outside the nursing home, residents savor the musical beauty of the organ

A suspended moment. A religious silence and a few tears, sometimes, on certain faces. All turned towards the organ and its organist, Chantal Boulay. Thursday June 6, the president of the Joué-lès-orgues association played for an hour in front of around twenty residents of the Debrou nursing home.

“It was the chaplaincy of the retirement home who came to us. We accepted without problem”she smiles, delighted to present the majestic instrument, which arrived last year in the heart of the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul church in the town center of Joué-lès-Tours.

The equivalent of a day at the sea

“When, after its inauguration, we spoke to the residents about the organ, two told us that they would never see it in real life”, remembers Thérèse Bouillet, the head of the chaplaincy. Around thirty residents attend mass, but never outside Debrou. “It takes place in a room. When we heard that from them, we said to ourselves that we had to consider something”she continues.

After three months of preparation, there were twenty-one of them, including eight in armchairs, to take their place in front of the organ. “It’s as if they were going to spend a day at the sea”, she adds. Families of residents also made the trip. Onlookers, hearing the music from outside, completed the audience.

On her organ, on the piano, then again on the organ, Chantal Boulay strings together the pieces. Gilbert Bécaud, Charles Aznavour, Michel Delpech and Yves Duteil are popular with the public. Some sing, others applaud.

” It was wonderful. I cried, especially when she played Bohemian. We loved this song a lot with my husband, whom I lost eight months ago”, confides Françoise, still very moved. At his side, Georgette is delighted to have been able to leave the retirement home. “At our ages, we can’t move around much anymore”she whispers.

All dressed to the nines

Two chairs further, Odette saw her youth rising to the surface. Her husband being a soldier and mobilized in Germany after the Second World War, she lived in the town where the organ was located before her arrival in Joué. “This one is sixty years old, so it wasn’t there when we lived there, she specifies. But it’s not every day that we see this, it’s good. We’re going to keep this moment in our minds for a few days.”she appreciates.

Mission accomplished for the chaplaincy team. “It was a first test. We will see if we renew because we have to find funding, particularly for transport which was at our expense. You also need medical authorizationscontinues Thérèse Bouillet. But the residents were really looking forward to being here. They told us they had to be well dressed for the occasion. »