This week-end I was privileged to be the guest of the Wokingham Choral Society on Saturday evening and of the Wokingham Primary Schools’ choirs on Sunday.

The adults produced a wonderful evening of harmonious music. Their voices soared in the parish Church of All Saints. They sang with a verve and precision which enchanted the audience and filled the nave with their great sound.

On Sunday evening the local large leisure centre hall came alive with Christmas lights and decorations. The Berkshire Young Maestros played brilliantly. Their chairs and instruments were covered in tinsel and lights. There were at least six Christmas trees of different sizes adorning their playing area and their larger instruments. Around 400 primary school children created a good noise for wonderful childrens’ carols and Christmas songs.

The maestri sported Father Christmas hats or reindeer red antlers, the children were all wearing red headgear. The music stands were transformed by tinsel and the larger string instruments by flashing coloured lights. We went on Leroy Anderson’s sleigh ride, and galloped through his Christmas festival. We climbed aboard the train, failed to doge the census, and heard Santa Claus is coming to town.

It was glorious swashbuckling evening of musical adventure. It was full of the varied traditions of our Crhistmas, with everything from Christian carols through the folklore of St Nicholas to the brash compulsion of modern American commercial Christmas. It was enormous fun, and I am grateful to all the performers. Both evenings enabled our community to raise money for charity.