On the weekend of June 6-7, the Canadian Staff Band visited the town of Simcoe to help celebrate The Salvation Army’s 125th anniversary in this rural Ontario community. Guest leaders were General and Mrs. Bramwell H. Tillsley (Rtd).

 

A full congregation, including many visitors from outlying areas, took in our Saturday evening concert. The progam featured a wide variety of items from the band’s current repertoire, including soloists Major Kevin Metcalf (Pleasure in His Service), Steve Pavey (Welsh Fantasy), Cameron Rawlins (Were It Not For Grace) and Leigh Rowney (Joyous Rhythm). Throughout the evening greetings were given by civic dignitaries representing various levels of government, each of whom congratulated the Army for its longstanding service. Just before General Tillsley’s message, Steve Brown presented the flugel horn solo I Surrender All. The band then concluded the program with Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s Vitae Aeternum.

 

Sunday morning saw the band divide into three groups to share with the young people at Sunday school and play at a nursing home and the local hospital. This was followed by morning worship at the corps, in which the band played two selections that had been requested for the weekend: He Can Break Every Fetter (Downie) and Reflections in Nature (Redhead). Following General Tillsley’s message on “Stirring Up the Gift of God That Is Within You” (2 Timothy 1:6), many in the congregation responded to the invitation to kneel or stand by the mercy seat in fresh commitment as we sang the meaningful words “My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine.”

 

For the afternoon musicale, the CSB shared the platform with the Young People’s Band, who marched us in at the beginning and gave an admirable rendition of William Himes’ Muffins Rhapsody with CSB accompaniment. Once again the staff band presented a wide selection of items including solos by Noel Samuels (Flight of the Bumble Bee) and an upbeat arrangement of What a Friend We Have in Jesus sung by Cameron Rawlins.

 

The CSB feels privileged to have shared in this God-glorifying weekend and pray that God will continue to bless the Army’s ministry in Simcoe for many more years to come.