5th December - Kesara at Rococo

Our venue for last night was Rococo, an independent jeweller in Bush Walk off the Market Place. Performing for us was Kesara a rock/folk duo who entertained the 40 strong audience with a selection of covers and other songs including, Drama Queen, Big Yellow Taxi (made famous by Joni Mitchell) and Respect (Erasure).

Kesara are a guitar and vocals duo, with an eclectic mix of music, ranging from country, rockabilly to pop.  They perform popular covers, such as Perfect Day and Sara is a talented song-writer in her own right, singing and performing her own material.

Councillor Mrs King, who also introduced the performance, closed the evening for us but not before introducing the Mayor who had an extra message for the audience and for Rococo.

It has been 25 years of Rococo trading in Wokingham and the Town Council congratulated Juliette and the team at Rococo for that milestone. www.jewellerybyrococo.com

The video below includes one song by Kesara and the closing speech by Councillor Mrs Dianne King and Town Mayor Cllr Martin Bishop.  

Tonight join us at the newly relocated Sanpa, a Spanish Food shop at 6 Peach Street for another talented local duo.

4th December 2013 - Wokingham Choral Society at Herrington and Carmichael

For the 4^th Day of Advent, we had an almost concert hall feeling with the covered entrance to Herrington and Carmichael Solicitors echoing to the magnificent sounds of Wokingham Choral Society.

It was a chilly evening but around 50 people huddled together enjoying chocolates handed out by the solicitors and carols including We Wish you a Merry Christmas and other festive favorites. 

Wokingham Town Team took a video of the night which they have uploaded to their Facebook page. We hope that those of you not on Facebook will still be able to view it. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=485453438238893

 

Below are a selection of photos taken.

You can find out more about Wokingham Choral Society at www.wokingham-choral-society.org.uk and I am given to understand that the full 100 singers will be at their annual Christmas Carol Concert on Saturday 21^st December, 7:30pm at All Saints’ Church. 
 

We hope you will be able to join us tonight at Rococo, Bush Walk. It is also the first Town Team organised Late Shopping Thursdays. Some shops around town will be staying open to 7pm on Thursdays up to Christmas. www.wokinghamtownteam.co.uk for more.

3rd December 2013 - Churches Together in Wokingham Choir at Wokingham Railway Station.

Voices rose en masse on Tuesday night with the Churches Together in Wokingham Choir performing outside the new Wokingham Railway Station.

Wokingham Borough Councillor Rob Stanton introduced the act and an audience of around 40 stayed to watch and join in with the full performance, with commuters watching as they passed.

The Churches Together in Wokingham “scratch” choir have been performing Carols at the Station for about 5 years now, to welcome commuters home and to get them into the Christmas spirit.  The choir and musical group is made up of people from all of the Churches in Wokingham.

There were a number of carols sung, including perennial favorites “Away in a Manger”, “Ding Dong Merrily on High” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. Afterward the choir gave out small chocolates to the audience.

Below is a short video of the event.



We hope to see you tonight at Herrington and Carmichael at 27 Broad Street tonight at 6:15pm for another musical treat.

2nd December 2013 - Victoria Pugh with Poetry for Wokingham at Wokingham Library

We were more than happy to welcome back Victoria Pugh to Wokingham Living Advent Calendar. After her fantastical and funny performance last year, who could forget Mr Wickham!, Victoria was back reading poems including a number from her new book Mrs Marvellous. Including; some funny poems, some sad poems, some poems to join in, some poems to listen to, some poems for Christmas, and poems about food. There was also a poem about the “Mad Stad”, Madjeski Stadium to the uninitiated.

To finish Gillie Tunley joined Victoria at the microphone to encourage a little sing-a-long and the audience responded with a rousing and heartfelt rendition of “We Wish you a Merry Christmas”.

Wokingham Library hosted, with the café staying open later and offering a free mince pie for every hot drink purchased and the sofas and chairs were full with about a 70 strong crowd in rapt enjoyment of the poetry.

Please enjoy the photos below from the evening, maybe you will even see yourself in one of them.



Wokingham Library provides resources and services to inspire and support learning and knowledge for all. Residents can join the library free of charge, borrow books and other media and gain free access to the Internet. The library runs numerous clubs, events and activities for adults and children-for more information go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries

For last years performance by Victoria check out this entry on the blog for the 10th December .

We hope you will join us tonight at Wokingham Railway Station for the 3rd performance. 

1st December 2013 - County School of Dancing at Wokingham Town Hall

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

It seemed fitting to start with this line from "Twas the night before Christmas", last night was the 1st of this the second year of Wokingham Living Advent Calendar and it was certainly a good night.

The Town was bedecked with decorations and the Town Hall made a fitting backdrop for our event. The evening started with a wonderful welcome by Town Mayor, Cllr Martin Bishop, and Father Christmas appeared on the balcony to introduce the performers. Mince pies and shortbread biscuits were quickly eaten by a crowd of at least 150 all keen to see what this first night would bring.

Couples from The County School of Dancing, based in Reading, performed a waltz and a cha-cha-cha and then encouraged the assembled audience to learn a few simple cha-cha-cha moves.

“Tonight we are going to be entertained by Strictly Fun , 4 dancing couples from the County School of Dance.  They will give us a demonstration of the Waltz and Cha-cha-cha.  Then it will be your turn!  Instructors, Trudi & Hayley will guide you through your paces in the Cha-cha-cha.” www.countyschoolofdancing.co.uk

After the very impressive audience dance we had a very special small green guest. Kermit the Frog joined us to welcome in this years Living Advent and read “Twas the night before Christmas”, although he needed a little help from us and his assistant to remember the words. But maybe he was just a little jet lagged from his trip over the pond.

But take a look at the video and photos below for a taste of the event.





Many thanks in advance for everyone who helped and will help to put on this event. If the first night is anything to go on it will be a fantastic advent period.

Tonight we will be at Wokingham Library, where there will be a free mince pie with every hot drink ordered at the café and a suitably literary performance.

Living Advent Calendar 2013

Good tidings we bring....

December is fast approaching and by now we hope you have seen a Wokingham Living Advent Calendar poster in a shop in town, leaflets in one of the venues, the recent article in the Wokingham Times or the updated website at www.wokingham-tc.gov.uk/advent.

Venues are confirmed and we are very grateful for their participation. Performers are also fixed and we are looking forward to being able to reveal them as the month progresses.

For those of you itching for a video here is a recap of some of last years performers.

December 21st 2012 - Wokingham Choral Society outside Waitrose

Back to work here and what should I find but a late Christmas present of a memory stick with some videos on it from the latter performances of the Living Advent Calendar. 

Here is a video from the performance of the Wokingham Choral Society outside Waitrose on the 22nd December 2012.