CENTRAL Methodist Church in Bude was attractively decorated for a Concert of Christmas Music on December 17.

A large audience joined the Bude Choral Society and enjoyed singing familiar carols under the direction of John Hobbs, accompanied by Mike Richardson on the organ and Liz Jones at the keyboard.

John also sang 'The Carol Singer' and conducted the choir in some less-well known carols, which were well received by the audience.

One of the high spots of the evening was a performance by a 20 strong choir of young singers called the 'Mini-Minstrels' from the Minstrels Centre at Canworthy Water. Their programme of Christmas songs included 'Away in a Manger,' 'Jingle Bells' and 'Whatcha gonna call that baby?'

Not only was their diction and their intonation good, but they had been well trained to appear confident and happy in front of an audience by their Director of Music, Veronica Jones and their accompanist Penny Barclay. One of the songs also had an additional accompaniment of violin obligato played by Raymond Jones.

Another special feature of the concert was the return of The Bude Wind Ensemble which played special arrangements of 'Still the Night' and Peter Warlock's 'Capriol Suite.' Joy Topham read two items for Christmas and David Jones performed humorous monologues accompanied by Liz Jones.

The last carol of the evening sung by the audience and choir was 'Hark the Herald' which was followed by the final choral item 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' after which everybody was invited to enjoy seasonal refreshments in the hall.

The evening's proceeds of more than £400 are being donated to the Cornish Air Ambulance. A number of local people attended the concert and afterwards talked about their experiences as patients of this excellent service, which receives no financial support from the government. Some of them certainly owe their lives to the Air Ambulance and the National Health Service.

The next concert to be given by The Bude Choral Society will be a performance of 'The Seasons' composed by Joseph Haydn at Bude Central Methodist Church on March 21, 2009.