About Sing Christmas
Sing Christmas is an interactive community carol service organised by the Leicestershire Churches Media Trust and broadcast live by BBC Radio Leicester. If you’re involved with a pub, club, community centre, care home or wherever people come together - you are invited to tune in and sing along. Churches are asked to help venues host Sing Christmas. The provisional date for 2010 is:
Monday 20 December 7 to 8pm
Around 100 venues joined in with Sing Christmas last year:
We had a really great night with Sing Christmas and fun was had by all. Elizabeth Cox at The Coach and Horses, Kibworth
Absolutely great! Everyone said how much they’d enjoyed it. The best one so far! Sally Tuckwell at Newbold Verdon Working Men’s Club
All our residents really enjoyed the Sing Christmas. They sang, they ate, they had a drink and the atmosphere was excellent. Monica Gardner, Hunters Lodge Retirement Home Ltd, Old Dalby
See the report on 2009 below.
To take part in your venue all you have to do is:
- register your venue - details to follow
- download free resources - available nearer the time
- plan to receive the interactive broadcast 7 - 8pm on Monday 20 December 2010 via BBC Radio Leicester on 104.9 FM, DAB digital or on the web bbc.co.uk/leicester
- invite people to come along and SING CHRISTMAS
2009 - What happened and the response
Here is the report based on completed questionnaires and emails from around 40 of the 95 participating venues we know about.
Sing Christmas was the best ever, according to the many positive responses from people at participating venues, because we provided the mix of content most venues wanted - more participation, especially carols and less speech.
For the first time, the live broadcast came from the heart of Leicester in the prestigious Highcross centre where crowds gathered to join in. More carols were included to sing along with and people in pubs and clubs telephoned or texted during the broadcast for a mention on air, giving a sense of celebrating the real meaning of Christmas right across the region.
Vic Allsop, County Ecumenical Development Officer, Churches Together in Leicestershire, said:
Congratulations to the Sing Christmas team for organising a splendid live Carol Service. I was at the Cherry Tree Pub in Melton Mowbray - an event arranged by the local Baptist Church with Churches Together. I would say that we were 60 of us in total. We joined in with mince pies and crackers (and a few drinks from the bar!) The larger number of carols was a hit with us and it helped make us listen more to the speaking in between. The shout outs for the venues was really good. Everyone was quiet for Dianne’s Christmas Thought, which confirms I believe that your format was the right one.
Tom Rawlings and Sam French of Highcross Leicester said:
From our point of view we thought it was a super event and formed a key part of our Christmas activity at Highcross. It was very well promoted on the radio and looked great on the evening in St Peter’s Square. I hope that we get the opportunity to work together again next year. The whole event was managed perfectly.
Around 5000 people in pubs, clubs, care homes, churches, village halls plus a supermarket, marina and an allotment society - and thousands more at home - tuned in and sang along with the Sing Christmas broadcast. The carol service was live on BBC Radio Leicester on Monday 21 December, organised by the Leicestershire Churches Media Trust. Around 60 individual churches plus Churches Together groups supported many of the venues and were involved on the night. Local brewers Everards encouraged their pubs to join in and provided ideas and resources for a Sing Christmas evening.
BBC Radio Leicester religious producer John Florance introduced Sing Christmas which was presented by local broadcaster Sandra Herbert. The 12 carols were led by the Rainbows Children’s Hospice Staff Choir and South Wigston Salvation Army Band. Leicester Tigers and England rugby player Julian White, BBC TV East Midlands presenter Des Coleman and Lady Jennifer Gretton, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, read from the Bible. Revd Dianne Tidball of the East Midland Baptist Association gave the Christmas Thought and children from Orchard Primary School, Broughton Astley said prayers.
Sing Christmas was broadcast from St Peter’s Square, Highcross Leicester in the heart of the city outside the region’s John Lewis store. City centre churches provided the core audience and Christmas shoppers stopped to listen and join in. Restaurants in the square helped create the festive atmosphere by bringing round free Christmas fare. Special guests at Highcross included the Mayor and Mayoress of Leicester, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council and senior church leaders.
Notes for venues, invitations, posters and the song sheet in different formats, including slides for data projection, were downloaded. Torch Trust in Market Harborough provided song sheets in giant print and Braille.
