Dear Cantores,

I write this letter on the plane to Boston.  Planes fly, but time flies faster.  Most of you have been with us quite a number of years and we watched you grow up from young children to young adulthood. 

Let me tell you that we are all proud of you. With the Cantores you have achieved a lot. The contests we took part in , especially abroad, sealed the bond between us and transformed us into a big family. 
    
You may notice that choirs that visit us every now and then do not have many small children in their ranks as we have. Mostly they are made up of teenagers and older people.   What I’m hinting at  is that as you grow older acquiring better technique in singing,  you become more conscious of your achievement and consequently, you come to enjoy more your participation in choir activities. 

By now I hope you realized that we don’t want  to have you only for rehearsals and performances, but we like  to organize social activities for you so that you’ll find good company and entertainment as well.  This year we had a great disappointment when the Paris tour failed ,  but somehow we made up for it by  our Gozo holiday.  

True, the  weather  was  not  that good, but still, we had fun –  especially at the expense of our sleep! 

Now its time you started getting guests to our activities – don’t let your guests or friends talk you out of the choir. You can enjoy both your friends and your choir if you manage to get them along.   Christmas time is round the corner. Somehow its prime time for the choir. At this time of the year we are more in demand and we enjoy each and every performance. You might remember that Elvia had this time of the year very dear to her heart. Not only would she be rehearsing the Christmas carols with you, but she would make herself busy buying the Christmas gifts for all the Cantores, besides doing her best to organize the Christmas party.  Last year we were in no mood to celebrate, but this year we will do our best to keep up Elvia’s tradition to organize Christmas as best we can. – if for nothing else, at least for her memory. See that you keep yourselves free for these nice occasions we will be having together.

I can’t miss this opportunity to give you another message: As I hinted above, we have become like one big family – but even within the framework of the family there are bound to be moments of troubles and problems. One such example was the last night at Gozo when unfortunately, I wasn’t there for you because I had to say two masses at the parish, but rest assured that we, the leaders, are here to help you in all matters that prop up. Sometimes more harm is done when you don’t bring up your  problems to us and go on discussing them between you. So, we can avoid a lot of conflict or clashes by discussing difficulties  straightaway with the leaders.

Hope you enjoy both the preparation and the actual performances during this coming Christmas season. Happy Christmas  to you  all and may God bless you.

2nd October 2000

Things happen fast.  Since I wrote the above, we took part in so many activities that it is impossible to mention them all - Millennium celebrations, concerts, hikes, BBQs etc.,  However, I think, Arezzo crowns them all - and now, that we form part of the European Union's Childrens Choirs I am sure we'll have other experiences abroad on the basis of the Arezzo experience.  I look forward to these events.

September 1999

Hallo Cantores,

I’m glad to be invited to form part of your first news letter.

You know by now that being a member of the Cantores Sancti Juliani does not mean that you come to Church, learn the hymns and then perform them during services and concerts.  We’ve done more than that!  By now you can appreciate that we’ve grown up to be one big happy family.

We laugh, we play, we sing, we greet each other’s birthdays; sometimes we fight and Miss Elvia or someone else has to patch up matters.

These are all things that happen within the family circle.  Those of you who joined us in the trip to Rome or in the week we spent in Qala, Gozo, know what I mean.  They were nice days which we will not forget.  Even hikes were something we’ll talk about when we grow up.  I’m sure you’ll be telling your children that you’ve been to Gebel Ciantar, Buskett etc., with the Cantores Sancti Juliani.  Who can forget Ralph and Michael with the distorted amplifier blasting away “I’m blue!”?  They are nice memories.

One thing I would like to drive home:  whenever we have activities it is not only to take part, but it is important that we really try to form part of the group and not do our best to be singled out as someone special.  There are some who are experts at doing that:  I don’t like it, - I don’t want that,  I’m tired – so that would be the excuse so as not to form part of the group and do what the others are doing.  For the organisers that means a big headache, because once an exception is made, all the others would like to be an exception as well!  You realise that the organisers can’t cater for a big number of exceptions.  We love you all – without any exception and we hate to have to treat one or more of you differently from the other.

So, children, enjoy your days at the choir.  It is an experience that you will not want to forget.