Star's Glory

Me in my top notch star costume.

I've been remembering all the songs I sang at first and middle school (Lily The Pink was always a personal favourite, and we sang The Wombles too), and all the hymns and the prayers in assembly and the way Christianity filtered through into my life through school despite my schools (all three of them - two firsts and one middle) being state schools and not especially religious ones, but still ostensibly and forcefully C of E.

There were two groups of stars in my year three nativity - my group of older stars, and this group of little stars.

In year three (the last year of first school) I was a star in the nativity, and the stars sang 'Glory to God in the Highest', and I fell in love with the way I could send my voice crescendoing over the 'highest's. I think it's this hymn, but when I listen to recordings it's never the way I sang it. All the other children, the other stars and me, we gave it these beautiful, soaring high notes, and it sounded angelic and ethereal and exciting when we sang it. So I guess there's a hymn I love, or a hymn I loved when it became a tunnel for the exuberant delight of sending my voice as far out and as high up as it could go aged nine and feeling the immense and unique pleasure of doing so whilst wearing a silver star made of card on my chest.

That was glory all right.

I'm the bottom middle star.