Seven years ago overseas-based Guyanese Mary Mc Aulay, in returning a gesture of kindness decided to dedicate her time and energy towards organizing a fund-raising concert for the Mission Chapel Congregational Church.
It has since become an annual affair that many Berbicians look forward to and all proceeds go toward the restoration of the church which was originally built by slaves.
In keeping with its history, the concert is held close to Emancipation Day and the items on the programme tend to have an emancipation slant.
Last Friday the concert took a different twist with the addition of comedy and a Chinese dance and the anticipation of what was to come, was evident on the faces of patrons who flocked the Berbice High School auditorium ahead of the scheduled 7 pm start. However a prompt start was not to be as the school experienced low voltage and this affected the operation of the band.
This problem was eventually rectified and after a few dances and the reciting of a ‘Letter From Heaven’ which was written by Mc Aulay, it became a distant memory for those gathered.
The Gloriettes and the Little Misses, both formed and supported by Mc Aulay wowed the audience with their dances moves. There was an endless array of bright colours and several flowing and creative outfits on stage.
One dance in particular – the Chinese Fan dance, done by the Gloriettes saw the audience demanding an encore. Was it the oriental gowns? Or the way the girls glided around the stage with ease? Or could it have been how they flipped open their fans with precision that sent the audience into a frenzy? For most it was the entire package.
The Masters Dance Group from Georgetown, whose members specialise in ballroom dancing, was also on hand to showoff their moves.
Talent in song was also showcased particularly by the Little Misses.
But it was popular comedian Linden `Jumbie’ Jones who had the audience doubled up in laughter in the first half of the show and then again towards the end.
A Berbician by birth, Jones joked about the church, politicians and things in our everyday life and while not drowning out the other items, he remained in the minds of those gathered at the end of the show. The next day persons were still repeating some of his jokes.
Two lucky women walked away with food hampers in the gate price drawing.
How it started
The first fund-raising concert that was organized by Mc Aulay was held for another church. The participants of that concert did not have a place to practice and the then pastor of Mission Chapel offered his grounds to be used for the practice sessions.
One day while Mc Aulay was sitting in the church she noticed that many of the windows were broken and the building was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.
Unknown to her the members of the church were trying to make plans for its restoration. Following the conclusion of the concert and her return to the United States, Mc Aulay contacted the pastor with a plan to hold a concert to aid in the restoration of Mission Chapel.
That concert was done the following year and continues to this day.
Mission Chapel which was built by African Slaves was destroyed by fire on two occasions in the 1980s.
