Christmas arrives for school choir

CHRISTMAS is Coming to St Albans – and no-one knows that better than children from a St Albans primary school. For that was the title of the Christmas carol performed by seven girls from The Abbey school who were crowned the winners of this year s local c

CHRISTMAS is Coming to St Albans - and no-one knows that better than children from a St Albans primary school.

For that was the title of the Christmas carol performed by seven girls from The Abbey school who were crowned the winners of this year's local carol competition in the final showdown at the Maltings Arts Theatre on Monday evening.

Complete with Santa outfits and a dance routine, Katie Short, Okuk Takon, Ellen Smith, Georgina Beard, Alexandra Felton, Madeleine Brooks and Abigail Caton (all pictured above) performed their up-tempo number in front of a packed audience.

The competition is in its second year and was organised by the Maltings Shopping Centre with support from the Herts Advertiser. The Abbey school also won last year.

This year's carol was praised for its strong local theme by the four judges - Deputy Mayor Cllr Maxine Crawley, Maltings operations manager Bryan Dawson, lead Maltings pantomime actor Adam Shorey and Herts Advertiser reporter Aimee Brannen. Competition from the three other finalists - St Peters School which had two entries and Batchwood School - was very fierce.

The Abbey School was awarded £500 towards new music equipment. The girls will also record their song onto CD and perform at the Mayor's Christmas Carol Concert outside the Civic Centre in St Albans which starts at 4.30pm on Sunday.

Runners-up received £100 towards music equipment.

Picture code: KKB7181