By MICHELLE HERBISON
A FAMILY-FRIENDLY Christmas carols afternoon requires two things of its audience – singing along and wearing something Christmassy, according to organiser Sarah Carroll.
The Sarah Christmas Carrolls event at Ocean Grove’s Piping Hot Chicken Shop will feature a variety of local professional and amateur musicians celebrating the fun side of the festive season, Carroll explained.
“What Christmas is really great at is getting people together. This seems to be a nice way to blow off a bit of Christmas pressure – it’s always been a very daggy, fun, hilarious afternoon.
Carroll said she had invited a group of her ukulele students to perform for the first time, as well as confirming well-known local acts Wayne Jury, Dave Steel and Tiff Eckhart, Tex Miller, Tides of Welcome Choir, Ukulele Carnivale and Aine Tyrrell.
“It’s sort of a twisted Christmas carols because the people who come to play and sing do one Christmas song then a few of their own.”
“We try to keep it moving pretty fast through the acts to make sure everybody gets a turn. There’ll be communal singing as well – we want everyone to join in and have a great time.”
Musicians would perform voluntarily, with a bucket to go around collecting donations to a charity nominated by Piping Hot Chicken Shop owner Ben Chudoschnik.
This year’s event on Sunday afternoon would be about the sixth Sarah Christmas Carrolls event, she said.
“It’s always heaving. As the kids grow, different families are coming through.
“A lot of my new students this year are coming for the first time and I’ve reassured everybody it’s a very non-judgemental crowd.”
Carroll said past events had included some unique renditions of favourite carols as well as some in other languages.
“The 12 Days of Christmas is always a big highlight of mine personally. Andrea Robertson did it with me last year and she did an absolute cracker of a job.
“She was just a huge asset of the whole afternoon with her fantastically bluesy take on the carols, always pumping them out between the acts.”
