St Andrew's Celebration of Christmas 2011
St Andrew’s Church Gorleston was packed with around 400 people on Friday for a Christmas Celebration which featured over 120 musicians and singers. One long serving member of the congregation said it was largest crowd they had seen there for over half a century
The concert featured the Norwich Citadel Band of The Salvation Army under their conductor Richard Woodrow. They delighted the audience with a range of pieces, from Handel’s Messiah through to the popular composer of modern carols, John Rutter. They also led the congregation in several familiar carols – including one piece Sing the Nativity which included verses from six favourites
The band recently recorded a new CD which proved, together with Christmas recordings, to be a sell out. Bandsman Joe Allen brought a brief blessed thought while the St Andrew’s curate, the Rev Daniel Currie led prayers and the final blessing
But the evening was also shared with around 80 members of the Gorleston Community Choir who received a tremendous reception for their two slots which included a selection from Les Miserables, a Christmas version of From a Distance and the French carol Gaudete. The concert was also in memory of the choir’s founder, Jackie Whiting, who died in September and they were conducted by her son, Christopher, who has taken over that task. They were accompanied by Sylvia Kishan
Tony Mallion, who helped to organise the concert with Brian Philpot, said the aim had been to bring a really big Royal Albert Hall style Christmas event to Gorleston. He also praised the way that St Andrew’s had been so beautifully decorated with a massive tree and other arrangements from the Flower Guild and helpers
The concert was helped with sponsorship from Eastport, which covered the cost of the programmes and H2Creative Media who designed the posters. The Hippodrome Circus loaned usherette ice-cream trays which were used to help serve refreshments in the interval. It is expected the concert will have raised around £2,000 for St Andrew’s maintenance and talks are already under way about making this an annual event
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