About being made redundant from 'the hymns'

Yes, it's finally happened the axe has fallen; I've had the push!!

To come to the end of the story at the beginning, these were the events of my last week as the parish volunteer for hymn singing at the weekly school Mass.

On Monday afternoon, I had the last practice with years 3 to 6. As the hall door was opened, there were all the children - and the staff - all sitting ready to go; as the lovely deputy said, "A first"!! They clapped and cheered till I had to cover my ears. They presented me with the most beautiful bunch of flowers and a card with lovely messages from the staff. We had a great practice and last sing in the hall.

On Tuesday morning, I arranged to have a 'last sing' with the little ones, reception to year 2, so I could practice "Love is something if you give it away" and "If I were a butterfly", their 'fave raves', as I like to call them, and they gave me a nice clap at the end.

On Thursday afternoon, we had the end of school (and the end of Mrs Convey's role) Mass.
We sang some of mine and their 'fave raves'.

1. Lord the light of your life
2. You will go out with joy (especially for Y6)
3. My Jesus, my Saviour
4. One more step along the road (also for Y6)

To give Father his due, he actually joined in with the first hymn, definitely not one of his favourites, which I appreciated a lot. Then, as he left the altar (and escaped into the sacristy), having given me a very nice 'thank you' on behalf of the parish, we sang the little ones' hymns (again certainly not on his 'fave raves list'!) and, of course, all the older children joined in because they love them too.

I felt such a sense of joy, privilege and delight at having had the marvellous opportunity to share my love of God, music and hymns with hundreds of children over the last nearly 21 years and no sense of sadness whatsoever as I was definitely coming towards my 'past my sell-by date and, best of all, the children are to have a 'proper' music teacher who is also a practising Catholic so will know the hymns we know. plus many more, I'm sure.

My prayer is that the children will remember the hymns and the faith and love which lie behind them.
God bless them always, and the lovely staff of course.