Well what a year it’s been for Wellingborough Community Gospel Choir!
Before we sing our way into 2019 we just wanted to recap on the amazing opportunities we have had the pleasure to be part of in the past 12 months.
At the beginning of the year we had amazing support from choir member Katie to develop a new logo for the Choir which has had fabulous feedback and is a great brand identity for our official communication.
In March Gareth ran a number of workshops for members who had recently joined to learn some of our extensive back catalogue of songs!
Then in April we celebrated our 6th birthday with the launch of a fantastic new website. Special thanks to Colin and Philip who worked extensively to set up such a fabulous and professional resource and continue to do so, and Shikha who took some wonderful photos. The information we can now provide to those interested in joining or booking the choir and also for members with the extensive resource library, has been so well received – we are really proud to have this fantastic facility!
In May we were delighted to perform an evening at All Saints Church Community Hall with a fantastically welcoming audience.
June saw us enjoy a wonderful evening at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Ecton where we performed a set on the same bill as acclaimed organist Andrew Ingram.
Our annual summer get-together this year was in the form of a fabulous picnic in the beautiful garden of choir member Lisa. We danced and sang in glorious sunshine in the prettiest of countryside settings to amazing live music from The Unpredicted, the band fronted by choir member Jane.
In August we were excited to be part of the Bands in the Park 2018 programme staged by Kettering Borough Council in the bandstand at Rockingham Road Pleasure Park. However, on the day the great British weather sent us undercover and back into the warm and familiar Community Hall of All Saints Church, Kettering where we had a wonderful afternoon with a fantastic audience so the rain certainly did not dampen any spirits!
Continuing our church performances, in September we were given the warmest of welcomes at St Andrews in Barnwell where the lively audience participation made for an absolutely fabulous evening! Yet again this evening showed the value and enjoyment of community events and we look forward to playing more church venues in 2019.
October was a month of great excitement! The second sell-out Northants Sings Out residential weekend at Grendon Hall was uplifting, emotional, hugely educational and, surprise, surprise, great fun. We were joined by incredibly special guests: the ever-effervescent Daniel Thomas and the sensational powerhouse Michelle John – such a privilege to work with more amazing professionals!
We also had the honour of singing at the Althorp Literary Festival at Althorp House. We sang in glorious late autumnal sunshine (which, given the torrential rain of the previous day, was an absolute joy!) and had an amazing time with great involvement of guests at the festival, and of course the host, Lord Charles Spencer!
November was, as ever, a huge highlight of the year as we joined the rest of our choir ‘family’ as part of Northants Sings Out’s 5th Anniversary show which this year was at the huge capacity Royal and Derngate, where we performed an extensive set to a packed house! As well as the breath-taking live band which this year was even bigger, and our wonderful host John Fisher, we were joined by guest vocalist Paul Lee, soloist in the Kingdom Choir at this year’s Royal Wedding! What an absolute honour and what an incredible night to have been part of! Wellingborough Choir represented extensively amongst the soloists in the show and we were so proud of everyone!
We did not rest on our laurels at the end of the year though, and closed off 2018 with some very special events.
A number of choir members dropped into Kettering General Hospital Christmas week to sing carols and bring festive cheer to both patients and staff. Thank you to Karan Harris for coordinating this through the hospital chaplaincy team.
Through the incredible charity Bucket List Wishes we were asked to provide a festive music set for a very special lady, Catherine, and her family at their home in Wellingborough where a Christmas-themed afternoon was staged to make special memories that we were privileged to be part of.
So it was quite a year as we went from strength to strength and smiled throughout!
2019 has now arrived and we already have some incredible things to look forward to including performing at the Althorp Food and Drink Festival in May, and some new workshops launching…it’s going to be another great one!
Thank you to each and every member of our choir who make each week so special, to everyone involved in all of the background admin and logistics work required to make it run so smoothly and of course to the inimitable Gareth who, through immense talent and endless patience, coaches us to be the very best we can be and always with a smile! Here’s to a wonderful year ahead!
