1st December 2017 - St Sebastian Wokingham Band at Wokingham Town Hall

We were in the warm of the Town Hall on the 1st, with mulled wine and gingerbread men while watching a rousing performance by St Sebastian Wokingham Band. Playing some Christmas classics including Ding Dong merrily, Good King Wenceslas and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer we had a full house singing along. Please enjoy the video below courtesy of Silk Purse video.



We will be sharing photos, videos and live feeds on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/wokinghamadvent so please do check there for the most up to date content.

23rd and 24th December 2016 - Wokingham Living Advent Calender

On the 23rd we were snug inside St Paul's Church for some spectacular choral singing by their resident choir. Including the "Truth from Above" and a bit of a singalong to carols including, "Ding Dong Merrily on High" and "Oh little town of Bethlehem". Rev'd Richard Lamey gave a couple of short readings and there were complimentary drinks and nibbles.



On the 24th we were down in Howard Palmer Gardens for a sunset performance including some great Wokingham Living Advent Calender talent of the past to party for the final performance of the year. Check out this live video courtesy of Mountain Entertainment of Danny as Elvis.




We hope you had a great time this December and we will be back later in 2017. Have a happy and healthy New Year.

22nd December - Bruce Neil at Antique Rose

Last night once again saw us back in Bush Walk. Georgina Hustler, owner of Antique Rose handed out Prosecco, then introduced Bruce Neil to the crowd. Bruce played guitar and sang some of  his more recently written songs that he is planning to release in the New Year. His daughters Elsie and Betsy spurred him on and offered to warn their Dads numb fingers from the cold air! A good crowd was gathered, and Bruce closed with his famous acoustic version of "Paradise City" which was well received.



Antique Rose has been described as 2 floors of lovely pretty things ... gorgeous gifts .... festive treats ... plus Wokingham's winter Wonderland.. a whole Floor of Christmas loveliness !!! And there is still time to go visit.

Tonight we are inside St Paul's Church for a performance by their Church Choir and tomorrow at 4pm work off those mince pies by joining us at Howard Palmer Gardens for what can only be described as a Wrap Up Party. Come one, come all for what may be a real mix of acts but will be a good time.

21st December - the 4Bones at Brown Bag Cafe

Brown Bag hosted a great night for our 21st Wokingham Living Advent Calendar of 2016. With mulled wine and mince pies being enjoyed by one of our largest crowds to date, the 4Bones played Christmas greats like "Have yourself a merry little Christmas", "Frosty the snowman" and "We wish you a merry Christmas". All performed with four trombones that gave this performance that difference the crowd loved.




A message from Brown Bag,
'Brown Bag has been in Wokingham Town Centre for over 10 years, serving the finest hot drinks, handmade sandwiches produced daily in our very own kitchens and cakes! We love being part of the Living Advent Calendar and hope lots of people come and join us’

Tonight we are inside St Paul's Church, sheltering from the forecast bad weather, for a performance by their Church Choir.

20th December - Not the North Band at the Dukes Head.

There was a real festive buzz in the Dukes Head last night as lots of people flooded in for the Living Advent Calendar. Local band "Not the North" warmed the crowd up playing some great covers including "Valerie". The 4 piece band then showcased some originals whilst the landlord of the pub handed out prosecco cocktails and mince pies. A really good atmosphere created by a very talented band who describe themselves as "Berkshire based, Four piece rock fusion band playing mainly originals and a few covers, drawing on a variety of styles, including prog rock, funk, swing, blues and Latin beats".

The video features one of their original tracks "Route 120".



Tonight we are at Brown Bag cafe just off Denmark Street with the 4Bones who are a four piece trombone act.

17th December - Meet a minion at Dollshouse Boutique

Saturday's performance saw us outside Dollshouse Boutique who gave out drinks and homemade nibbles. The Mountain Entertainment Minion "Jorge" featured in his very own "meet a minion" show! He danced the YMCA with the boys and girls joining in, as well as "chu chu ah" . There was then a photo opportunity to have a picture with Jorge, before everyone clapped and danced along to "Happy" which was a highlight- even for passers by!



Tonight you will find us at the Hope & Anchor for a performance by 7 piece Ukulele act The Mighty Lemons.

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 - Ben Lambert at the Ship Inn

We were at the Ship in for another grand performance by professional musician Ben Lambert.
Ben got the evening off to a swinging start with a Buble classic- "I just haven't met you yet", the audience joined in the swing of things by swaying along to "Sway" and "Save the last dance for me". A real "feel good" factor was in the air and the Ship Inn was well and truly packed with support for this evening’s performer!



Ben has been singing professionally for over 20 years, his singing career has sent him around the world on cruises and in International hotels. Ben’s vocal talents cover a vast repertoire of music and Artists.

