certainly won’t be a Silent Night in Thame tonight at 6pm, as people will take to their doorsteps to join together for some socially-distanced Christmas Carol singing. The idea was initiated by Lea Parks Residents Association (www.facebook.com/LeaParkThame) when they found out that the normal Christmas eve Carols round the tree event would be unable to go ahead! They decided that it would be brilliant to try to organise some carol singing on doorsteps – similar to the fantastic ‘clap for our carers’ that took place every week during lockdown.
A little investigation led to a discovery – they weren’t the only people who had come up with this same crazy idea! Hyperlocal magazine ‘My Shrewsbury’ had already teamed up with event’s organisers Shropshire Festivals to sow the seeds of the idea in Shropshire. BBC Radio Shropshire was the first local radio station to join the party to help them to get their idea off the ground! Contact was made with them to join in the fun. It didn’t take long for Red Kite Radio to get on board with an offer of playing carol music on their station, and so Thame can join in with many other locations around the country in a big Christmas sing song.
Although it may feel like the bleak mid-winter, start your fa-la-la-la-la-ing this year by downloading the carol sheet from www.doorstepcarols.co.uk/Documents/Words-Nov-20_compressed.pdf, tuning your radio to 107.2fm – or listen online at www.redkiteradio.com – and wrapping up warm to join your neighbours in this event.
Hark! You will ALSO be able to hear Thame angels sing on Christmas Eve as well – as the normal Carols around the Christmas tree event is going ahead on-line! For the last 15 year Carols around the Christmas Tree have taken place in front of the Town Hall on Christmas Eve. A group of friends started to arrange this after being inspired by the similar event held in Chinnor. Thame Concert Band came on-board and play beautifully each year. The people of Thame have made generous donations to local Charities, for the last few years the money collected has been split between to The Red Kite Children’s Centre and Thame Senior Friendship Centre. The link will be available all day on 24th December and everyone is invited to join in for half an hour of Carols to sing along to and rekindle the spirit of this community event. The link will be available nearer the time through the FB event www.facebook.com/events/1139518189859992 and on day 24 of the Thame Advent Calendar at www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk/community/christmas
