Christmas concert at L’Amable Bible Chapel one of their better ones

December 10, 2025

By Michael Riley

The North Hastings Community Choir had their annual Christmas concert on Nov. 30 at the L’Amable Bible Chapel. A great variety of music from the festive season was sung by the choir during this special performance. Admittance was by cash donation at attendees’ discretion. Laurie Fenner with the North Hastings Community Choir comments to Bancroft This Week about the concert and how it was received by the attendees.

Fenner says they’ve been doing this Christmas recital since the beginning of their time as a group, approximately 25 years, and that they perform two recitals a year; this one and a spring recital. The theme of this year’s Christmas recital was “Home for the Holidays, and the show was sponsored by the Algonquin Arts Council.

The members of the choir are as follows: Rebecca Armstrong, Carol Babb, Nancy Bruce, Alison Burger, Marlene Chapelle, Lael Easton, Donna Forster, Alice Hoover, Gloria Leveque, Mabel McLellan, Susanne Platt, Helen Vermeersch (sopranos), Mary Burbidge, Genevieve Hebert-Carr, Susan Cooney, Shiela Currie, Laurie Fenner, Laurie Jansen, Lori Labinowich, Lynda Mitchell, Lena Moule, Tammy Thauvette, Janet Whiteway (altos), Tim Baragar, Carol Moore, Wendy Mortimer, Barb Tenthorey (tenors), Kelly Crick, Gary Hicks, Charles Jansen, David MacLeod, Fred McConnell, and Bob Woodrow (bass). The choir director and accompanist was Melissa Stephens.

The songs the NHCC sung at the concert were “Sing We Now of Christmas,” “Cradle Hymn,” “Carol of the Drum,” “In the Bleak Midwinter,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Deck the Halls,” “The First Noel/Pachelbel’s Canon,” “Home for the Holidays,” “March of the Kings,” “Enatus Est Emmanuel,” “Christmas Star,” “Christmas Can-Can,” “Silent Night, Holy Night,” “Joy to the World,” “Jingle Bells,” “By Candlelight,” “White Christmas,” and “Carry the Light.”

Fenner told Bancroft This Week that they did not have as large of an audience as they usually have due to the blast of winter that they had on Nov. 30, however she did hear from a few folks that regularly attend the recitals that it was one of their better ones.

“We do have some incredible soloists and also the variety of songs that we performed were both sacred and secular so that they would appeal to the varied music appreciation our audience may have,” she says.

Fenner says that some of the exact quotes from members were; “that’s awesome!” “It was fun and I’m very glad to be a part of it!” “Well done gang!” “The concert was awesome.,” and “Great turnout given the weather that day”

Some of Fenner’s favourite songs to sing at Sunday’s performance included “Cradle Hymn” due to its beautiful harmonies, “The First Noel/Pachelbel’s Canon” as it featured their tenor/bass sections, and “By Candlelight” as it featured their soprano/alto sections. She said they were extremely blessed to have the talents of Melissa Stephens as their musical director.

“[She] does ‘double duty’ as both the conductor and our accompanist. Some of the songs we sing have a challenging musical score,” she says.

Stephens told Bancroft This Week that the concert went very well.

“I was extremely pleased. The numbers in the audience were down a little, which I attribute to the weather,” she says. “We were actually short four singers because of the weather.”