Last weekend I was performing as part of a group called ‘Voices At The Door’ which is normally a six piece a capella group. I say normally as it was six originally with Barry Coope, Jim Boyes, Lester Simpson, Jo Freya, Fi Fraser and Goergina Boyes but Lester left and, whilst Jim Causley will be joining it couldn’t happen this December. So we were a five piece. We sing and Michael Morpurgo (he of ‘War Horse’ fame) reads one of his books and usually an actress is also part of the show reading alongside Michael. We currently do three shows. Well actually there is a forth but I have forgottne it’s name believe it or not and we have only done it once….but the others are ‘On Angel Wings’, ‘Where my Wellies Take Me; and ‘The Best Christmas Present”.
Last weekend it was “The Best Christmas Present” and the actress who reads along side Michael is the extraordinary Virginia McKenna. To say she reads is an understatement as she is an extraordinary actress and that comes through in the way she delivers the bits she reads. Virginia’s most famous role, in her acting life, was as part of a ground breaking film called Born Free and she is still part of the charity set up with that name that rescues animals…most famously in the film, Lions, but not exclusively. Last weekends show was part of a literary festival and, being programmed for 11am, we all needed to be there the night before. So it seemed logical to go out for a meal together. We went to a place in Newcastle called The Kilne and they had set a largish round table up in a back room away from eberyone else. There were the five of us, Virginia and Michael, Clare Morpurgo, married to Michael but is head of the charity ‘Farms for City Children’ and also reads as part of the show ‘Where my Wellies Take Me” (It’s written by Michael but is actually about Clare’s Childhood)..and then some people who looked familiar but who we didn’t know. It turned out we had met them before but we didn’t really ‘know’ them in the real sense and even after our lovely evening I can’t remember everybodies name but I do remember some extraordinary stories. These other people, two women particularly, had known Michael for a long time and had their own charities. One headed a charity called ‘Seven Stories” and was about getting access to books for all children. Another was a woman called Sarah who set up schools for children in Afganistan. She’d gone there orginally as a medic but had felt impelled to improve the access to education for all children but in particular for girls. The charity successfully set up hundreds of these schools and their relative success depended on the type of Taliban in the area and the willingness of the elders in the community to co-operate. I asked Sarah’s husband, who was sat next to me, how difficult it was to make sure the girls were included. He said that the Taliban were many different groups and not the same everywhere, with different values etc etc and that many of them were trying to repair some of the bad image they now had. As part of that some Taliban felt that if the school had a six foot wall around it, they were not too concerned about what went on within those walls. Pretty much ‘what you can’t see doesn’t offend’. How amazing is that? The charity has been running for eighteen years and now have some of the girls and boys they taught teaching in those schools and taking on other roles. The charity have reached the point where they want to step back and the Afghan government want to carry on the work so it is being handed over. An amazing example of creating a project that becomes sustainable in it’s own right in the end. Of course there are no guarantees what the future may bring but I felt incredibly inspired by the passion that saw this woman dive into a difficult territory and create something that was so worthwhile that the people want to and have the skills too carry it on for themselves.
Another conversation came form Virgina talking about the Born Free charity and the film. She said that when they were filming someone had insisted they should use captive Lions as that would be safer. She said it turned out to be the absolute opposite. The captive lions were frustrated animals who were not content and consequently unreliable in temperament and dangerous. They filmed in the end with wild Lions of all ages and sizes and everything was fine.
Virgina’s main point was that all captivity of animals is unneccesary and cruel. One time they were trying to buy a baby elephant from a zoo because it was so upsetting to see him there especially as elephants are such family orientated animals. They wanted to take him to a sanctuary with other lone elephants that were bonding and being helped back to the wild. The zoo said they would only let him go if the charity bought the zoo another baby elephant to replace him. They couldn’t face the idea of dragging another baby elephant away from it’s family groupimg and so they had to walk away. They kept an eye out for him and were horrified to hear that the zoo had, eventually, decided to move the elephant on one occasion. They put him in a crate that was so small he couldn’t move at all and they left him there for so long one of his knees collapsed and broke, under his own weight, and so they shot him…or in Virginia’s words..they murdered him.
It is such a privilege to hear people talk truthfully about things they feel passionately about and these people aren’t just thinkers but doers. Whilst you and I might totally applaud what they do most of us would not put ourselves in the positions they have i.e. in potentially personally dangerous situations. We might talk, we might give money but they do……they actually put their bodies where their mouths are…and what a privilege to be in their company and hear them talk.
The show the following morning was lovely but one of the reasons I am writing this blog is that life as a musician isn’t just about the music. I feel so lucky to meet the people I do, from all walks of life and cultures, to learn about their lives and continue learning, generally, about mans humanity and inhumanity to man and beast through real stories. Music feeds my soul but so do nights like that. Much food for thought.
Jo Freya’s Musings 