Choir Concert featuring Rosi

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We drove over to St Barnabus Church, Wellingborough. to see the Choir Rosi’s in perform in the Christmas Concert.

Ann was still suffering with her virus which has now evolved into a streaming cold. Mum was in good spirits.

I’m glad we allowed a bit of slack in the journey as the parking was a nightmare – cars parked both sides of the road as far as the eye could see – I think I got the last space!

The event was well-supported and the Church was full. As soon as we arrived we could see that it wasn’t just Rosi’s Choir – there was another – Wellingborough Orpheus Choir too as well as The Wellingborough Orpheus Players, a small orchestra.

The evening started with the Verger running through the housekeeping points for the evening in a humorous way – and that got the congregation laughing and settled everyone down. Things got off to an interesting start when the Conductor, – a jolly and (another) humorous chap as it turned out – arrived on the stage. He seemed to be slightly confused and we could see him pointing to the right hand side of the orchestra. He had spotted something missing – the Timpani and the associated percussionist!!! What a laugh!! Anyway a few minutes later both arrived and the evening kicked off.

The first half was a comprehensive programme with over 50 set pieces (see left). If the two choirs and the orchestra weren’t enough, we also had the pleasure of solo singers – Hannah Bradbury (soprano); Roderick Morris (counter tenor); James Lister (tenor) and Frederick Long (bass) – who looked about 12 and had this deep, deep, deep voice which sounded kind of strange from someone so young!

The first half lasted around an hour and in the interval we were treated to wine and mince-pies. Mum and Ann declined the pies, Ann tried a glass of wine. I got stuck into everything!!!

The second half was shorter and devoted mostly to Christmas carols – some sung by the choirs, some sung by us the congregation. Unusually, the Conductor stepped-down from his podium on a few occasions to give us advice on how to best sing the tunes. The surprise turn was the ‘Calypso carol’ where the Choirs revealed maracas to accompany the song.

All-in-all, a GREAT evening. We got home around 10.45 and resisted all temptation to see who had won the Strictly Come Dancing final on BBC1. We’ll watch that on Sky-plus tomorrow.