Here are just a few of many positive comments from participating venues:
Thanks for a great Sing Christmas - definitely the best so far! We had over 100 in the Bulls Head Cosby and 80 of those were singing more enthusiastically than expected!! I even heard 2 ladies doing a descant! The talks were not only short but good! Thanks for mentioning us, the roar was loud! Ros Clark from St Michael and All Angels Church, at the Bulls Head Cosby
People were very open to joining in with Sing Christmas, we all sang the carols, there were people there who wouldn’t normally come to any church events, it was a lot of fun, and the atmosphere was lovely. People didn’t want to go home. Rev Diane Holmes, Ashby Baptist Church at Hood Court Flats, Ashby de la Zouch
We joined in with Sing Christmas as an activity focused on Swinford where we are trying to develop a sense of community. It was well received and we have been invited back by The Chequers, who opened early and provided the mince pies and crackers. We exceeded our expectations because the whole village was involved. A great community evening. Steve Salmen of Lutterworth Community Church at The Chequers, Swinford
We had a really great night with Sing Christmas and fun was had by all. Many people stayed for the duration of the evening and the pub tills were jingling very well! The pub was very crowded. People really seemed to enjoy it and there was a terrific atmosphere. The Landlord, Andrew Southerden, put himself out to make this a very special event. Elizabeth Cox from St Wilfrid’s Church at The Coach and Horses, Kibworth
Absolutely great! Everyone said how much they’d enjoyed it. The best one so far! Think the mix of carols, readings, prayers etc is just about right. Really happy and friendly atmosphere. Everyone joined in with the singing and it was so pleasing to note that everyone was respectful (even though a large proportion were non church goers) during the prayers and the blessing. Sally Tuckwell at Newbold Verdon Working Men’s Club
We are a home which specialises in caring for people with dementia. We invited relatives to join in with us. We had mince pies and mulled wine and everyone had a lovely time. We will certainly do it again in 2010. All our residents really enjoyed the Sing Christmas. They sang, they ate, they had a drink and the atmosphere was excellent. Thank you. Monica Gardner, Hunters Lodge Retirement Home Ltd, Old Dalby
The phone / text in was a great success
More singing this year excellent! Good to have phone in. Very exciting waiting for our name to be read out! 30-40ish people. Great atmosphere! Warm and friendly. Nice to remember Christmas for the real meaning. Penny Farnsworth, Market Harborough Conservative Club
It went very well. Sent a text to BBC during the broadcast. Was a really good idea, made us feel connected but needed the number repeated more regularly on air. Rev Rachel Ross from All Saints with Holy Trinity Church at The Three Nuns, Loughborough
Several mentioned about the news being broadcast at 7pm
We had a great time at this year’s Sing Christmas - 21 of us gathered in the Alderman Richard Hallam School from local churches and the Banks Residential Home. Just one complaint - it was stressed that it would be beginning at 7pm, but it was in fact about 7.05 by the time we had had the news. Unfortunately some of the news was not pleasant, but we sat and listened to it because we didn’t want to miss the start of Sing Christmas. Thank you to all who worked so hard for the event. There were several comments of “See you next year” as folks left at the end! Sue Hesselwood, Beaumont Leys
Just a couple of points we would like to make…………….I had Classic FM on the radio as people arrived and so they got carols instead of Charlie Dagnell, which seemed appropriate. We switched on to Radio Leicester at 7-00pm not wishing to miss the start of Sing Christmas, but then had to sit through 5 minutes of depressing news, travel and weather - mostly murder and mayhem in Nottingham - which spoiled the mood of the start of the programme. If they have to have the news at 7 pm then can we say that Sing Christmas starts at 7-05? The second thing is the 3 activity spots - as it happened the food sharing was messed up by something going wrong with the order of the programme. Hope this is constructive. Regards, Sue Holtom, Clarendon Park Congregational Church
Participating venues
We know of 95 venues that joined in. Most were pubs (43) and Care Homes/ Warden controlled Flats (30) plus clubs, churches, village halls, home for the blind, supermarket, marina, school, day nursery, an allotment and a house in France. Loughborough had the most venues (7), closely followed by Market Harborough (6). Venue list
Number of people
Average attendance at the venues was around 50 people with the maximum being 135 at Newbold Verdon Working Men’s Club organised by Churches Together.
Resources
Many of the venues used most of the resources – notes for venues, poster, invitation, running order and song sheets. The A5 size song sheet was the most used. Large and giant print were used by some. More venues than in previous years used the PowerPoint slides with a data projector. Everards provided song sheets for their pubs.
Reception of BBC Radio Leicester
FM was used at most venues but some used DAB. It’s important not to use FM and DAB receivers together because of time delay. We know of two venues that listened via the internet.
Broadcast content
Most venues joined in and listened to every aspect of the programme. Some complained about tuning in at 7pm but had to listen to news and reports before the broadcast started. This was due to a studio operational error. Also there were comments about the running order and insufficient time to do the activities, i.e. food and crackers.
Telephone / Text in
This was a great success. Around half the venues seemed to have done this or tried to – more texted than phoned. It gave a sense of involvement across the programme and people cheered and loved hearing their venue mentioned. Some couldn’t get through to the BBC. It was suggested that venue organisers are given tel/text numbers in advance (we did by email but could include in Notes for Venues) and they are given out several times during the broadcast.
Supporting a local charity
Around half of the venues collected for a charity. The total collected could have been around £3000. Maximum collected in any one venue was £142. The charity most supported was Rainbows. Others were Air Ambulance, Steps, St James restoration fund, Asthma charity, Loros, Scout group and British Heart Foundation.
Media coverage
Apart from BBC Radio Leicester, we know of coverage in the Leicester Mercury, Loughborough Echo, Harborough Mail, Melton Times, Kibworth Chronicle, Higham on the Hill Village Magazine and Cosby News. Some national church newspapers carried reports.
Join in the next Sing Christmas
80% of venues said they would join in again next year – some were very definite about this. 18% said maybe – some because they had to have a meeting to decide.
Sing Christmas was organised by the Leicestershire Churches Media Trust (part of CHAD Media Trust) in partnership with BBC Radio Leicester and Churches Together in Leicestershire.
