The joy of Christmas

Many moons ago ah had to share my place of Sunday worship, Salvation Army in de morning and Gospel Hall Sunday School in de afternoon, one foh de father-side and one foh de mother-side ah family. Quite frankly ah preferred Gospel Hall, dey had ah one-dah-full Sunday School program, de best actually, dey had some excellent Sunday School Teachers de likes of Mack Velox, Doris Adams and her brothers Conrad and Edgar he was not Doc den, Clive Mc Kie, Miss March ah saintly looking white lady from England, Miss Walker and others. Every Sunday yuh had to memorize ah new Bible verse foh which yuh got three points, two points foh attendance, one foh punctuality; then at de end of de year, children with de highest score received an Awe-ward.{{more}}

We also had an annual picnic at Argyle on Discovery Day, only de very rich and fear-most had cars in those days, so it was ah novelty to ride dis never ending ten mile journey on de back of ah PWD truck to Argyle, some of us even getting land-sick, but did we ever have fun, was like de whole ah Kingstown went to Gospel Hall Sunday School. We learned ah lot ah catchy choruses: ” Joy, Joy Joy; oh Joy my heart is ringing” then we sang “It’s Bubbling! It’s bubbling in my heart” my fair-foh-it chorus was JOY : Jay Owe Why, Jay Owe Why, this must surely be, Jesus first, Yourself last and Others in between”!

Jay Owe Why (JOY) has ah different meaning now-ah-days. Foh some of us our JOY is full-filled with Money or Power or Nice House, Nice Car even Nice Clothes, how could I not mention Nice Woe-man or Nice Man? Now don’t go pointing fingers, every one ah we got we price or weakness, some big some small; in my own case one ah my many weaknesses is me belly, not die-ah-rear, ah nice plate ah food; when my belly full, my heart is full ah JOY! But at Christmas ah JOY is in de Music, de Carols, de Parang, de Bum Drum or whatever and ah had ah taste ah Christmas from The New Kingstown Chorale over de weekend.

By strange coincidence de theme foh de concert was The JOY of Christmas. And of course yuh expect nothing but de best when yuh go to ah Chorale Concert; over de years dis group has become synonymous with excellence and last Sat-dey night there was no room foh short-change, we got we money’s worth. First de Juniors and Kids, de future Choralites filled our hearts with JOY; some promising soloists among them: Christie Balcombe, Avril Hamilton, Javed Collins; Daniela Dalrymple will soon put he mom Roxanne to sit back and listen to good singing in ah few years. There was ah guest Flutist Ms Sikorska whose contribution to de musicians was noticeable; but there was also ah Junior (female) who accompanied de singers with her Recorder in de song “Holy Child” who truly impressed me, sorry ah didn’t get her name. Ah enjoyed “Going to Bethlehem” followed by Becket’s “Calypso Noel” best of all. Hermina Cambridge is back and believe me de Sopranos sounded full-some! So also was de Tenors wit Addison Stoddard’s return, one ah de best ah heard foh years. Cameron James did not lip-sing, he sang, ah heard him.

Trevor Edwards was de Ole Wine dis time; ah didn’t say he ole wined on stage, but he did dat too. Calma Balcombe successfully put back some Holiness into “O Holy Night” ah beautiful arrangement by de group, yuh notice ah never mention de Conductor Jan Horne, ah JOY to watch she simply energizes her choir.

Chorale never leaves out de spice of de Pan and dat was filled by Rhythmix, ah love to watch Miss Mc Kenzie pon dat Bass, she is de coolest. Ron Browne tried ah lickle thing with ah Christmas Song he wrote dis year and it went down well but Lord Kitchener will Sue Chorale foh teking de Rum out ah “Drink No Rum on ah Christmas Morning”!

If we could all try dat in truth foh many it would be De JOY of Christmas. Have ah JOY-full Christmas, remember ” J foh Jesus first, O foh Others in between and Y foh Yourself last and with dat ah gone again.

One Love Bassy!