Chapter 33: The Email From the Ntfln

The main pavilion room of Camp Starkers was deathly quiet as Sonika Jharm slowly stood to her feet before a crowd of thirty teenaged boys and girls ranging in age from thirteen right up to nineteen. Sitting right behind that group was a contingent of parents and other workers who had come out to help organise and run the whole six day Music Retreat for the Redsands First Congregational Church Youth Choir. All together Sonika Jharm found herself addressing a group of about fifty or so people plus the camp directors themselves who were sitting just next to her at the front of the group.

Before Sonika had even said just one word an anonymous voice called out from the middle of the small group, “So, are we meant to get nekkid now or something?”

Sonika looked at the teenagers then at the two camp directors then back at the group and said with bit of a laugh, “No, that won’t be necessary just yet. I’ll let these two people here tell you all about that side of things in just a moment.”

The new choirmaster paused for a few seconds before continuing her address with, “Now, you all must remember that regardless of what sort of a facility this place is we are primarily here for a Music Retreat. We’ve got some great workshops lined up for you over the next few days and we also have some very talented musicians and singers dropping by to speak to us and to lead some of those workshops. You will be getting a chance to experiment with a wide range of varying types and styles of music and singing - from historical Gregorian Chants to some real exotic Pacific Island stuff. In amongst all that will be a few sessions on the place of religion in Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Grunge Rock and the new wave of Smash Trash hitting the charts at the moment. The aim here is to really expand your horizons on what you consider Worship Music to be. Hopefully by the time we are all heading back home on Saturday you will be thinking and creating your own music for Worship on a whole new level that you never thought existed. The reason why I set this whole thing up was to give you all a boost after hearing about the disappointment of your fourth placing at the Choir Competitions a few weeks back. Your own parents told me how hard you had all worked and how devastating it was for you all and your previous choirmaster to not even come third. So I talked to Reverend Unsworth about my idea with no objection coming from him other than the cost. While there is a healthy budget set aside for the choir that budget was not able to cover the cost of organising a Retreat like this and having it at a venue capable of sustaining such an undertaking in a suitable manner - which is where these guys come in.”

Sonika Jharm paused at that point and looked over to the two camp directors sitting, fully clothed, just to the side. She then carried on with, “The same day I presented my idea of a Music Retreat for the choir to Reverend Unsworth was the same day he received a very interesting email from the National Trust for Lifestyle Nudism. I have that email here and it reads as follows...