Games Maker Choir’s Tenth Anniversary Concert success!

WOW! What a wonderful evening!

The anniversary concert delivered by the Games Maker Choir on the 8th of October 2022 was considered to be an immense success, with a great atmosphere in a packed St John’s Church, Hyde Park in London, the city where ‘The Games Makers’ – and the choir began.

The elegant church was dressed in the purple and poppy colours of the volunteer Games Maker uniform – with many colourful umbrellas hanging above the audience.

London 2012 flags and banners and a selection of volunteer uniforms from other international sporting events were also on display, donated by choir members from other adventures at Rio 2016, Sochi Winter Olympics 2014, Gold Coast 2018 and this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham among others.

This colourful scene greeted an enthusiastic audience who filled the church, cheerfully overcoming the challenges of the day’s rail strikes.

The concert got off to a great start with the sections of the choir entering the church from four different points, singing a new version of the ‘Four Nations Clarion’ medley which was part of the Olympics Opening Ceremony, ten years ago.

Each voice part represented one of the four nations, starting with the Soprano 1s beautifully singing the opening bars of William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’, the Altos joined in with ‘Flower of Scotland’, followed by the Soprano 2s with the Welsh anthem ‘Bread of Heaven’ and finally the Baritones with ‘Danny Boy’ to represent Northern Ireland.

The fabulous acoustics of the church meant that the audience knew they were in for a great evening!

The choir then all joined to complete the opening song with a rousing rendition of the four anthems, expertly arranged by our Musical Director Christopher Killerby.

The choir performed a total of 14 songs, some along with our talented piano accompanist Antonia Moxham, and some accompanied by the wonderful Barnes Concert Band – a full brass band who made a glorious sound and performed their own tunes too. Their repertoire is very wide, but we hope we have added a few more songs that they may adopt and that we will perform together at other events.

Bringing their unique sound to the party were our friends The Pandemonium Drummers who added even more colour to the church, each drummer lit up by their trademark bowler hats topped by light bulbs! Performing the iconic Opening Ceremony tune composed by ‘Underworld’ – ‘I Will Kiss’ – which accompanied the ‘Industrial Revolution’ scenes on that memorable night, the drummers also offered the lively ‘Carnival De Paris,’ rearranged as ‘Carnival de Lockdown’ by the drummers and filmed for an online audience during the pandemic.

The third of our performing guests was long-time friend Alistair Griffin, who bought along a talented team of technicians, sound and lighting and filming crew, as well as his lovely voice and guitar, which rang out through the church before joining the choir on a selection of songs, including our signature tune, Elbow’s ‘One Day Like This’! Of course, the audience joined in too, and along with the Band and Drummers, this tune made a rousing end to the concert.

We were honoured to be joined by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as special guest, well known for her Paralympic prowess and continued work to support Paralympians and UK Sport. Tanni was interviewed by the Choir’s manager Liz Stainthorpe and had some delightful stories to tell. The audience and choir were entertained by some specially created videos, including messages from well-known Olympians & Paralympians, which bought home to all present, just how much the choir has achieved in ten years.

To think that all this started with an invitation in the Volunteer newsletter during the 2012 London Games placed by volunteer Games Maker Victoria Verbi, which led to some embryonic choir performances in the volunteers’ canteen and on the Olympic Park stage, then a singalong at the Athletes’ Parade on The Mall, followed by the formal setting up of the choir, a record bid for the charts, multiple performances at a wide range of iconic venues, more recordings, and a whole new ‘family’ of friends.

So, it was fitting indeed that Victoria joined us to conduct a song which not only sums up our story but is a great song to sing together in harmony. Which is after all, ‘Why We Sing’

Here’s to the next ten years!

#passthebaton #tenyearson #london2012

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If you’d like a memento of the concert and our ten-year adventure, we have a created some high-quality Tea-Towels, featuring our long list of Games Maker Choir performances – now available to purchase. Get in touch at gamesmakerchoir@gmail.com for details and to order yours.

If you were a volunteer at international sporting events during and since 2012, look at how YOU can join our choir family

Margaret - October 15, 2022