The Ministry of Family will be moving to make its Christmas in the community concerts even bigger next year, spreading them across more parishes.
That is the word from Minister with responsibility for that portfolio, Stephen Lashley, who said he would like to see more village, school and church choirs participating in the concerts, as well as residents in the community engaging in carolling.
Mr. Lashley made the comments yesterday at the first Christmas in the Community Concert at Silver Hill, Christ Church, where a number of performers, including school children, entertained the crowd.
He told the gathering: "We also want to do some even more vibrant programmes, where we can do a Christmas under the street light segment and involve our youth groups. We want to get back to that traditional Bajan Christmas spirit, where we can come into the community and get everybody involved in spreading the cheer."
After the address, the Minister stated that members of the public welcomed the concert, were "enthusiastic" about it, and looked forward to it becoming an annual event… "The community will determine the shape of these programmes based on the kind of feedback we get. After the series of concerts we will do a review to determine if we are going to make any changes for next year," he promised.
Mr. Lashley is hopeful that this initiative would see the rich talent of young Barbadians coming to the fore, as well as community groups taking ownership of the programme in the near future and organising Christmas activities in their neighbourhoods.
The concerts will continue tomorrow, Saturday, December 18, at Gall Hill, St. John; next Tuesday, December 21, at the Speightstown Esplanade, St. Peter; and on Thursday, December 23, at Jubilee Gardens, Bridgetown, beginning at 3:00 p.m. each day.
Entertainers for the Speightstown concert include Bethel Dance Group, the Watson Boys Band, ElevaXion Dance Group, Chalky Mount Wesleyan Dancers and Youth Uprising Dancers. The choirs performing on the day will include St. Andrew Primary School and Bethany Baptist Church, while there will be poetry by the students of Gordon Greenidge Primary, Debra Bovell and Jermaine Atwell.??saustin@barbados.gov.bb