Choir hits high banknotes

The annual Springfield Cambridge Festival Chorus and Orchestra have attracted capacity audiences for over a decade.

This year’s event again showcased the unforgettable “Springfield sound” at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in the presentation of “With Great Joy”.

A blend of contemporary and traditional festive music was delivered in spectacular style by a 150 voice chorus, 42 piece orchestra, guest soloists and musical director Alan A. Craig.

The Bishopbriggs-based group raised an amazing £30,628 at the concert, adding to sums raised in previous years and making a tremendous total for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) of £218,714.

Chairman Mike Walker, who has been involved in the choir since the first performance back in 2002, said: ‘‘We had a tremendous turn out, we are absolutely thrilled to bits.’’

All the 42-strong orchestra and 150-strong chorus give up their time for free, and their once-a-year performances have been selling to full houses since the beginning.

Such was the clamour for tickets, they moved after a few years from the church itself to the City Hall, then the Armadillo at the SECC, and now to the Glasgow Concert Hall where they performed in front of 2,500 people.

Mike added: ‘‘We’ve been performing to a gull house ever since we started out in our local church in Bishopbriggs.’’

The year they had booked out the Armadillo to ensure having 1100 seats they were featured on the lunchtime news on the BBC, and so many people turned up at the door on the night that they had to open up the balcony to accommodate the hundreds of extra people.

This year every seat in the house was filled, including the choir stalls. CHAS has always been the charity to benefit from the proceeds of the Christmas concert, and is a cause close to their hearts.

Mike added: ‘‘It’s a time of giving when we think of children less fortunate than ourselves.’’

This year’s £30,628 donation was handed over to CHAS last Wednesday.