Pro Carmine choir will round off a record-breaking fund-raising year with their traditional Christmas concert – including sherry and mince pies – at Christ Church on Thursday. Once again they’re performing in aid of the Grocott’s Mail Christmas Cheer Fund.
The choir, which has been going for nearly 40 years, regularly sings to raise money for worthwhile causes, but this year has seen some particularly successful outings. These kicked off in April with a joint concert with visiting UK choir, Moorland Voices, at NELM, which raised over R5000 for the Joza Reading Club.
The English visitors were so taken with the children who sang at the concert and the work being done at the Club, that they went back home and raised a further, very impressive, R23 000 – largely by staging a Top Gear-like race from Boulogne to Staffordshire between the choir’s conductor in a car and a friend of his on public transport.
As the year progressed, Pro Carmine went on to raise money in Bathurst for the Sunshine Coast Feeding scheme. Then, as part of their annual tour, raised nearly R1000 for the Riebeek East Garden Festival and, as the main performers at a concert in aid of Cancer Care, over R19 000 in Cradock.
“The chance to give something back and to make a difference doing something we love is very satisfying,” says choirmaster, Peter Breetzke. “We’re hoping that people will come and support us next week so that we can end our round of concerts as successfully as we started them and make a real difference for Child Welfare.”
Breetzke says that this year’s Christmas programme mixes new items – including contemporary arrangements of traditional carols I Saw Three Ships and Away in a Manger – with some of their usual festive favourites. There will also be readings and a chance for some audience participation.
This year the Grocott’s Mail Christmas Cheer Fund is again focusing on Child Welfare’s Ikhaya Losizo Cluster Foster Home Scheme, which provides a safe and loving environment for 20 vulnerable children between the ages of 2 and 18.
Pro Carmine’s Christmas concert in aid of Grocott’s Mail’s Christmas Cheer fund is at Christ Church, Speke Street at 7pm on Thursday 30 November.
