Hi List . . .
 
I was just thinking about Charlie Lester and wondering how the accompaniment
to SILENT NIGHT went.
 
Here in Llay we welcomed the children from the local nursery school to The
Parish Church of St Martin of Tours for their Christmas Concert (because
their hall is being re-built).
 
The concert took the form of a presentation in music and drama about a mouse
called Barney who lived in a Church. All his relatives came to visit at
Harvest, and ate him out of house and home. (Of course, visitors to one's
home are like fish . . . they go off after three days)
 
As it got nearer to Christmas poor Barney became hungrier and hungrier until
he was starving (!) at which point he discovered the PIPE ORGAN (Hooray!!!)
And he had the most lovely feast of leather and organ pipes . . . (if it were
our Church they would have gone down like lead!)
 
When Mr Gruber (harumpphhh) the organist came along the night before
Christmas Eve and tried the organ it wouldn't work except for some bleating
noises (sound effects at this point were provided by Mrs Williams the music
teacher on the HOLY VICAR OF LLAY's CASIO KEYBOARD (Hooray!!!) (It is the top
of the range model my dears) Mr Gruber the organist rushed to the minister (I
am assuming that the said minister was a Lutheran Pastor, but will stand
corrected) - actually the head teacher of the school is a Scottish
Presbyterian and betrayed that fact with the use of the word "Minister"  -
and said in dramatic tones "Oh no!! The organ is ruined!! We shall have to
cancel Christmas!!" To which the said Scottish Presbyterian Lutheran
 MinisterPastor came out with a classic one liner "Isn't that a little bit
drastic?"
 
(Mouse goes on LUTHERAN GUILT TRIP - "Oh no . . . I did not mean to ruin
Christmas . . . squeak squeak!!)  As we would say in WELSH (The Language of
Paradise My Dears) . . . "Wel, Dyma Drist"     (meaning "Well, how sad").
 
Then the MinisterPastor's wife suggested that they should write a carol which
did not need an organ . . . Mr Gruber and the Minister did a Vulcan mind meld
(?) and out popped Silent Night - which was then sung by the whole school in
DULCET TONES to the MELODIOUS and MELLIFLUOUS accompaniment of the CASIO PIPE
ORGAN (sound #18).
 
(Mouse on LUTHERAN GUILT TRIP is UTTERLY VINDICATED - showing that every
silver lining has its cloud)
 
Throughout the whole proceedings the Llay BOGGIS pipe organ stood silent -
perhaps wondering it the Vicar may one day feed it to the mice . . .
 
Yesterday in the Village Shop a small girl asked me if I liked Barney the
mouse. Having a terrible memory for recent detail I almost overloaded my
brain circuits to think what on earth she was talking about . . . but I
remembered just in time!
 
Ah my dears . . . these are balmy days, one is bound to say.  Now I must sign
off because the trusty VOLVO has its MOT test just now . . . and then there
is the question of a funeral to conduct . . .  and will the Volvo pass its
MOT . . .  and has any of the above got anything to do with the PIPORG-L list
. . . or will the HV of LL receive a sharp rebuke from "b" at the top . . .
and will the Volvo pass its MOT . . . Ah yes . . . Balmy Days . . .
 
Q