Tonight we will be wrapped up warm in Wokingham Library with Luckley House Choir. Hope to see you there.

4th December - Mountain Entertainment at Sanpa

It was a fantastic turnout on Sunday afternoon with Sanpa our venue packed to the rafters.
Danny and the dancers from Mountain Entertainment started with their infamous "Viva Las Vegas", then Danny performed a Buddy Holly medley.

The dancers then joined Danny for the popular 60's favourite "Twistin the night away", followed by an upbeat Motown medley.

Next Danny had the crowd singing along and waving paper napkins to "Cant take my eyes off of you" which was a real highlight to see the whole of Sanpa joining in!

The finale was the classic "New York New York" with the girls wearing feathers and the crowd kicking their legs!!!

Mountain really wanted us to make sure you knew how excited they were to be taking part in 2016's Living Advent Calendar and thank you for coming along to this performance as well as supporting them throughout the year.

Enjoy this little video courtesy of Mountain Entertainment.



Tonight we are Dressing the Christmas Tree with 13 Wokingham Schools and Wokingham Choral Society. Hope to see you there.

3rd December - Time to Sing at Jess and Jake fashion

Saturday saw us at a packed Jess & Jake Fashion for the third Living Advent Calendar performance, it was great to see the shop crammed full of support for the performers of this special event.

Time to Sing are a small friendly choir who love to perform at local events, singing a wide variety of music ranging from show tunes to pop & rock. These fabulous ladies very much looking the part dressed in purple attire.

Their musical Director Daniel led the choir, they sang a mix of traditional carols and Christmas songs such as "Angels we have heard on high" ,"Do you hear what I hear?" and "Carol of the Bells" from the Home alone movie which was a true highlight with the blend of harmonies! A really talented choir that thoroughly delighted the public.

Enjoy the photos below and many thanks to the Wokingham Paper who captured a video on the night. Check out their Facebook page here for the video.

 

Jess & Jake Fashion treated the crowd with fizz and nibbles.

Hope you can join us tonight at Dressing the Christmas Tree.

Merry Christmas

Good Afternoon,

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas Eve. Don’t forget we have one final performance this evening at Wokingham Baptist a traditional choral service. But as it is Christmas Day tomorrow I will be with friends and family so the video may have to wait until the New Year. 

So in lieu of that here is a very short Merry Christmas from the Wokingham Living Advent Calendar. Ably assisted by the night of 15^th performer Reading Accordion Group and audience. 

13th December: Johnty's Sax & Bass Duo at the Art House

Day 13 of the Wokingham Living Advent Calendar took us to the wonderful Art House, More Arts’ gallery space in the centre of town. The performance was by duo Johnty Wilkes and K. Darling who wowed the crowd with a jazz performance of Saxophone & Sacred Advent Christmas Music. 

Combining beautiful, velvet soft sax (Johnty Wilks) & swelling bass (K. Darling) with new age jazz and sacred music, the duo performs what has been described as deeply relaxing "doom jazz" in churches and festivals in the UK, Ibiza & Brazil. 

The Wokingham Paper are continuing to do daily articles online on the Living Advent Calendar performances. Follow the link for some fab photos from the evening. 

http://www.wokinghampaper.com/wokingham-living-advent-calendar-day-13-the-art-house/

Tonight you will find us at The Ship Inn for some seasonal accordion music by Reading Accordion Group. 

5th December - The Barberettes at Grape Escape

The Grape Escape was the venue for the 5^th evening of the Wokingham Living Advent Calendar. They were joined by The Barberettes a ladies singing group from Reading, Wokingham & the surrounding areas who meet weekly in Woodley. In their words:

“We sing  4 part unaccompanied songs, which range from traditional barbershop numbers such as Java Jive to more recent songs by the Beatles and Lady Gaga - and just about everything in between! We are an all inclusive group and the majority of the ladies do not read music and amazingly learn from sound. If you would like to be part of this amazing team of ladies then we rehearse every Wednesday evening from 7.45pm at St John Ambulance Hall, Woodley. Contact Jo on 07570 651836 or email: thebarberettes@gmail.com”
 

They sang a selection of festive songs including a version of “Celebrate” and Jingle Bells which you will see below courtesy of Mark Poley of Wokingham 41 Club. Do Click through and take a look at some of Mark’s other videos, not only has he captured some other moments of other Wokingham Living Advent Calendar performances he also has videos of other events such as this weekend’s Toy Run.

Grape Escape were very festive hosts with nibbles and warming drinks for the crowd.

Tonight at 6:15pm we will be at Wokingham Methodist Church for St Crispin’s School Chamber Choir. See you there.