This is my favorite evening of the whole year. Seriously.
I just absolutely love this event. These are the ingredients, although each year is different and unpredictable...: (1) at least one song that the audience is invited to sing but the words are not available to read; (2) an act that just goes on way longer than it should to the point of being unbearably dull; (3) heart-touching beauty in the form of a surprising act or moment. Tears always come to my eyes at some point in the evening, either from feeling the Christmas spirit in a piercing moment of purity or from laughing so hard that I'm about to burst.
The event started at 6:30 pm in the village hall with the bar open from the little kitchen and all donations from the whole evening going towards the peanut ward at the East Grinstead hospital. The Fishlock family runs the night and they serve their homemade cider which is lovely but dangerous! Other drinks available too, of course, and so everyone bought some beverages and then found a place to sit or stand so the evening could start. The MC ('Mr Fish') welcomed everyone and we all sang a Christmas Carol to kick things off. Then there was the traditional moment of uncertainty as we prepared to turn the Christmas tree lights on: do we stay inside and just peer out the windows to see the lights come on, or do we all go outside and gather round the tree to have the lights come on?
This year it was the latter (as it normally is) and so with everyone moaning about how they only just sat down and took their coats off to get comfortably settled into the evening, they huffingly put their coats back on and shuffle as a crowd outside to the dark muddy grass round the tree. The lights got switched on, and everyone sang 'O Christmas Tree'. The kids (having now been turned loose outside with their friends) immediately started running around in the dark muddy grass and playing tag, hide-n-seek, and all those types of games before they got ushered back under control. So after this one song (which, by the way, had the lyrics printed out in the programs although it was too dark to actually read the writing) everyone filed back to their seats so the entertainment could continue. The small kids always sit on the floor in front, and for some reason the crowd this year was particular vocal and confident in their comments and even heckling! Poor Mr Fish really struggled to manage this surly crowd. Next up was the Danehill Handbell Ringers with their decades-old piece of cardboard that provides the music for them to read from.
Then next came Danehill School performing some pieces which they hadn't practiced before (since Mr Waters has left the school to become a proper teacher, they have really suffered on the fun, musical energy side). Fair play to Susie for rallying everyone to even get up there in the first place tonight. The only bummer was that they sang 'Jingle Bells' which we had only just finished singing with the Handbell Ringers, and actually the night would also feature a 3rd repetition of the song as well later in the program! Anyway, the evening is not the same without a school performance so it had to be done.
There were a few other acts in the first half of the night, including an impromptu performance of 'The northern lights of Aberdeen' sung by some visiting relatives of a family in the village who had traveled down from Scotland for the holidays; a solo a-capella performance of some song I've never heard of (which was quite brave); and then a couple of songs by Mr Fish himself. Finally it was intermission and a chance to refill the glasses. Unfortunately a lot of the audience took advantage of the break to make their escape entirely, which was noticeable once the intermission was over and the hall was suddenly quite empty! Anyway, during the intermission one of the kids went up to Mr Fish and volunteered to perform an act with 5 other boys but didn't say what they were going to perform. So Mr Fish invited these 6 mystery boys to the front and Tryfan was among them! They all stood in a line at the front looking thick and thieves and I'm sure I wasn't alone in expecting them to bust out a raunchy toilet-humor song... but instead we got this:
And although the evening continued for awhile after this, it was this performance which was my favorite of the program. I'm just glad that Emma encouraged me to film it before I knew what I was filming! Anyway, it was a great evening and then I walked down to the Coach with Anne Marie for a 'farewell to Macha' event.
Today we went to the Gregory's house for an afternoon walk and dinner. They had invited another family to join as well, and we had a great time meeting new people. The kids all got along fabulously and we left late at night, but New Year's Eve is tomorrow so we should get used to staying up late anyway.
