Every summer, the St. Mungo Singers have a day away before breaking up for the holidays. This year, it was a day at the seaside – North Berwick to be more precise.
The Bass Rock
First thing on Saturday 13 June, we loaded up a bus and headed for the East (of Scotland!). The plan was to spend most of the day in North Berwick and then head for Dunbar where Mgr. Stephen Robson would be waiting to welcome us to the Vigil Mass at Our Lady of the Waves.
The weather was a little uncertain as we left and there was some trepidation that if the rain came, choir members might find time passing too slowly. Not a bit of it! Once we arrived, the party scattered in every direction, some to the shops, others for a cuppa in the Seabird Centre or one of the cafes and restaurants, others for an initial checkout of what the seafront had to offer.
Some of the residents of the Bass Rock
Some enthusiasts booked for a trip round the Bass Rock on the “Sula”, a local boat. They were stunned to realise that what they had thought were
either flowers or droppings on the rock were in fact birds, thousands of them occupying every nook and cranny on the rock and swirling about it in numbers so great it was a wonder there weren’t midair collisions. It was even more of a wonder that only one person on the boat got splattered by a present from one of the airborne birds. The sight gave a whole new meaning to high-rise living.
Some energetic people went walking along the seafront, enjoying the fresh air, while others tried a round of min-golf before recovering their strength in the nearest restaurant. A walk down the main shopping street suggested that every shop in town was being checked out too!
At Our Lady of the Waves
In due course everyone piled back on the bus for the short trip to Dunbar where we were made very welcome by Mgr. Robson and his congregation. The church acoustic was great and the experience of joining in their Mass was a beautiful one. As it was the Vigil of Corpus Christi, the choir sang “Ecce Panis Angelorum” before the Mass began. In his homily, Mgr. Robson reminded us that we can never exhaust the mysteries of what the Mass is, and introduced us to two prayers of St. Thomas Aquinas relating to the Eucharist.
Concelebrants Mgrs. Robson and Fitzpatrick, cantor Ellen McLeod
After the Mass, it was time to leave for Glasgow, after thanking Mgr. Robson and his congregation for the warmth of their hospitality. With their usual foresight, the choir had deputed someone to order fish and/or chips from the local chippy, to be ready for them at the end of the service – just to make sure they didn’t get too hungry on the journey back.
It has been a very busy year for us and after the Diaconate Ordinations on 28 June, the choir will be having a well-deserved rest until mid-August. New members are always welcome – check the St. Mungo Music website for our start date.
