He was able to escape on a ship after he got to Linlithgow.

Robert the Bruce Statue
Led the Scots to victory!

A Ride on the FALKIRK WHEEL

If we would have known how fun it was to ride the boat to the top, we would have done it months ago.

This is a step by step sequence of getting in to the ONLY rotating wheel in the WORLD.

It brings the boats from the Forth Clyde Canal up to the Union Canal which is a distance of 70 feet.

It is as tall as 8 double decker buses.

It took 1,000 construction workers to build it.

It can carry loads as heavy as 100 elephants.

It has 14,868 bolts.

It is 35 meters wide.

It was not built as a tourist attraction.

The trip takes 50 minutes to complete, going up and back.

If you wanted to travel on the canal from Falkirk to Edinburgh it would take 12 hours to complete.

As the top one goes down the Union Canal, the bottom boat arrives on the Forth Clyde.

This is the visitors center.

Views at the top.

Floating on the Union at the top.

View at the top.

Coming in to the wheel on top of the Union Canal.

The black gate about 1/4th down on the picture is five tons. It can hold back a 50 ton boat. Ours is only 30 tons. It made me feel better knowing that because it is the edge and down we went very gently. A Great sunny DAY.