On June 2nd, an excited bunch of children, chaperons and teachers gathered at the Bay d’Espoir Academy school parking lot to jump aboard a bus that would take them on an eight hour drive to St. John’s.
Music teacher, Valerie Coombs was contacted by the Janeway telethon organizer just two weeks prior to the telethon asking if a choir from Bay d’Espoir Academy would perform on live television during the 2012 telethon. The invitation was inspired by a fundraiser that was organizer by Ms. Coombs after the Kiwanis Festival in March. The private music students performed at the St. Alban’s Lions Community Center for family and friends and all the proceeds that were raised were donated to the Janeway.
“Arranging a trip for an overnight stay in St. John’s for such a large group was a challenge,” stated Ms. Coombs. “A preliminary meeting was held to see if parents were interested and it was decided that this opportunity should not be missed.”
Principal Connie Willcott and Ms. Coombs made phone calls, wrote memos and organized all the details with the trip.
A parent of one of the students, Paulette Buffett, organized a kitchen party in days and Clyde Drew donated his talent and sound system, along with many performing volunteering their time to perform for this function.
The event was a huge success raising $1900.00 in a few short hours.
Ten volunteers, their music teacher Ms. Valerie Coombs and Principal Connie Willcott accompanied the 37 choir members. The trip was long but the students were excited and thrilled to be involved with the event.
On June 3, the choir had the honour of performing two songs.
The first one that was sung was “Fly Away”, a beautiful two part melody by Don Besig and a popular Newfoundland Folksong, “Bonavist Harbour” arranged in two part harmony by D. F. Cooke. The choir sounded spectacular and received much praise from the producers and staff at the Janeway.
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