16th December - St Crispin's Chamber Choir at the Methodist Church

We were in the warmth of the Wokingham Methodist Church for this 16th performance in 2016's Wokingham Living Advent Calendar.

St Crispin's Chamber Choir were back to entertain us with some suitably seasonal songs led by their music director, Nicholas Wolstencroft, including "Here is the little door" by Herbert Howells, "The Truth from Above" by Vaughan Williams and an alternate version of Away in a Manger. As last year they were excellent, showing a real scope of talent through the school of all ages from the students to the teachers.




And as we were all enjoying it so much we had an encore of "Ding Dong Merrily on High".

Tonight we are at the Hope and Anchor on Station Road for what is likely to be one of the more unusual performances by the Mighty Lemons, a 7 piece Ukulele Band.

7th December - St Crispin's Chamber Choir at Wokingham Methodist

On the 7^th day of Wokingham Living Advent Calendar we had St Crispin’s Chamber Choir performing a programme of traditional a cappella music for the Advent and Christmas season.

In the warm at Wokingham Methodist Church a crowd of around 40 enjoyed a presentation of songs including “A Great and Mighty Wonder”, “The Truth sent from above” and “Away in a Manger”, Jamie Hudson conducting.

The below video shows a snippet of the performance.

Tonight join us at H20 on Rose Street for performance 8, which will be the “SingHealthy” Thames Valley Community Choir.

5th December - The Olivia Dance Academy

Friday night saw one of the largest audiences ever for the Wokingham Living Advent Calendar. Filling the main church hall at the Methodist Church some had to be content with listening from outside as The Olivia Dance Academy performed a version of The Nutcracker.

The Olivia Dance Academy pupils have been working very hard and enjoyed preparing for this evening immensely. The children performed some dances from the seasonal ballet The Nutcracker as well as a couple of other dances.  2015 will be The Olivia Dance Academy’s 20th anniversary teaching ballet, tap and modern to young children from ages 3 years up to professional level all around Wokingham. The school has a major production in South Hill Park’s Wilde Theatre, dancing Coppélia in June 2015, which everyone is very much looking forward to.

There was rapt silence as the students of all ages and grades performed. Afterwards we were treated to a late viewing of the always amazing Christmas Tree Festival. 

18th December 2013 - Wargrave Theatre Workshop Juniors

It was another wild, wet and windy night, so wild it was decided to move it from Ruby Rose into the comforting warmth of the Methodist Church for a second time this week.

The evenings performance was by Wargrave Theatre Workshop Juniors who presented, 'Twas the Fright before Christmas', a tale of ungrateful children who get taught a lesson at the hands of a reformed Scrooge. As promised the performance proved to be both heartwarming and funny, with the young people really digging deep to give a fabulous 15 minutes of entertainment.

The audience of around 50 people very much enjoyed themselves and not just because they unexpectedly had seats and a warm inside space.

We hope you will enjoy the full performance in this 15 minute video.



Again thanks to the Methodist Church for being able to accommodate us at short notice and thanks to Ruby Rose for agreeing to be a venue even thought at the end they weren't used.

I hope you will join us tonight at Antique Rose for another surprise performance in the Wokingham Living Advent Calendar. There are only 5 left to go.

Plus don't forget Saturday is the Live Nativity at 4:15pm on Elms Field.

16th December 2013 - Thames Valley Chorus at the Methodist Church

It was a cold and wet evening last night. A weather warning had been put in place about forecast heavy rain, and while the rain held off mostly until later in the evening the decision was made earlier in the day to move the performance that should have taken place outside Clifton Ingram to inside the Methodist Church.

It was a beautiful performance by Thames Valley Chorus who sung unaccompanied and without amplification in male 4-part close harmony to an audience of around 30. Songs included "White Christmas" and "I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas" and this haunting rendition of "O Holy Night".



Many thanks to Ian Severn of the Methodist Church who was able to accomodate us including a festive backdrop of a projection of Christmas trees. Many thanks also to Clifton Ingram Solicitors on Broad Street  who I know would have hosted us just as well had the weather been a little kinder.

Tonight we will be at Kaanaanmaa Jewellers on Denmark Street for another surprise Living Advent Calendar Performance.