We have just returned from our first, and very successful, tour. In May 2005 Kor-I-Nord, a choir from Aarhus in Denmark came to Lowestoft, and when they went home, they left a standing invitation for Pakefield Singers to come to Aarhus.
Well, after a lot of planning and even more fundraising, we went. And what a time we had! Mind you getting up at 5am to catch a bus at 6am was a bit of a shock, but we all safely got to Stansted Airport in time, thanks to Belle Coaches.
We left Stanstead at 11 and arrived in Aarhus after a very good flight over a very blue North Sea. Members of Kor-I-Nord met us with a coach, and we arrived in the middle of Aarhus by just after 3. Most of us stayed at the Cab Inn, which was just by Aarhus Cathedral, but a few stayed with Kor-I-Nord hosts or friends.
After a quick splash and tidy up we were off to our first rehearsal, starting at 4.45! This was at an adult training centre at Ankersgade 21 (literally translated as ‘Anchor Street’, and yes the number does go at the end in Denmark). This is Kor-I-Nord’s rehearsal venue. After our rehearsal, we were regaled with a real slap up smorgasbord and the members of Kor-I-Nord made us most welcome. After we had eaten and drunk our fill, we were taught Danish dancing! This was great fun, and in return we taught them “This Old Man”!
The next day, being Whit Sunday, we had our first concert. Most of us walked from the hotel to a new art gallery/museum called ARoS Aarhus Kunsmuseum, at Aros Allee 21. This is a massive building 170 feet square and over 120 feet high built in 2004 and houses Danish art from the last 300 years. You would think that a building that size would seem out of place, but it was really stunning. Inside, it is sliced through by a curved “museum street”, to which the public has access without admission charge. It was in this area where we had a short rehearsal and then our concert at 12 midday. There was lots of interest and we even had a Danish television camera crew! We were given free passes to the museum and most of us had a good look round. The exhibits were pretty fantastic, the piece de resistance being a squatting boy 60 feet high! He looked so real!
After lunch we moved onto our next singing venue, which was the Immanuelleskirke, a Baptist Church at Hedemannsgade 1. This was a red brick building that was built between March and September 1912. We arrived at 2.30 for a short rehearsal before our second concert of the day at 4pm! Then most of us walked about the town. One big difference with the UK - very few shops open at all on Sunday or Monday when we were there! That evening, we all had a variety of interesting meals, both inside and out.
The first part of Whit Monday was spent sightseeing, with many of us going to ‘Den Gamle By’ – which is literally translated as ‘The Old Town’. Now you know why so many towns in parts of England that were ruled by the Danes before the Norman Conquest end in ‘by’. This was a collection of some 100 old buildings from all over Denmark that had been dismantled and then rebuilt later in a part of Aarhus that was next to the Botanical Gardens. This started in 1910 and even carried on during World War Two. Sometimes there was quite a gap between the buildings being dismantled, stored in pieces and then reassembled. In fact one building was taken apart in 1946 and they didn’t start to put it together again until 1998, and its not finished yet! Not a bad bit of storage! Now you know why people keep things – just in case they might be able to use them again!
We then made our way to St Lukas Church. This is an Evangelical Lutheran Church (the established church of Denmark) situated on Ingerslevs Boulevard, the main thoroughfare in a massive housing estate built between 1918 and the 1930s. Whereas many people live in individual houses in the UK, most people in Aarhus live in blocks of flats, many of them 4 or 5 storeys high. These were all brick built – no concrete monstrosities here! The church is an interesting stone clad building, built 1921-26. However, inside it was just breathtaking. It is an immensely tall light building with wonderful acoustics.
We were here for a joint concert with Kor-I-Nord. We arrived at 2.30 to rehearse and the concert started at 4pm. Kor-I-Nord did the first half and we did the second, and the concert finished off with a joint rendition of “This Old Man” – tremendous!
Danish hospitality continued with them providing a meal and wonderful conversation before our return to England. We finally had to leave Aarhus Airport at 1045 Danish time, and were back at Stanstead by 1130. Passport control took about an hour, as the entire world seemed to have arrived at the same time! Finally, Belle Coaches brought us home, arriving in Pakefield after 2 in the morning. And some of us were back at work by 8, but no matter - the trip and all our enjoyable experiences made up for that!
Apart from saying how good the tour was, the commonest comment is “when do we tour again?”!