AN ancient disused church in Northumberland last night threw open its doors to take part in a festive world record attempt.
St Mary’s Church at Woodhorn, near Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, which dates back to Saxon times but is now closed most of the time, had a rare re-opening for the attempt at the world’s biggest carol sing. The church was full for the occasion, but it will be up to a fortnight before it is known whether the record has been broken.
The Grade I-listed church, which dates from around 700AD, is now re-registered and closed to the public most of the year. However, the Friends of Woodhorn Church support group is looking for a sustainable future for the building, and reopen it around four times a year for concerts. They found out about the Guinness World Record bid for the largest number of people singing carols at the same time and in partnership with retired Widdrington businessman David Gair decided to sign up.
The global event, in its second year, was organised by Premier Christian Radio, which this year opened its first regional centre in Newcastle.
Its aim was to get 25,000 people singing together, so beating the record of 18,100 set at last year’s event, which in turn beat the 15,000 set in 2009 by Disney.
Somewhere in the region of 150 churches around the world came together at 7pm to sing five carols simultaneously, over 15 minutes.
At Woodhorn, the church was full of those invited by the friends, including some of the hamlet’s 25 households.
They were led in their singing by musicians from the Crossroads church at Ashington.
They joined in Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, and Hark The Herald Angels Sing. Organisers had to get singers to sign in and had to video the proceedings, with two independent verifiers present.
The register and video will have to be sent off to satisfy the strict world record attempt criteria. Bosses at the radio station will then find out whether they have broken the record.
The friends, who had to seek a temporary licence from Northumberland County Council for the event, had earlier held an afternoon carol concert in the church, with a choir from Newbiggin.
Friends chairman Will Rogers said: “It is a community event rather than a church event. We were expecting people who would not normally be at church singing to come along to this event.”
He added: “It is one of the oldest churches in Northumberland. We really just want the building to come to life so people can enjoy it.”
