56 people gathered to sing and celebrate on our 21st annual Christmas Caroling evening. We traveled by caroling bus and car convoy, and gathered at the Garden Homes, the Retirement Village and three private homes. Nicole Poynter led the singing with Dinah D driving the bus, bringing the perfect energy for an evening of joy.
Here’s what Jacqui Parker-Snedker had to say about it …
I looked around the room at a collection of people you wouldn’t normally put in the same room. We were there to sing Christmas carols. Our audience/co- choir, people who have mobility issues, who don’t get out much. But the same could have been said of the traveling carolers.
We were a motley crew, mostly older, with that je ne sais quoi that is the gulf islands look; men with long white hair, cap and beard, women with flowing layers of hair and what might be wool clothing, and a fair representation of lesbians in gortex. We were all singing of the coming Christ child; a concept that would not enter our minds, let alone our mouths, in the regular course of events.And yet here we were, singing our lungs out, then moving out to the bus, driving around and doing it again across our little island. We stopped in various homes bringing joy, mismatching melodies, a dubious sense of timing, and that indefinable invisible glue – community.There’s talk of a second bus next year.
