Life In Geordieland

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Anna Foster’s Magic Choir

December 22, 2013 in Music 0


If someone had told me a few months ago that I would be performing in a Christmas concert at The Sage Gateshead I would have burst out laughing. To be honest, that’s not far from the truth… Back in the summer Anna Foster, a good friend of mine and host of the breakfast show on local radio station Magic, had an idea to form a choir and raise money for North East charity, Cash for Kids.

When Anna first asked me to be involved I politely declined as I’ve never been a good singer, despite years of practice in the shower! However, several of my friends signed up and I guess the fear of missing out got the better of me so I joined too!

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Anna Foster – Photo by Sean Elliott

Anna’s vision was to create a concert filled with festive favourites and hits from the Magic playlist and her wingman was Mark Deeks, Musical Director from Music Newcastle. Together they guided me and around seventy other willing volunteers through eight Thursday evening rehearsals (yes, only eight)!

Gradually our confidence and our overall sound improved and although I’m sure a few more rehearsals wouldn’t have gone a miss, we went ahead and performed two sold out concerts on Wednesday 18th December in the Northern Rock Room at Sage Gateshead!

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It was alright on the night!

My friends and I were so nervous backstage, I had a belly full of butterflies! There was a wonderful atmosphere though and despite everyone having different ages and backgrounds we all came together for a common goal, to sing our hearts out and raise a shed load of cash for underprivileged kids!

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We gave it our all and I’d like to think we were perfectly imperfect, however, we were out shone in the early performance by the adorable children from Hadrian Primary School in South Shields – and in the second performance by the super talented local band North Road, who even composed their own Christmas song for Cash for Kids!

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Young Love.. Alfie and Scarlett from Hadrian Primary School

I can honestly say that taking part in the Magic Choir was one of the best things I’ve ever done! I’m sure I read somewhere that singing makes us happier and healthier and I’m inclined to agree. Even when I was feeling tired and grumpy, warbling with the other Magic listeners cheered me up no end and I’m really going to miss those Thursday night rehearsals!

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Now I’m sure you’ll be very disappointed that you’ve missed your chance to see me unleash my inner diva so to hear some audio recorded at the concert click HERE and to find out what else is on at The Sage over the festive period just visit www.sagegateshead.com

By Rachel Kershaw

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