Thirty years ago, in 1985, a Synod Day was held in Durham Cathedral.

Daphne Clarke, now elder at Low Row, but then at Claypath in Durham, has just written this poem looking back on the occasion:

This moment is mine

The congregation sits.
I rise, baton in hand.
Excited youngsters prepare.
Soon they will sing and play
to this vast congregation
gathered in Durham Cathedral
for Synod Day.
Soon, their voices will fill
this ancient building:
but this moment is mine.

Hymn by Graham Kendrick,
solos by Anna, Beth and Jo:
Elisabeth dwarfed by a huge piano.
Twenty anxious teenagers,
excitement suppressed,
ready to play and sing-
a ‘once in a life-time’ experience:
but this moment is mine.

In a musical family,
I am the failure, the black sheep.
‘You sing between the notes on the piano’,
bewildered father once bemoaned.
But I can teach, encourage, challenge-
these Claypath youngsters are ‘mine’,
and this moment is mine.

Instruments tune up,
singers slip into position.
I catch their eyes, baton raised.
‘Everyone ready?’
look up through the high tower.
‘Mum, are you proud of me?’

This moment is mine.