Friday 6^th July

The boys were up and eating breakfast (and sipping their “compulsory Berocca”) at 6:45 and ready to board the bus bound for Pro Arte and the practice venue.  I arrived later after picking up more medication, for what became known as the “First Floor Pharmacy” in the hotel each morning and evening.  The diarrhoea and vomiting continued throughout the 12 days as well as sore throats and sinusitis. Grahamstown Pharmacy, Dischem in Glenfair and Clicks at Brooklyn Mall all benefitted from our choir tour! The boys asked for diarrhoea medication like this: “Ma’am, please may I have ‘the cement’”. When we arrived back at the practice venue I was struck by the charged atmosphere.  The boys realised there was no more time to play with and were taking the rehearsal very seriously – they were practicing their Folklore programme.  Literally we were moved to tears, including Hancadri Spies who was responsible for all our travel arrangements.  The boys went back to the hotel for a two hour rest, shower and mental preparation time.  We were ready to leave for the State theatre at 4pm – stopping only to fetch the supper packs from Dros restaurant along the way.  The bus was silent for the entire trip until we reached the theatre – no talking at all.  We were ushered into the waiting room where we met up with Bernard and Junine Kruger and the Drakies boys who like us were waiting to do their sound check.  St Mary’s girls were also backstage and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces in the nervous atmosphere. The sound check of 15 minutes ran smoothly and then the wait started.  The boys were performing 6^th and that meant a backstage wait of at least 3 hours.  I videoed a song or two of each of the choirs participating in the Scenic Pop category. Our boys performed at 9:10 and presented a show that contained variety of presentation as well as passion and energy.  Thimna launched himself higher than ever before and well done to the boys who caught him! Our choir really can be described as a ‘crowd pleaser’ as they received a standing ovation from the appreciative audience at the end of their 15 minute programme.  The song “sky full of stars” with the torch presentation was met with gasps and delight as the boys flawlessly executed their routine. “We didn’t start the fire” showed that the Kearsney boys are certainly entertainers.  The boys themselves were not sure about their performance but brightened considerable once they viewed the video footage.  Back at the hotel the boys were medicated and sent off to bed – a very late night.  I valiantly tried to update the photographs to Facebook and the blog but lost the battle to fatigue at 1am!