MEMBERS of A4B - the umbrella organisation representing the amateur theatre community at the Borough Theatre, will be back on stage on the Saturday before Christmas with their familiar Welcome to Christmas concert.

A staple of the Christmas season at the Borough Theatre for almost 30 years, the concert features a mix of music, drama and humour to kick off Christmas week in style.

This time for the first time the concert will be performed by candlelight, which it is hoped will bring a new festive dimension to the evening.

“We’re hoping people will come along and join us for what will be a lovely chilled, pre Christmas evening,” said A4B chairman Liz Davies.

“There’ll be a free glass of mulled wine and a mince pie on offer and a chance to listen to some familiar Christmas music and join in with some favourite carols and Christmas songs,” she added.

This year’s theme is ‘Christmas around the World’ and the concert will feature some well known festive music alongside some pieces which might not be quite so familiar like the beautiful carol Betelehemu which comes from Nigeria and has quietly become a staple of performing choirs every holiday season. The challenging song blends native rhythms and melodies an is based on a traditional Yoruban folk text.

The song was written for the Glee Club of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia USA by their choir director, Dr Wendell P Whalum and based on a song he was given by an African student Michael Babtunde Olatunji in the 1950s.

Olatunji went on to graduate from Morehouse and launch a music career that saw him record dozens of albums with artists such as John Coltrane, Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder.

Also featuring will be the haunting Wexford Carol or or the Enniscorthy Carol a traditional religious Irish Christmas carol originating from Enniscorthy in County Wexford.

Among the more lighthearted offerings will be numbers from The Muppets Christmas Carol, The Polar Express and a lovely version of the Twelve Days of Christmas all the way from New Zealand which includes gifts like a pukeko in a ponga tree, ten juicy fish heads, nine sacks of pipis, seven eels-a-swimming and four huhu grubs!

A bit closer to home, the evening will also feature a re-telling of A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

“We hope there’ll be something for everyone at Welcome to Christmas this year,” said musical director Sarah Fowler.

“It’s our first year back with the show since before the pandemic and we hope it’ll be a bit of a Christmas cracker. We look forward to seeing you there for a good old Christmas sing-along,” she added.

All money raised at the evening will be used to support amateur theatre in Abergavenny.

Welcome to Christmas can be seen at Abergavenny’s Borough Theatre on Saturday, December 21 and tickets costing £12 are available from the theatre box office on 01873 850805 or from boroughtheatreabergavenny.co.uk