The Choir’s annual Christmas Concert on the 10th December, at the Battle of Britain Trust Museum, Bentley Priory had to be postponed due to a sudden and unexpected fall of snow!

The Choir performed a rescheduled concert on the 28th January.  The second half with its usual Christmas theme had to be revised, as it was felt inappropriate to sing carols so late in January. Instead, a full programme of songs from stage and screen was performed, including two impressive solo performances.

Baritone, Chris Drew is to be congratulated on his debut solo performance of Love Changes Everything and is now known as our very own Sir Bryn Terfel with no disrespect intended to the Welsh bass-baritone.

Music Director, David Heasman, sang If I Ruled the World, for the first time, and outlined the key policies he would introduce if he did indeed, rule the world. This included banning all white vans and their drivers from the road; confiscating the bikes of cyclists who do not obey the highway code by jumping red lights for example and giving an automatic ban to any driver caught using a mobile phone. Never mind ruling the world, he sounds like a candidate for Minister of Transport. Perhaps he should try singing or listening to calming music, whilst driving, to calm his road rage! Comment below if you have similar megalomaniac tendencies that you would like to share! What would happen if you ruled the world? Or what music would you recommend for calming drivers?

And of course we finished with a rousing rendition of our signature tune: The Dam Busters.

As we have come to expect at Bentley Priory, a full audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert raising over £1,400 to support the Museum. The museum staff organised a raffle with generous prizes which in addition to ticket sales contributed to this fantastic total. The museum cafe provided the interval refreshments of spiced orange juice and a selection of petit fours, included in the ticket price. But we wondered, what happened to all the mince pies prepared for the original concert on 10th December?

We are already looking forward to performing at this iconic venue again next Christmas, when hopefully the Concert Manager will have checked the long-term weather forecast before agreeing the date!

See our gallery of photographs from this visit to Bentley Priory Museum.