A COMMUNITY choir in Thame pulled off a “minor miracle” by finding a new venue just hours before their Christmas concert.

After three months of rehearsals, Thame Choral Society were looking forward to performing their annual Christmas concert at St Mary’s Church last Saturday.

But disaster struck when the choir and instrumentalists arrived at the church and discovered there was a power failure.

Thame Choral Society chairwoman Judith Newenham, 54, said: “I was on my way to the venue and I received a text saying that the power was out.

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“I thought that someone was having a joke.”

Miss Newenham, a professional curtain maker and mother-of-two, said: “Things didn’t look good, and as chairwoman and as a Yorkshirewoman I did not want to see all the money invested in the concert go to waste.”

Choir member David Francis, 68, said: “It was very stressful at the time as we’d spent three months preparing for the concert and we were faced with having to cancel it.”

Luckily choir member Jeni Pilkington was able to persuade Father Mark Lagorio to host the concert at nearby St Joseph’s Catholic Church, in Brook Lane, Thame.

With only a matter of hours before the concert was due to start, the choral society phoned round members of the audience and moved the choir and band of instrumentalists to St Joseph’s.

Mr Francis, a retired musician, said: “We were absolutely delighted by the generosity of St Joseph’s.

“It was wonderful in this season of giving that Fr Mark let us use his church.

“It was tough to pull off as we were only able to set up for the concert at 7pm, because Fr Mark was performing mass.

“It really felt like we pulled off a minor miracle.”

Miss Newenham said: “The concert turned out to be one of the best we’ve ever done because the acoustics were a lot more manageable than St Mary’s.

“I can certainly say we were very relieved after the concert, but very thankful to everyone who helped us pull off an amazing concert.”

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