Allister Brown from Lisburn in County Antrim (I used to live there) set a new world record recently by playing the drums for 102 hours and 45 minutes. Yes. I did say hours, not minutes. He previously held the record in 2003 when he drummed for 58 hours and 17 minutes, and in 2004 for 78 hours. All in a good cause as well, raising about £5,000 cash for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

To qualify for the record he had to play recognisable tunes and not repeat any song with 4 hours. It wasn’t quite non-stop as he was allowed a 5 minute break for every hour he played. (Well, I guess he’d need the odd widdle or 2).

See his website for more.

(Photo courtesy of www.lisburntoday.co.uk)

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What an awesome weekend! As part of the Psalm Drummers team we were involved in the Pentecost Festival.

On the Saturday a small group of about 12 met in Camden Town at the canal. We walked playing our drums along the high street pavement. It was crowded! I don’t think I’ll ever say that Belfast is crowded ever again.

For me there was a strong sense of joy as we walked and played. Many people stopped to take photos and videos and smiles from many said it all. Many walked by and showed no expression but many were clearly moved by what they saw and heard. The motto for the Pentecost Festival was “Ladies and Gentlemen. The Church has now left the building“. The whole idea of the festival was to make an impact in our communities by being more visible, not locked away in a building, but visible; helping out practically in community work, taking its music to the streets, pubs and other gathering places. I feel this is what we did. God is a god of Joy and delights in music. There was a colour about what we did – bright t-shirts, loud, infectious rhythms and smiling as we did it.

The best bit for me was when our team leader motioned towards the entrance to McDonalds as we approached it, so we walked in and played an impromptu set for about 30 seconds and walked out!!!! I think we stopped just about every conversation!

If you were around that day and saw us please leave a comment here and let us know what you thought.

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On the 15th June 2006 I was part of a group of Psalm Drummers that participated in a day of worship and prayer at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. Up until now I had been unable to find any videos from the day until I came across the following on YouTube:

(1 & 2) The following 2 were soundchecks before it started:

(3) This was us in full flow!

(4) This was real fun! Outside the stadium there were lots of tents with food and merchandise, so we thought we’d do an impromptu session for fun:

If anyone has any more please let me know by adding a comment to this post.

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