Who doesn’t like a Christmas Concert? Especially when the LOMVC Christmas Concerts over the last couple of years hadn’t taken place because of Covid.
For this year’s concert we were to be joined by Jan’s boys’ choirs from West Leigh Schools. Always good to have them along – and remember our own days as primary school pupils! (one or two of us actually could!)
We were all set to go with maximum publicity when we found that Jan had already sold so many advance ticket that we might only just have enough for our own members. Lots of chair-counting followed. Just how many audience and choir members could we accommodate? Just how many people per one Family Ticket would turn up? It was going to be a challenge.
It was therefore good to have a number of Leigh Orpheus members willing to help with getting sufficient seating ready the night before the concert and available to ensure it was put away after the concert. Even the challenge of having sufficient room for Leigh Orpheus members to be seated at the same time as having the West Leigh Boys on stage was overcome.
Just hours before the concert there was a major crisis with Neil having LOST the key to the Temple. Whatever would have happened if 50 choir members, and some of their partners, and 60 boys plus their parents, had turned up and they couldn’t get in?! And that’s before a capacity audience couldn’t get in! However, disaster was averted thanks to a few phone calls and a SA person being just across the road doing her shopping in Morrisons! It is rumoured that Neil’s blood pressure eventually returned to normal some time later.
So, we were concert-ready.
With the Front of House team having ensured that every available seat was occupied, let the concert commence! A tried and trusted format. A Congregational Carol – ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ just like at the chapel of Kings College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve. Then a set from the Leigh Orpheus, another congregational carol, a set from the West Leigh Boys, another congregational carol and a further set from the Leigh Orpheus.
Who’s heart couldn’t be melted, seeing and hearing those young boys (and despite the denial by some Leigh Orpheus members they were all young boys – we live in modern times!) giving their very best as Jan conducted them. Their accompanist, David Stanley, had stepped in to help Jan. Having had no rehearsals with the boys at all he was a-ma-zing!
Of course, we gave of our best too. And we’d scrubbed up pretty well!
The official Review of this concert refers to the Leigh Orpheus singing our signature piece, the Welsh hymn ‘Gwahoddiad’. It seems that there could be a new contender for our signature piece! We’ve possibly sung ‘We are the Champions’ more than we’ve sung ‘Gwahoiiad’ this year. But who cares, audiences like it!
To finish the concert the Christmas Medley with accompanist Kay admirably ducking and diving between pieces and doing repeats with only a few quavers notice.
Another excellent concert. Another good source of income. What’s not to like?!
The ‘official’ review is here: https://lomvc.org/christmas-concert-2022/