On Thursday 15th December, Chapel St held London’s first ever Carolthon of 26 miles and carols around the capital and are pleased to report that we covered the distance! Our runners made it round the 26.2 miles, our bandsmen’s lips made it through 2602 carols and our amazing support crew made it through the crowds with various trombone cases, runners bags and a suitcase of energy drinks and gels! We are all very pleased with ourselves and at the time of writing, the total money raised is over £4500! See the team’s donation page if you’d still like to give!
Starting off at the Houses of Parliament for an early morning breakfast concert in Black Rod’s Garden, we were pleased to perform to a very special audience. Baroness Maeve Sherlock (Chair of Chapel St) and her amazing assistant Robert Carr braved the frosty morning and gave us lots of encouragement for the day ahead. From there, the runners set off for the first part of their marathon run and the players started a marathon of their own: non-stop carolling from dawn ’til dusk!
During the day, the Carolthon crew performed a number of concerts around London, including Westminster Tube, John Lewis on Oxford Street, St Pancras Station and Marks and Spencers on Oxford Street. The runners met up with the band at various stages along the way to join in with the playing or collecting efforts. The run route included numerous circuits of Hyde Park, interspersed with a few ‘dodge the shoppers’ routes to Oxford Street and St Pancras. With such amazing weather, we couldn’t have asked for a better day!
Our Carolthon Finale was held at Chatham Financial in Covent Garden. Hosted by Phong Dinh and Jamie MacDonald from Chatham Financial, the Carolthon crew were very pleased to be part of Chatham’s office Christmas celebrations and also to come in from the cold! Chapel St would like to say a very big thank you to everyone at Chatham Financial for their hospitality and generous donation to the Carolthon’s fundraising.
Our Special Thanks…
The Carolthon day would not have happened withouth the hard work and help of lots of people, including our amazing Carolthon crew. We’d like to say thank you to:
The logistics guru: Dave Hitchcock
The runners: Russell Rook, Johnny Laird, Jennifer Wallington and Janet Miles.
The band master: Clive ‘if-you-are-out-of-tune-you-probably-are’ Rubery.
The band: Adrian Gosling, Gav Dunn, John Bloomfield, Johnny Laird, Russell Rook, Phil Wall, Philip Haigh, Raymond Pont and the young man that spontaneously joined us at St Pancras after his audition at the Royal Academy of Music. Want to join in next year?!
The support crew: Barry Waterton, Pat Waterton and Andrew Miles
The physio/osteophath: Helen Amemble
Baroness Maeve Sherlock and Robert Carr
Roehampton University: Donna Jarvis and Chris O’Boyle for your support and mini-Carolthon on campus!
Chatham Financial: Phong Dinh, Jamie MacDonald and all the great team in Covent Garden
The staff at St Pancras Station
London Underground and in particular the staff at Westminster Tube Station
London Metropolitan Police
Westminster Borough Council
T-Shirt Design: Pete Smith from Recognition Awards
And finally – thank you to all our donors. Your donations and support to our charity are very much appreciated and has made the Carolthon what it was. If you’ve enjoyed the journey so far and would like to help support Chapel St on a more regular basis, just visit our Just Giving site for more information.
See our Carolthon photos on Chapel St’s Facebook Page
Become a regular donor on our Chapel St’s Just Giving Page
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