"Big Sing" becomes a big thing

£5,000 raised for tsunami relief in a packed Church

Congratulations to all who organised and participated in the The Big Sing in aid of the Asian Tsunami reliefs funds at Our Lady of Grace and St Edward's Roman Catholic Church on Chiswick High Road on Sunday afternoon, 30th January. £5000 was raised for the Disaster Emergency Committee and HOPE for Children.

A packed audience was treated to a wide variety of excellent performances from:

• St Michael's Sutton Court Church Choir
• Anne McBride and her daughter Helen from St Nicholas Chiswick Parish Church
• Chiswick Seventh Day Adventist Gospel Choir
• The Russian Orthodox Cathedral Choir from Harvard Road
• Gabriela Machado from Gumley House Convent School
• Chiswick Catholic Parishes Children's Choir, joined by the Emanuel Choir from Fulham
• The Monks from the London Buddhist Vihara, Chiswick
• The London Oratory School Girls' Choir, Fulham
• The Big Dads - who gave us some numbers not normally heard in church!

and of course, everyone one joined in to sing "Amazing Grace" and "Jerusalem".

According to the producer, Clare Delmar Lynch, dozens of performers were turned away due to time constraints. “There’s a wealth of musical talent in our community and an audience for it as well”, she remarked.

A truly inspiring and memorable event, hopefully to be repeated in the future.

Annie Garfoot

February 3, 2005