Choir Sings Carols in North Carolina

In December, around 30 members of the choir flew to Charlotte, North Carolina for a busy performing tour. They were given a warm welcome by their host families and experienced much that the city had to offer during their visit, as well as performing in some unique locations.

A bus tour of the city revealed the history of Charlotte and its main attractions, including the American football stadium home to the city’s Panthers team. This was followed by a couple of hours at an outdoor ice-skating rink, resulting in a few bruises, before visiting that most American of destinations, a shopping mall. “The mall in itself was an experience - huge and decorated beautifully for Christmas. In the evening, we performed our first concert of the tour in St Gabriel's church and had a large and appreciative audience watching, which included our host families, and enjoyed showing them what we were capable of, “ said choir member Anna Webb, Year 13.

The choir also sung at Sunday Mass at St Gabriel’s before visiting Belmont Abbey, one of the major Benedictine Abbeys in America, where they performed to both congregation and monks. “We joined the parish choir of St Gabriel’s church and my host family later told me that they had never heard the congregation so enthralled to sing on a Sunday morning, commented Joseph Nurse, Year 12.

The Worth choir were invited to sing pre-match at the Charlotte Bobcats basketball stadium, which opened in 2005 with a Rolling Stones concert and holds a capacity audience of 19,026.  Charles Barclay-Hudson, Year 10, particularly enjoyed this performance. “We saw the players warming up, doing slam-dunks and much more. Although the stadium wasn’t full to the rafters, there was still a good crowd to hear us sing Christmas carols. Even though we weren’t hardened Bobcat supporters, we acted as if we were and cheered the Bobcats on to beat the New York Nicks.”