Carol Service 2022
On the 15th December we were delighted to once again return to Fisherwick Presbyterian Church on the Malone Road for our annual College Carol Service. This was the first year since 2019 that we as a College were able to come together fully to celebrate the Christmas season and all who attended welcomed a return to normality. Over 200 pupils from the Preparatory department and senior school worked hard all term to prepare for the service and performed beautifully.
The service began with the College orchestra’s rendition of ‘A Vaughan-Williams Christmas,’ an enjoyable collection of many well known festive melodies. The lights were then dimmed for the traditional rendition of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ with a stunning solo from Evie McGale in Y14, followed by a verse from the senior chamber choir. After the first lesson, the Preparatory choir charmed us with ‘Colours of Christmas’ by John Rutter. We warmly welcome Naomi Nixon as the teacher in charge of music in the Preparatory department to her first College Carol Service. Mrs Murray’s junior choir performed ‘A Star Shines Bright’ with a beautiful flute solo from Beatrice Toogood in Y14. This was followed by the highly entertaining ‘Mary Mary’ which had everyone’s feet tapping. The junior chamber choir came next. They may be small in number, but the sound they produced was absolutely beautiful. They sang ‘The Christmas Star’ and ‘Great Great Joy.’ We were delighted to welcome Mrs Audrey Gillian back to accompany the choirs.
Next it was the senior pupils turn, led by Mrs Harrison. The senior choir, who are now up to 110 performers, sang a rousing modern version of the traditional hymn ‘Veni Veni Emmanuel’ by MJ Trotta, ably accompanied by Amy McAree and Louise Leonard on percussion. The senior chamber choir then sang another modern version of a well known text ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks’ composed by Craig Courtney and once again Coleena Chan (Y11) accompanied on piano beautifully.
The final piece was ‘A Christmas Blessing’ by Philip Stopford which was sung by the combined choirs. This piece has became a firm favourite at Victoria College and we never want to celebrate Christmas without it. Aimee Neill (Y14) led the choir with a stunning solo for the first verse, before all the pupils joined in.
All in all it was a wonderful evening. As always, none of this is possible without the hard work and dedication shown by pupils who diligently come to rehearsals as early as 8.30 in the morning. We are so lucky as a College to have such talent within our community. I would like to pay a particular tribute to the Y14 pupils for whom this is their last carol service. I hope you always cherish your memories of your time in the music department.