We planned a great evening of carols (lots of the familiar ones we all know), a crazy bloke called the "Backyard Bard" who tells the Christmas story as if it was happening right now, and a home-grown puppet show. But as the afternoon drew on, the rain came down - and it just kept on falling.... Curtain Square was covered in puddles, and the marquee started to look like a kids' wading pool on stilts! The band, made up of folk from St Jude's Unichurch congregation, were all dressed in their spiffy neat dark clothes, with tasteful red accents; and they'd been practicing and sounding great - but no gig. The Kent Hotel is just across the road from the park, and we thought maybe they would like some cheery Christmas carols to entertain their diners - so we offered - and they said they were very interested - but simply couldn't fit the whole band plus instruments in, especially since all the diners had had to move in from the footpath tables to get out of the rain. So we packed everything up again... but it wasn't a wasted evening, we had a great time preparing for it, and pottering around the district letting people know about the Carols; and in spite of the rain we met lots of people out walking their dogs in their raincoats, and it seems there were plenty of folk disappointed that the event was cancelled. Watch this space for the 2009 Carols in Carlton!!
