Place2Be raises over £50,000 at tenth annual Carol Concert

Twas Wednesday 4^th December as Place2Be proudly celebrated the tenth year of our annual Carol Concert. This year we raised over £50,000, meaning we can support even more of the children who need it most across the UK.

St Marylebone Church in London’s West End was lit up beautifully as the Carol Concert goers arrived for their early dose of Christmas sparkle.  

Guests were greeted by the sounds of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’, sang by the wonderful Goldfinch Primary School Choir, with a little help from the St Marylebone Parish Church Choir. As the evening progressed, carols were sung alongside readings of classic Christmas tales by our fabulous celebrity guests:  

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Pui Fan Lee 
• If You Look For Me At Christmas - Kate Silverton 
• Nursery School Nativity Play - Fenella Woolgar 

• Bible Reading - Chris Larkin 
• Twas the Night Before Christmas - Tom York 
• Little Tree - Seb Coe  

BRIT nominated soprano Camilla Kerslake dazzled guests with her beautiful renditions of The Christmas Song and Silent Night. We’d like to extend the biggest thank you to Camilla who filled in at the last minute for Laura Wright. Laura, who has supported the concert for many years now, was originally scheduled to sing but her new baby had other ideas! Congratulations and the best of luck to Laura and her husband Harry who have welcomed their new baby daughter. 

Classical musicians and celebrities aside, undoubtedly the stars of the show were the Goldfinch Primary School Choir. Goldfinch Primary is one of the many schools that Place2Be works in, and we were delighted for them to come along and grace us with such beautiful performances. A huge thank you to the choir for their hard work practising and preparing for the concert, and to their music teacher Emilia.

The evening would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our Carol Concert Committee, led by Karen Howes we are thrilled to have such a committed group working with us to make our the evening so successful. We would like to extend a massive thank you to our Founding Partners whose support enables all the funds raised to directly support our work in schools, Taylor Howes, The Rigby Group, KLC School of Design, Granite and Marble International and of course Place2Be Founder and President Dame Benny Refson and Robbie Rayne. We couldn’t do it without you!

We would also like to thank our media partner Country & Town House, our musical partner Nicolaison Invest and The White Company for donating all the gifts for the Tree of Wishes – undoubtedly one of the nights biggest attractions.

Save the date for our next Carol Concert and come and join in the festive fun: Thursday 3 December 2020, we look forward to seeing you there (tickets on sale late Summer).