Withernsea Ladies’ Choir held their Christmas concert at Withernsea High School at the weekend – and this Saturday they will be entertaining visitors to Hull’s The Deep.
Organisers said they were especially grateful to see people in the audience who had taken part in one or more of the recent series of SING events. Also among the audience were guests from the Victoria Day Care Centre whom the choir had recently visited to sing carols and festive songs.
Gill Walker, the current choir president, told the audience that her chosen charity was the RNLI, which had been close to the heart of Pat Watkinson, a much-missed former choir president.
As is traditional with Christmas concerts, the first carol was Once in Royal David’s City,
and the solo opening verse was sung by Alexes Curtis, granddaughter of Sue Poxon, one of the choir’s sopranos. Alexes later performed a Christmas song she had composed herself. Choir spokeswoman Caroline Busse said: “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house! Surely, she’s a star in the making.”
A number of traditional carols followed, some of which had descants as composed by the choir’s accompanist, Paul Pike. Another highlight of the first half was All in a Silent Night – a re-imagining of the German carol sung by the choir with an accompaniment played by guest cellist Chris Busse.
During the interval, the refreshments and raffle combined raised almost £200.
The second half of the programme began with one of the choir’s favourite pieces, Et in Terra Pax, which they first sang after the invasion of the Ukraine, but have gradually increased the dedication to include the many disasters and conflicts around the world.
At the afternoon’s conclusion, Malcolm Watkinson, chairman of the RNLI funding committee – Humber and Holderness, thanked everyone for coming and for supporting the RNLI’s stall, which had raised a further £63.
On Saturday, December 16, Withernsea Ladies’ Choir will be singing carols against the stunning backdrop of the aquarium at The Deep in Hull, from 1.30pm.
The choir will soon be heading into its Christmas break, and weekly rehearsals will resume in the new year at a new venue – the Willows in Withernsea. For more information, visit facebook.com/VoicesWLC.
