Education: Children bring festive cheer with carols
A SHELDON school has been celebrating Christmas by going on the road and touring city venues to share their singing skills.
The choir of St Thomas More Catholic Primary School has been raising the roof in concert halls, old people’s homes and even outside as the youngsters bring festive cheer to hundreds of people.
The choir, which was founded by the school’s head teacher Sister Susan Collins three years ago, has been so successful it has even helped make a CD – which it hopes will be a charity fund-raiser in the New Year.
This winter the youngsters have been singing to residents of the Royal Star and Garter Nursing Home in Solihull, in the foyer of Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and at the Irish Centre in Digbeth.
And over the past few years the children have also performed in country parks, Selly Park Convent, the National Indoor Arena and the Alexandra Theatre.
Teaching assistant Ann Shakespeare says being a member of the school choir needs a lot of dedication.
“They come in early at least two mornings a week for practice and they also have catch-up time at lunch times,” she says. “Sister Susan also took on a singing coach to help some of them after school.
“They work very hard – they know 60 songs off by heart as they are not allowed a song sheet.”
Being a school chorister may be a lot of work but it is also plenty of fun says eight-year-old Francesca Scott, a founder member.
“I love it,” she says. “At Christmas we do all the songs like Away in a Manger, Silent Night and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And the rest of the year we do a lot of Irish songs.
“It is really good being in the choir because you get lots of trips to sing in exciting places. And we get to raise money for people who need it.”
Francesca is one of 39 children aged between seven and 11 who make up the choir – all of whom have gained their places due to talent.
“If you are good at singing practice then Sister Susan wants to listen to your voice and if you are good enough then you can be in the choir,” says Francesca.
Music must run in the Scott family as ten-year-old sister Emilia is also a member of the choir.
“It is really amazing when you sing to people,” she says. “It is a really good experience. I don’t get nervous and you can even learn the hard songs if you practice enough. I like singing all the songs, I don’t really mind which we do.
“The best place we have sung is the Alexandra Theatre. We sang for people before the show and then everyone went to see the show and we were allowed to see it as well. It was Santa Claus and it was very good.”
The choir is also giving the youngsters experience and confidence – so much so that ten-year-old Niamh McCorriston is taking her musical career a bit further and is auditioning for the TV series Britain’s Got Talent.
“I love singing and I am singing ‘What’s Up?’ for the auditions,” says Niamh. “I have been singing since I was 18 months old and having singing lessons at school really helps.
“I really liked going to sing to the old people in the home. They were people who had fought in the war so we sang them war songs as well as Christmas carols – things like I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles and (There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover.
“Afterwards we met them and they said thank you and they had really enjoyed our singing.”
Relatively new to the choir is eight-year-old Lily Finlay, who joined 18 months ago.
“I wanted to be in the choir because I like singing,” she says. “My favourites are Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and See Him Lying On a Bed of Straw. I like pop songs as well.
“I like performing in front of people. Some people get nervous but I don’t and it is really good when you see everyone smiling at you.
“Some of it is hard – all the high notes are hard to sing but we practice them a lot and Sister Susan helps us.”
It also helps children make new friends at the school as nine-year-old Grace Cullen discovered.
“It means you meet people from other classes who you might not know if you weren’t in the choir,” she says. “It mixes all of the ages.
“It can be hard sometimes with some of the songs but Sister Susan smiles a lot and that helps. I would be really sad if the choir stopped as I really enjoy it.”
As does Clare Doherty, who celebrates her 11th birthday this weekend.
“I wanted to be part of the choir because I like singing and it is a good way to make new friends,” she says. “And it is a really good opportunity because we go out of school and get to see other places.
“All the places we have sung have been really nice and people always like what we do.”
There may be nearly 40 youngsters in the choir but there is a definite majority of girls, not that nine-year-old Ronan Murphy minds.
“There are a lot more girls than boys but I don’t know why,” he says. “Maybe the girls like singing more than the boys.
“I really like it, especially the Christmas songs, and I practice a lot at home. My brother Callum says I practice too much.”
Ronan is not sure whether or not his future lies in singing.
“I would like to be a singer when I grow up but I think it is more likely I will be a lawyer.”
And the choristers will be having their first stab at stardom next year when their CD comes out.
“The children took part in Cop Idol, a police singing competition,” says Ann. “They were finalists and had to go to the police centre at Tally Ho in Edgbaston. They didn’t win but the organisers said they liked their singing so much they invited them to sing a song on a CD.
“They spent four hours in the Priory recording studio in Sutton Coldfield doing Hallelujah and they loved it. They are really excited about the CD coming out, especially as it should be for a local charity.
“I am sure lots of them will want to get copies and we took lots of pictures of them doing the recording.
“Also when we were waiting beforehand we were in the foyer of a company called CRH Transport Training and they said they wanted to help us so they have offered us a coach for our next few visits. That is a real help as it isn’t easy taking all of the choir on local transport. They take up most of the top deck of a bus – and it costs a lot of money.”
The choir is keen to hear from places where they could perform in the future.
“We are always looking for new places to sing so if anyone would like us to visit them we would love to hear from them,” says Ann.
* If you would like to know more about the school choir or would like to invite the children to sing, Ann can be contacted at St Thomas More School on 0121 743 3289.
