The Junior Girls’ Winter Warmer put on a festive show for audiences in the Girls’ Division Great Hall, and the whole concert was filmed for the school community to enjoy.
Girls whisked their audience away on a wonderful exploration of Christmas and all of its traditions through poems and songs. Beginning with ‘Winter Wonderland’ and ‘It’s a Magical Time of the Year’ the girls described the coming of winter and the time of celebration that comes at the heart of this dark, cold period.
The Year 3 classes took centre stage during two of the songs: they danced as snowflakes to ‘Silver Sleigh Ride’, and became crackers during the Year 6 Choir’s rendition of ‘I’m A Little Christmas Cracker’.
Christmas trees filled with lights and wreaths of green leaves are some of the most enduring images of Christmas. The girls explored the origins of these traditions through the poems ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ by Richard Edwards and ‘Christmas Tree at Windsor’ by Eric Finney, with girls taking on the roles of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to act out the story. Girls played ‘Ten Little Christmas Trees’ for their take on the poem by Rodney Bennett, and the Year 6 Choir performed ‘O Christmas Tree’. The girls also celebrated the traditions surrounding Christmas Pudding and sang the ‘Mince Pie Calypso’.
Moving on to international Christmas customs, the girls sang the traditional Mexican Christmas song ‘La Marimorena’ while dancing with hand-drawn poinsettia flowers. Christmas cards, presents and the idea of the ‘Christmas post’ were also explored and the girls sang ‘Le Facteur’ to the tune of ‘Postman Pat’.
The whole school sang ‘The Happiest Time of the Year’ and ‘Love Shone Down’ before moving on to speak about the true meaning of Christmas. The Year 6 Choir sang ‘Christmas Cheer’ and Mrs Faulkner, Bolton School’s Head of Primary Division, held a moment of reflection.
Finally, the girls sang ‘That’s What Christmas Means To Me’ to bring the Winter Warmer to a close.
Songs throughout the programme featured a number of talented soloists: Carmen Holt, Isabella Hurst, Tallulah Jones, Hannah Karim, Anjali Kishore, Emily Lecky, Olivia Ramirez Nievas, Orla Sweeney and Serena Vasanth. Many of the songs also featured music from the Junior Girls’ percussion group, who added to the atmosphere with sleigh bells, xylophone notes and more.
A retiring collection was held in support of the Junior Girls’ (S)miles for Malawi campaign, which is fundraising to build a school to benefit street children in Malawi.
The Junior Girls’ Winter Warmer 2021 can be watched in full on YouTube or via the play button below:
