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This week The New Windsor Park Stories celebrates the music of two magical voices, the words of two poets, 24 Irish teachers, Wilkes-Barre’s Bicentennial, and a dance troupe named Connemara.
The New Windsor Park Stories airs on WBRE-TV, Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m.
This week our program begins with a gift. Carole Lynn Campbell and Greg O’Brien team up for a memorable rendition of the The Gift. The music is beautiful, the singing is absolutely enchanting and the words leave you thinking about what is important in life.
Before you can come up with an answer, a 10-year-old poet, Emma Strenkert, presents her poem about Hope. As Emma reads her opening line, “Hope is the thing that clutches on to you after the suffering and pain,” Ben Wainio, father of Elizabeth Wainio, is seen placing his daughter’s Angel of Freedom in the Memorial Water Garden in Windsor Park.
There is no question that he and his wife, Esther Heymann, were thinking those very thoughts.
Emma’s other poems about flowers and butterflies were well received, and then Greg O’Brien stepped forward to give us an idea of what it might be like on that day when we meet our Maker.
His rendition of the song I Can Only Imagine was poignant, powerful and skillfully done. It’s the O’Brien style. He is bigger than life and his voice is like an echo from a mountain.
You won’t have to imagine it on Sunday morning; you will be able to see and hear it on The New Windsor Park Stories.
As the rain came down, the Irish teachers took center stage and with dignity and class they performed John McKeown’s song that salutes Wilkes-Barre’s 200 th birthday. Without missing a beat, the 24 visitors from Ireland impressed the crowd. More than 200 people were huddled under umbrellas that dotted the landscape of the park while the Irish chorus sang.
In turn, the Irish teachers were impressed by the size of the crowd that braved the rain until the end of the program. Virtually no one left, and that says a lot about what people were feeling about the evening.
When The Connemara dancers took center stage the rain intensified, but it did not wipe the smiles off the faces of the teenage performers. Their rendition of Cotton Eye Joe was energized, and their performance was flawless. At the end, the crowd shouted its approval.
The episode ends with the power of words. First the words of poet, Bill Gaydos, describe the new Memorial Water Garden, and then many people volunteer their reactions to the festival.
Part Two of the Irish Teachers Festival in Windsor Park begins in the Hydrangea Garden… a place of rich beauty in late July, and it ends on a rain soaked hill where people are smiling, and exchanging words in delightful conversation about a water garden, a dance troupe, two poets and two singers who made them feel good about themselves and the place where they were standing.
Please join us for The New Windsor Park Stories, Sunday morning at 11:30 on WBRE TV. We think it’s television that will lift your spirits.
Support for The New Windsor Park Stories is provided by: King’s College; The Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau and Edwards Garden Center in Forty Fort, PA.
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