Even Sarah losing her voice the week of the concert couldn’t dampen the Christmassy feel of a gloriously decorated St Pauls in Skelmersdale, the new venue for this year’s Celebrate! 
Concerns about whether we’d all fit across the front were soon allayed by the fantastic staging Sam our Sound Engineer has put in, and we were all very excited to share the songs we’d been working on for the last few months. 
We opened the evening with the wonderful Joy to the World, lifting our voices alongside our audience to celebrate this best of times. See Amid the Winter’s Snow followed a warm welcome and opening prayer from Chris, then the ladies sung us the beautiful and haunting Breath of Heaven, followed by a reading by Liz. Bob Chilcott’s The Sleeping Child was lead by Katie, backed by ReMix, followed by another Chilcott- For Him All Stars, this time with guest teenagers in the shape of Millie, Harriet, Georgia and Erin joining our own Erin! David read to us next, leading us into the powerful Bethlehem by Schonberg, and the congregation joined us for O Little Town of Bethlehem. The cheerful Ragtime Carol provided us with an overview of the whole Christmas story, with wonderful playing by Shaun, and Rutter’s I Wish You Christmas covered the more secular aspects, leading us to the final of the first half, Keeping the Dream Alive. 
After the obligatory mince pies and Christmassy drink, the choir kicked off the second half in style with It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, following that with I Saw Three Ships as the audience joined in. Paul lead us in the Shaky classic Merry Christmas, Everyone, before Austin’s most recent gorgeous composition- I Am Christmas. Reflect sung The Christmas Song, well three of them did and Sarah gravelled her way through, then Sarah’s poem took us to the closing sequence, darkness, candle light, falling snow and Darke’s glorious In The Bleak Midwinter. 
The rousing trumpets of Hark the Herald broke the spell and lifted us back into the moment, and after Chris’ closing prayer and blessing, the Coldplay classic Christmas Lights lead us to a final chorus of Auld Lang Syne, as we spilled out in to the frosty December evening. A beautiful night, and for most the first proper event of Christmas.