Rose Lane packed with people during the annual carol singing concert in aid of the Lord Mayor's Christmas Gift Fund in Canterbury on Christmas Eve. Picture: Chris Davey.

by Gerry Warren

gwarren@thekmgroup.co.uk

The 60th open air carol concert in the city centre on Christmas Eve has raised a record sum for the Lord Mayor’s Gift Fund.

A crowd for more than 4,000 packed Rose Square and the surrounding streets for the traditional event first held in 1951 to collect money to buy grocery parcels for the needy.

Chairman of the Fund, Sheila Cragg said: “We were delighted with the turnout and the crowd was in fine voice.

“We raised £4,009 which is a fantastic achievement in these hard pressed times and far in excess of our previous best total.

“The committee works very hard to make the event happen but it is worth it when people are so generous and supportive.”

The singing was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams who gave the blessing.

He was joined by the Bishop of Dover, the Right Rev Trevor Willmott, the Lord Mayor, Cllr Ian Thomas and area police commander, Supt Mark Nottidge, who all sang from an open topped bus.

The singing was accompanied by the Canterbury Salvation Army Band and conducted by Chris Gay.

The soloist who sang the opening verse of Once in Royal David’s City was Maya Thyssen, who is a member of St Stephen’s Church choir.

Mr Cragg said: “We have delivered more than 500 grocery parcels and given out 300 toy vouchers for children.

“The charity needs to raise about £19,000 and we still have money coming in so were are optimistic we will get there.”

She also paid tribute to long serving volunteer Bill Young, who is a retired accountant and has been in charge of counting donations from the concert since it first started 60 years ago.

She said: “Bill has been a great supporter of the charity and we presented him with a certificate and bottle of champagne to mark his long service.”