... or the evening with Elle and the Pocket Belles

I spent the week before Easter in Birmingham at the annual meetings of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (#gauk) - aka the Unitarians.  This is four days spent with 300 or so fellow Unitarians attending business meetings, workshops, seminars and presentations, catching up with people I sometimes see only once a year and meeting new people who I can connect with via social media (and hopefully meet again next year).  I was there representing Rochdale Unitarians.

The evenings are taken up by different opportunities to share in community:

The banner from Rochdale Unitarians.

• an anniversary service, in which representatives from each local congregation and local/national groups parade with our banners - this year to a rather jaunty tune which had me trying to jig along whilst carrying a banner far taller than me! 
• a celebration of our congregations and members, which was led this year by the six new ministers who were welcomed onto the Ministerial Roll at the anniversary service - this included Rev Shammy Webster, who joined Rochdale Unitarians as our minister in October 2014;
• a social evening, which this year featured music from Elle & the Pocket Belles, whose music is "a fusion of vintage swing and modern day pop that is sure to get your toes a-tappin' and arms a-flppin'" - and it sure did!  I was first on the dance floor, followed closely by a couple of friends, and then by many others.  It's amazing to see how this style of music - whether it be true vintage or modern day with a '40s feel - gets people up and dancing.  My feet certainly felt it the following day - but it was a fabulous performance by the Elle & the Pocket Belles and I look forward to being able to see them again somewhere, some day.

Elle & the Pocket Belles.

So not quite dancing the days, away - but definitely last Wednesday evening!