Colonies carol-singing, Sunday 19th December 2010

Our excessively festive weather in December enticed a record number of residents to sing their way through the Colonies!

The snowy afternoon of the last Sunday before Christmas at a temperature of 0 degrees Centigrade felt relatively balmy, after the daytime highs of -5 for the previous 3 weeks!  The snow was very definitely deep and crisp although it was no longer even, since toddlers on toboggans and shoppers on cross-country skis, forging their tracks through the soft white powder had become an everyday sight.   We met up as soon as darkness fell at 4.30pm and then sang our way accompanied by a range of musical instruments along each street in the Colonies.  We were delighted and grateful to be offered home-baked mince pies and biscuits at several front doors and the mulled wine on offer helped us all to glow too!   Our happy band gathered members as we progressed and, with a total of over 44 of us singing and/or collecting, proved to be the most popular carol-singing session of the last decade.  Our collection was in aid of the Maggie’s Centre at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, which has been of great support to many of us locally and we were glad to be able to hand over almost ₤300. 

This was our 2nd year of raising funds for Maggie’s so if you have a different favourite charity (which is possibly a local one) and would like to co-ordinate our collection in December 2011, then please tell the committee at the AGM on 23rd March.