Leighton Buzzard young performers bring Christmas joy while boosting Macmillan funds

Members aged 6-18 from LBCT performed their Big Christmas Sing Out event at The Vandyke Theatre performing festive songs and scenes including a moving rendition of the 1914 Christmas truce by the Youth Section.

The children and young people sang brilliantly and the audience loved joining in with The 12 Days of Christmas. Busy Santa managed to squeeze in a visit and presented all the performers with a Christmas tree medal for working so hard. The event raised over £700 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Community concerts at Laburnum Court Sheltered Housing added a further £245 making a total of £945 for the charity.

The Advance Theatre Company followed this with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 2022 at The Leighton Buzzard Library Theatre which raised £350 for Macmillan Cancer Support. The performance included many Christmas favourites including O Holy Night, White Christmas, Baby It's Cold Outside, the mass cracker pull, Christmas 1915, a visit from Santa who had apparently been dancing with Mummy and a retelling of The Grinch That Stole Christmas. It was the group's first performance at the theatre since 2019 and performers and audience thoroughly enjoyed it.

Other events during the festive season included The Leighton Linslade Christmas Festival and singing at Luton Airport in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Over the past 28 years, LBCT have raised funds for local, national and international charities by putting of performances of musicals, plays and concerts. Advance joined in with this in 2014.

In 2023 there are full-scale musicals already planned for the Tuesday Children’s Theatre, who meet at the Barn in Heath and Reach, and Tuesday Youth Section who meet at The Vandyke Drama Studio.

LBCT and Advance are run entirely by volunteers and have groups for children and young people aged 6-18, and 18-plus for the Advance Theatre Company which meets weekly in Leighton Buzzard and Heath and Reach.

Members learn stagecraft, musical theatre skills , improvisation technique and much more under the direction of qualified teachers and performing arts professionals. More details on www.lbct.org