Trying to find words to express the overwhelming love and support that Olivia and I and Project Enlighten felt during the Marillion 2009 Convention has been struggle to put on paper.
Marillion has been more than a just a band, but truly a culmination of friends and family that share the same ethos of wonderfully powerful and emotional music and kinships.
I first saw Marillion many moons ago opening for Rush. Yes I was there to see Rush but always enjoyed hearing new artists and exploring new music. Little did I know the impact that this opening band would have on the rest of my days. Overwhelmed from what I saw and heard, I quickly purchased their cassette at Tower Records, (Am I dating myself?) From that point on I have faithfully followed and with great admiration and respect all things Marillion, a band that would provide the soundscape for my life!
In 2007 Olivia and I attended our first Marillion Convention in Center Parcs Port Zelande, Netherlands. Olivia surprised me with a pair of tickets for my 40th birthday. I was so excited and overwhelmed! At that point I made a conscious decision that via this Convention that I wanted to propose and ask Olivia to share the rest of our days together in marriage, but how? Well I wrote Lucy Jordache who was part of Marillion’s management, I had conversed with her a few times via Myspace on our work in Cambodia and she was always supportive. I asked Lucy if it would be possible if I could propose to Olivia on stage. My heart was racing as I inched towards the “send” button. Click and it was gone…
I received a reply shortly thereafter from Lucy that the band was busy in the studio and that we should write her back one we come back from our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Fair enough I thought!
So once we returned I sent Lucy another email to follow up and to my great surprise Marillion said YES! Now my heart was pounding beyond belief, what would I say, what if I flub my words, what if I freeze, what if…
The obvious question, which I never thought of, was what would I tell Olivia, “Oh by the way we are going on stage to say hello?” Thankfully Lucy had already solved this quandary for me. “Why don’t you take a few minutes to tell the audience about your work in Cambodia” Lucy replied. Brilliant!
I will let the picture express one of my happiest moments in my life!
Fast-forward to 2009, Marillion has their convention every two years and with great excitement we purchased our tickets for what was sure to be another fantastic and exciting gathering of friends and family! We were able to convince our dear friends and PE Board members Matt Keys and Riva Duncan to join us on this delightful escapade!
Along with Matt and Riva we were also able to share this experience with one of my best friends Kipp Morrill and his wonderful wife Miriam. The stage was set, can it get any better, and well actually it did.
We were contacted by Lynne Wells and Andy Rotherham from the WEB UK the Official Marillion fan club, they asked if Project Enlighten would like to be the Web UK’s charity of choice for the 2009 Marillion Weekend. At this point you have to try and visualize Olivia and I jumping up and down like excited school kids who just received a perfect report card in grade school.
The plan was relatively simple as we would have a table set up for fans to part with one Euro and the opportunity to win via a raffle a wonderful selection of items donated by the band. Steve Rothery guitarist offered a free guitar lesson, a massive and beautifully arranged book with pictures and hand written lyrics was lovingly donated, fans who purchased a raffle ticket could sign and pass on their thoughts and memories forever documented in this keepsake.
It kept getting better as Lynne informed us that a wonderfully humble and kind Marillion fan Paul Baines was going to match every Euro donated up to 2000 Euros! We were truly at a loss for words for these amazing acts of compassion and kindness. So for three days straight Lynne and her wonderful friend Anne worked our table on PE’s behalf.
Our dear friend Andy whom we spoke of earlier was in charge of showcasing the Marillion Museum, a wonderful exhibition of tour memorabilia in which people stood in line to eagerly see and snap photographs. Andy decided he was going to do his humble part and offer the fans the ability to fill up two containers with Euros. One to keep his beard or one to shave it! It became very obvious that Andy truly loved his beard and there were those who made sure the “shave” container was going to be the hands down winner.
Andy you were a trooper and great sport!
I could continue to rant about the wonderment and sheer joy that we experienced during this convention. It was hard to leave all our old and new friends from this magical gathering. The memories and support from the Marillion Family will leave a wonderful legacy for our continued efforts in Cambodia.
We cannot thank enough Marillion (Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly, Pete Trewavas and Ian Mosley) Lucy, Stephanie, Anne, Lynne, Andy, Jim, Paul and everyone who contributed to this amazing gathering of friends and family!
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