On Monday 13 December we had our annual Parents’ Carol Service. It was wonderful to be able to hold another live event and invite nearly 200 parents into our building, many of which had never managed to attend an event at Wren due to the restrictions over the last couple of years.

The evening included songs performed by the Gospel Choir, Chamber Choir and traditional bible readings and carols. The theme for the evening was ‘Love Came Down at Christmas’. The Chamber Choir sang a beautiful setting of the poem of the same title by Christina Rosetti and Rev Colin Brookes, provided a thought-provoking message linked to our theme. Many of the songs featured on the evening focused on the theme of love to support the theme of our service.

The Gospel Choir presented four songs during the service; this included the rousing 'Love Theory', a reflective song,  'When Love Was Born'  and a concluded the service with ‘The Blessing’, a song that went viral over the first Lockdown with a video of performers from Churches all over the UK

Over 40 new Year 7 students took part this year with the Year 7 Choir performing 'This Christmas'. It was a real pleasure to conduct so many smiling faces. Many of these students enjoyed watching the performances of the Gospel Choir so much they have since asked if they can join in the New Year!

A particular highlight of the evening was a performance by Year 13 student Valentina Fazzolari, who sensitively performed ‘Christmas Lullaby’ and completely captivated the audience with both her voice and communication with the audience.

Although we were unable to sing Christmas Carols as a congregation this year, it was lovely to have the Orchestra playing some traditional Christmas Carols as part of the service, which provided moments for the audience to reflect on many of the well known lyrics at this time of year.