Winter Wonderland Concert, St Mary's Church, Wendover

On Saturday 29 November, the choir and chamber choir were fortunate to be able to sing at the annual Winter Wonderland Concert organised by the Rotary Club of Wendover and District. What a fantastic afternoon we all had! The concert took place in St Mary's Church in Wendover, which was packed to the rafters with a very enthusiastic and highly appreciative audience. Over 100 performers took part, including the Aylesbury Concert Band, the Military Wives Choir, Halton as well as two young soloists and Gateway's choirs. The programme was a mixture of Christmas music and children's classics. The choir particularly enjoyed listening to Aylesbury Concert Band playing 'Frozen' before singing their set at the end of the first half. The chamber choir continued the Disney theme by singing a tear jerking 'Beauty and the Beast', followed by the main choir singing 'I am the Wind', a winter themed song and two classics from Mary Poppins - 'Feed the Birds' and 'Chim chim cheree'. The enthusiasm, energy and blend of voices was brilliant, as was the clarity of diction - the audience heard every word.

In the second half, after accompanying the concert band with sleigh bells for Leroy Anderson's 'Sleigh Ride', the children joined the Military Wives Choir to perform 'Sing' by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow. This was originally sung by members of the Military Wives Choir at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert, so it was an exciting finale. To complete the concert, the concert band and all the choirs joined together to sing a Christmas medley of 'Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer', 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas' and 'Jingle Bells', complete with jingle bells accompaniment! A fitting ending to send everyone away full of Christmas cheer! The audience were very impressed by the performances - many people commented on how brilliantly the children sang and how full of energy their performance was. A huge thank you to all the children who took part in what was a very special afternoon, and also to the parents and staff who supported!