Wigan college students putting on virtual Christmas concert

The Gathurst college usually brings the community together at St Teresa’s Church in Up Holland to sing the songs of Christmas and raise money for Cafod.

However, with Covid-19 preventing public events taking place the show is going online with a virtual performance on Thursday.

The online concert will be a lavish affair, with musicians and singers from the Gathurst college being joined by young talent from partner secondary and primary schools.

There will even be an international element as Cafod has arranged for a choir from Sierra Leone in West Africa to join in the festive celebrations.

St John Rigby College head of performing arts David Wall said: “The Cafod carol concert has been going for about 30 years and we really didn’t want to miss it this year, so we decided to take it virtual.

“We work in partnership with Cafod and they got us the choir from Sierra Leone. It’s a group of girls from one of their projects. When we got their video we knew we just had to put to put the concert on.

“We want to draw everybody together at such a difficult time. We’re hoping to create something to celebrate the way we normally would, just virtually rather than in person.”

The concert will be a mixture of pre-recorded footage and live streams.

Words will come up on the screen so the audience can join in singing the carols at home.

There will also be a number of messages shown during the evening and a speaker will discuss the work Cafod has been doing in South America.

The virtual carol concert is on Thursday at 7.30pm. Register for a free ticket at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cafod-carol-service-2020-tickets-131449764785

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