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WELLBEING, FREE LEARNING, PARTNERSHIPS & PUPIL-LED PROJECTS
HENRY FINDLAY (YEAR 8) GIVES A FLAVOUR OF HIS EXPERIENCE OF THE PROJECT
My first experience of Echo Eternal was way back in January 2021, when with around 20 members of my year group, I sang ‘Weep No More’, a song based on a poem by John Keats. Due to the pandemic, this performance could not be attended by live audiences, so a recording was taken of us singing in the Great Hall. However, this year we were lucky enough to take part, live, in the Echo Eternal Horizons Festival, joining pupils from two other schools, one from Birmingham, and one from Liverpool. We numbered around 30 in all, and had our first rehearsal on 19 November. We learned three songs: ‘Shalom’, ‘I will not look away’ and ‘Weep No More’. We also learned movements for each of the songs. There were considerable setbacks during the rehearsal period, with several people, myself included, catching Covid, and then restrictions inside the school meaning that the Year 7 and Year 8 pupils could not practise together. However, on 8 January, we managed to meet with one of the other schools, CORE Education, and we got a feel for how the performance would work. Three weeks later, we found ourselves in Birmingham, full of excitement about the day ahead. This was the day we would perform in front of a live audience; the day we had been preparing ourselves for twice a week over the past three months. The passage had not been smooth, however. Two people had caught Covid the day before, and they had no option but to leave without being able to take part, which was a real shame. The majority of us were fine, however, and so we got ready for the culmination of our efforts.
The day of the performance proved to be very long and tough. We travelled over to the town hall where we would be performing, and spent all day rehearsing, with the dress rehearsal in the afternoon. This was our first chance to see the real thing in its entirety. We were all feeling optimistic about the event to come, later that evening. Dancers from the other schools opened the performance, after which we came onstage to sing ‘Weep no more’. After more dances performed by the other schools, we sang ‘I will not look away’ and ‘Shalom’. And that was it. We were done. Afterwards, some of us were fortunate enough to be introduced to a Holocaust survivor who had been in the audience. It was great talking to him, and he was really happy that we were doing this. We walked back to the hotel, completely exhausted, grabbed our bags, and got on the coach that would take us home. It was around eleven thirty at night when I finally got to bed, exhausted, but feeling very pleased to have taken part. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Birmingham, and would love to work with Echo Eternal in the future, to remember those lost during the Holocaust, to tell the stories of the survivors, and to continue to shine light into the darkness.
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THIS WAS THE DAY WE WOULD PERFORM IN FRONT OF A LIVE AUDIENCE; THE DAY WE HAD BEEN PREPARING OURSELVES FOR TWICE A WEEK OVER THE PAST THREE MONTHS
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