Although only formed on 21st January 2025, the 10-member Gospel Soul Collective, led by Martin, have now performed seven local concerts, the latter being on Saturday 20th December 2025 at the Methodist Church, Thetford.
Performing to a packed church (with some choir members unable to attend), the concert started with a very fast instrumental version of Sleigh Ride, played by Martin on two keyboard arrangers (instruments we might refer to as synthesisers). The audience would be forgiven for thinking there was a 40-piece orchestra in front of them. At the end of the piece, Santa Claus arrived, taking time out from his busy schedule to join the choir.
The choir then took the audience on a world tour of Christmas classics, with narrations explaining how the songs originated. The performance was well coordinated, with ‘Let It Snow’, ‘Winter Wonderland’, ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and a Boney M version of ‘Mary’s Boy Child’. Straight from Hawaii came the sound of ukuleles for Bing Crosby’s ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ and ‘Christmas Island’. The audience joined in with José Feliciano’s ‘Feliz Navidad’, introduced in Spanish by Susan.
The audience were led to believe that the solo by Ken of ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ was going to be a traditional carol, until it merged into a full-on jazz band number with the whole choir joining in. A film-score-style performance of ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ in a hip hop genre was a brave arrangement by Martin, which paid off, as shown by the audience’s applause.
The choir entered into a quieter section of songs, which began with Martin delivering a brilliant solo jazz performance of Michael Bublé’s ‘Santa Buddy’ (as opposed to ‘Santa Baby’). A cleverly modernised version of ‘Away in a Manger’ brought everyone back to the reality of the meaning of Christmas, closely followed by a haunting rendition of ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’, first released during the Second World War, and ‘Still, Still, Still’, sung in English and German.
There were several other pieces, until the finale: a well-coordinated rendition of ‘White Christmas’, which saw swaying choir members individually holding up placards containing the lyrics, resulting in a good old singalong.
With a combination of solos, duets and trios sung by Ken, Peter, Ni and Roseanne, there was a balance of songs to keep the audience entertained throughout. An encore of ‘Feliz Navidad’ resulted in people dancing in the aisles, and a retiring collection raised £88.13, which was donated to the Methodist Church.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Gospel Soul Collective have an age range of 34 to 82 and meet every Tuesday evening in the Harling Room at the Methodist Church, Thetford, from 7pm to 8.30pm. The focus of the choir is singing, not religion. There is no requirement to attend any church to belong to the choir. Members do not need to read music or memorise lyrics. There are no fees other than a nominal contribution towards hall hire. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided free of charge.
For further information, email Martin at GospelSoulCollective@gmail.com or just come along — you will be made very welcome.
