OS Christmas Carol Concert 2019

2 December 2019

On Monday 2 December, 370 Old Stoics, Current and Former Parents and Friends of Stowe crammed into Chelsea Old Church to welcome in the festive season. We are always overwhelmed by the popularity of the occasion and, once again, the Church was full to the brim. This year, it was an honour to hold the Concert in aid of Down’s Heart Group, a trustee led charity that offers help and support to individuals and their families by providing counselling support, information and non-medical advice to people affected by Down’s Syndrome. We were particularly pleased to welcome Sally Phillips to do a reading at the Concert. Sally is an ambassador for a number of charities connected to Down’s Syndrome.

Tallulah Goldsmith (Stanhope, Upper Sixth), opened the concert with a beautiful solo verse of Once in Royal David’s City, before the Choir and Congregation joined in. The Concert was led by the charismatic Reverend Canon David Reindorp TD DL and included a number of popular congregational carols, readings and performances, including A Visit from St Nicholas read by Talulla Barrow (Lyttelton 07). Stoic singers gave an incredible performance of Narration and Lullaby from Vaughan Williams’ Hodie – a Christmas Cantata performed by Emily Wilson (Stanhope, Upper Sixth), Tallulah Goldsmith (Stanhope, Upper Sixth), Mimi Pearson-Gee (Nugent, Lower Sixth) and Boris Baros (Bruce, Upper Sixth). Nick Bayley (Stowe Drama) gave a hilarious rendition of A Politically Correct Christmas by Harvey Ehrlich. The Old Stoic Choir pulled out all the stops with their performance of Joy to the World, giving their best performance yet since the formation of the OS Choir 3 years ago.

We saved the best until last with Sally Phillips’ reading of We Worship at St. Tesco’s, a poem by Pam Ayres. The poem is both humorous and meaningful and Sally injected a light tone whilst delivering the important meaning of the piece. After Sally’s wonderful performance, mezzo-soprano singer Lara-Clare Tarr (née Bourdeaux, Lyttelton 07) impressed us all with a beautiful rendition of Come Sing and Dance. The Concert drew to a close with the congregation belting out Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, before piling into the Petyt Hall for mulled wine and mince pies.

Each year, we choose a different charity to support. This year’s charity, Down’s Heart Group, was proposed by Talulla Barrow (Lyttelton 07). Her family had barely any support available when her brother, Barnaby, was born in 1986 and she therefore feels that Down’s Heart Group is an incredibly important charity, providing an essential service to those who need it.

Barnaby and friends from his school kindly helped with the illustrations for this year’s concert programme. Barnaby kindly illustrated the front cover. Click here to see the programme.

We are delighted to announce that the collection raised £1,000 for Down’s Heart Group. If you would like to support this worthy cause, please donate via their website: https://dhg.org.uk/giving.aspx

It would be impossible to hold this concert without the dedicated support of the Stowe Music School, Chelsea Old Church, our readers and performers and helping hand of our Music Director, Jonathan Kingston (Former Staff). A huge thank you to all those who made this year’s Concert such a wonderful occasion for everyone to enjoy.

We are pleased to confirm that next year’s Concert will take place on Wednesday 2 December 2020. Tickets will be available early in the New Year.

Click here to see the photographs.