Having accepted Jill Carr's invitation to attend the Dovelands Primary School's junior pupils' Christmas Concert, at St Anne's Parish Church, Letchworth Road, we arrive there just after 1100, when things are in full swing. Jill's son is helping out with some of the musical accompaniment. The church is packed and we squeeze in at the back door, just as the children launch into their presentation of the Annunciation. The performances are lovely, everything is greeted with beaming smiles and rewarded by much clapping. The words to the songs are projected using PowerPoint on the back wall of the church, so that the children don't have to hold song sheets (or worry about forgetting anything). The audience can't see any of this unless they turn round - indeed many wouldn't know it's there (until the projectionist gets ahead of themselves and flashes through some of the slides too quickly, so that the Deputy Head has to stop the singing and ask for the slides to go back a few). At one point, the command "Groove!" appears and the children go into a hand jive! And there are few things that say "Christmas" better than a small child playing "Away in a Manger" on solo descant recorder (with obligatory squeaky notes).
Photo © Copyright Tony Ellis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
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