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Another strange website of mine

I've previously commented on my Organizing a Murder site for mystery party games. If I trace that back, it came into being because I once was involved in running a youth group. I used to write mystery games for them, and the best of these eventually became the Organizing a Murder book. I have to confess, though, that it's probably not the strangest website that I run. That honour probably goes to the Hymn CDs site.

This all started because my favourite music is Tudor and Elizabethan church music, and I'd set up a little subsite dealing with the object of my musical affection. Someone who works with a very impressive organist, John Keys, got in touch to ask if I could give a mention on my site to his CDs... and since then it has become a little hive of activity in its own right.

The idea is simple. In churches people traditionally sing hymns accompanied by an organ - but many church organists are getting elderly, with fewer young organists coming in. These CDs are accompaniment tracks - karaoke hymns, if you like - to sing along to. Since the humble first beginnings of 6 CDs there are now 32 different discs, with some impressive organ voluntaries as well as the hymn stuff, and the tracks are also available as MP3s.

I just find it facinating, the way something quite complex and totally unintentional has sprung into being without any original intent on my part. I just wanted to wibble on about the music I like - I received an electronic communication from some people 100 miles away that I've never met (still), and now I'm responsible for this thriving little website, helping out hundreds of people who need this stuff. Very strange, but somehow very internet.
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  1. Anonymous14 January 2009 at 12:52

    If I trace that back, it came into being because I once was involved in running a youth group. I used to write mystery games for them, and the best of these eventually became the Organizing a Murder book.

    I was a member of that youth group and have fond memories of running around the church hall and graveyard looking for clues. In fact, I think I've still got a load of BA paperclips that was a prize for guessing who did it and how one time.

    I lurk on Writer Beware and saw a comment you'd made that me wonder if you were the same Brian Clegg I knew back than and am delighted to find out that it is.

    Congratulations on the writing career and best wishes to you and your family.

    Caroline Hooton

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian Clegg15 January 2009 at 08:43

    Thanks, Caroline - it's a small world! I had a great time helping run that group (it seems a long time ago now).

    All the best,
    Brian

    ReplyDelete

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