Warm up the carol-singing vocal cords and help raise money for charity.
One of the things many of us associate with this time of year is choirs and carols. You don’t have to frequent church to know the words to Silent Night or Away in a Manger.
King’s Community Choir are holding a carol concert to help us celebrate the festive time of year and bring in the holidays in style. Rachael West, 31, is a contracts lawyer by day, but also leads the choir, who have a host of diverse songs at the ready. 
HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN INVOLVED WITH MUSIC?
I started playing piano at age seven and started playing double bass at age 10. After taking lessons, it became a passion. I grew up playing and touring with national orchestras every summer, playing very traditional classical music. I’ve always been involved in music in church as well, playing much more contemporary and modern music.
IS THIS YOUR FIRST CHOIR CONCERT WITH KING’S COMMUNITY CHURCH?
This is actually our sixth annual Christmas concert and maybe our 10th overall. I lead the choir and, along with a few others, oversee the event and plan the programme. We’ve been running it in church since 2011.
ARE YOU ALL READY FOR CHRISTMAS?
I hope so. We’ve been singing Christmas songs with the choir since September now so it seems like Christmas has been a long time coming.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF CHRISTMAS?
I love that it’s a holiday and a time for family and friends to get together and, being a Christian, it’s wonderful to remember the real meaning and why we celebrate Christmas and why it’s important to us.
WHY WHERE FRIENDS OF ANCHOR AND OPEN DOORS CHOSEN AS THE CHARITIES?
When we thought about charities we wanted to support, we wanted something local and something international and globally focused. With the constant appearance of Syria and the crisis there being in the news, as a church we are keen to do whatever we can to help and support the aid there.
Open Doors are doing great work over there and, as we have a link with the charity as a church, it seemed a natural fit. With Friends of Anchor, they do fantastic work in our city and we have a close link with them as a church, so again it seemed very natural for us to support them in any way we can at this time of year.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE COME TO THE CHOIR CONCERTS?
Christmas is a great season to celebrate and to remind us that giving something to someone always brings more joy. The concert is our way to give something back to the city and hopefully bring joy and celebration to the people in Aberdeen.
DO YOU THINK CONCERTS ARE STILL AS POPULAR AS THEY USED TO BE?
For us, we’ve found that they definitely are. I think as it’s completely free and the Beach Ballroom is in a neutral venue and is very much a Christmas concert getting people in the mood for Christmas, it seems people are always keen to attend and come along. Each year our numbers increase. We have outgrown our previous venue and, due to such high numbers last year, we’ve decided to put on two concerts this year so hopefully it will be as popular this year as previous years.
The annual Christmas Carol Concert, at Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom, is on Sunday, December 18. The concert is performed by King’s Community Church Choir. There are two performances – 3pm and 6pm – which are free, ticketed events and a collection for the charities will be taken at both performances. See www.kingscommunitychurch.org or call 01224 651000.
