On Wednesday 6th December 2006 a small group of Pinkies sang carols at Waterloo station in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. The idea was: We sing; they shake buckets; money falls into buckets.
Concert dress was Pink Singers short sleeved t-shirts, but on arrival, and after a quick assessment of the ambient temperature, this was changed to pullovers, overcoats, scarves and woolly hats. We sang unaccompanied, in full harmony, a 20 minute set. Then we had a short break and repeated the set.
We sang Coventry Carol (original tune and harmonisation of 1591 – you can’t get much further from Madonna than this!), While Shepherds Watched, Good King Wenceslas (with counter-melody from Mikki), Ding Dong! Merrily on High, and Once in Royal David’s City (with descant from Claire. Then it was Tanya’s idea to do a quick burst of We Wish You A Merry Xmas for the collectors. People stopped to listen and the money did indeed drop into the buckets. Only one more thing to do: Drink the mulled wine brought by Lynne.
We had support from Kay (cheerleader and photographer) and Warren (flyers for the Royal Academy concert). Liang and Phillip R had managed to get out of work to attend. Jo was a rock in the alotos – apparently, the alto parts of carols are hard wired from youth. Mark had written out all the words next to the music so he did’nt loose his place (like I did).
Thanks to everyone who took part, and thanks to Marie Curie Cancer Care for inviting us. It was a good gig.
by Michael
Small group Musical Director