Mary Our Mother
Background to the Recording . . .
Mary Our Mother
was our second recording and the first recorded live in the studio.
Towards the end of 1993 our first Marian hymn, “The Pieta”, was completed. The background story so touched and inspired Alison (known as the “other” Alison) that she had gone home and written her own hymn wording, titled “Mary Our Mother”.
This was set to music and became the title song and inspiration for our Walsingham cassette recording.
In the summer of 1994, after a visit to Walsingham, we decided to put together our growing collection of Marian hymns and dedicate them as a recording to Our Lady of Walsingham. After obtaining permission from Fr Allan Williams, who was then the priest in charge at the Catholic Shrine, we were able to use the Shrine logo and references, and so started to rehearse and prepare.
It was decided that the hymns and mass settings on the recording would be presented as a day’s pilgrimage, interspersed with descriptive instrumental passages linking the journey of a pilgrimage day. From “Walsingham Morning”, along “The Holy Mile”
and concluding with “Walsingham Evening”, the singers gave voice in between to our hymns and mass settings. Fr John guided listeners through the day, recording introductions to each section that invited those listening to be part of the prayer and share in our pilgrimage.
The Singers
On Saturday 3rd September, 1994, the singers and musicians involved in the recording made their own pilgrimage to Walsingham in preparation for the recording day. The following weekend the clavinova (our main accompaniment instrument) was taken over to the studio in nearby Syston and later on the Saturday the children singing the “Angelus”
hymn came to put down their track.
Early on the Sunday (11th September) the choir met for a short rehearsal in the small Sacred Heart church
in Rothley before moving on to the White House Sound Recording
studio in Syston to record their tracks. It was an intense day, recording all 12 tracks live, with only a couple of breaks for drinks and packed lunches.
There are many memories of the recording day, for each person involved, but two in particular stood out from the rest: the very poignant singing of “Mary’s Lullaby”
by Susan and a very moving performance of “The Pieta”
in memory of Tom, to whom the hymn had been dedicated (these are two of the tracks that have since been transferred to the CD Our Songs Gave Praise).
The Presentation
The recording was released on 7th October, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and it was presented, as was our first cassette, with a folder containing all the wording and acknowledgements.
The world of printing was changing and, whereas a large scanner was used to recreate Matthew’s painting for the “Our Songs Give Praise”
presentation, it was becoming possible to scan direct to a computer and produce the printing artwork through a digital process. Lorraine had painted a watercolour of Our Lady as in a stained glass window (pictured) and this was transferred and reworked on the computer to produce the image used for the folder and cassette insert of this new recording.
Developments
MARY’S TEAR
and the
"Mary through the Seasons" stationery series
On reworking the image Lorraine discovered that she had, subconsciously, painted Mary as held in the shape of a tear - and this she emphasised in the colouring of the computer image.
Being able to colour the image on the computer inspired Lorraine to experiment with a variety of colour combinations, which in turn inspired a series of stationery we called “Mary through the Seasons” ~ spring (green), summer (red), autumn (brown) and winter (blue).
Lorraine had also been the first person to sing the hymn “O Child” - for her goddaughter, Ruth, on her baptism day - and the appropriate verse words of that hymn (spring, summer, autumn, winter) were used on the individual season’s cards.
"Let the Children Live."
Another development of this recording was the beginning of our supporting the work of Father Peter Walters for “Let the Children Live”. When we made our recording he had just begun this charity supporting the street children of Medellín, Colombia, from his base in Walsingham, and asked to sell the cassettes to help with his own fundraising (we donated at cost and he sold, keeping the profits for his charity). This support of LTCL was to see fruition in our composing the charity's song ¡Vivan los niños!
and later producing a fundraising CD for the charity.
