Musicathon at Seacroft
The old Chapel at Seacroft has been out of use for a couple of years, because of the deterioration of the building due to damp. Worship is now held in the meeting rooms, which were refurbished a year ago, to provide bright warm accommodation. It was looking like demolition of the old Chapel was the only option, but now there is a ray of hope that the building might be saved.
There is an organisation called ELFM, which has been working in East Leeds for nine years now - focusing on developing creative links between communities, between generations and between cultures, to encourage communication through a broadcast radio station. They are looking for a permanent home, and have secured funding to carry out a feasibility study, to ascertain whether the old Chapel could be transformed into that home.
To demonstrate the potential of the Chapel as a live broadcasting studio, Adrian Sinclair, the dynamic MD of ELFM, came up with the idea of a 24 hour live Musicathon. After months of planning, and overcoming many hurdles, the Musicathon started at 3pm on Saturday 4th April 2009 and finished at 3 pm on Sunday 5th April. Over the 24 hour period, well over 300 people visited the Chapel, as performers, stewards, technicians, etc. The live broadcast was available worldwide on the Internet, using the ELFM website as the starting point. The whole event was recorded, so the music is now available for downloading as mp3 files on their website (www.elfm.co.uk/musicathon/ ).
Each hour of the broadcast had a theme, with one person being designated as the "curator" for that hour. David Laycock, who is the lay worker currently assigned to Seacroft Methodist Church, volunteered to curate an hour entitled "Singing from the same Hymn Sheet". He brought together numerous people from the Churches in East Leeds to celebrate Palm Sunday, and was able to spend time explaining the significance of Palm Sunday, and the background to why Jesus overturned the tables in the Temple. No doubt there were many people listening, who were hearing this story for the first time.
There are a number of photographs on the ELFM website, but this one is exceptional, in showing the beauty of the Chapel, being used sympathetically as a broadcasting studio.
