WAIT Concert Report

By Tamara Squizzato

 

On Saturday 21st of April, WAIT UK held a concert in St. Peter’s Church in Notting Hill Gate. The concert was scheduled to start at 7pm and was to be finished at 9pm, but as things go, it actually began at 7.30pm and continued on until 10.30pm. This event was organized by Marshall de Souza, Steven Huish and Tamara Squizzato. Steven organized the venue and the order of the performances for the concert, Marshall invited most of the performers for the event as well as the overall organizing of the entire event, and Tamara was in charge of overseeing and encouraging ticket sales, as well as a lot of the organizing of things within the church. Overall, around 200 people came to the concert, including the performers.

Audience participation                                        Ariel view of the audience at St. Peter’s

 

The venue, St. Peter’s Church, was absolutely beautiful. Behind the altar, there was a wonderful painting of the Last Supper and the whole architecture of the building was very spiritual and beautiful.

WAIT did six performances throughout the night: the older WAIT members performed the Rose Dance, break dancing, their own choreographed piece, and ‘Save Yourself’; the younger WAIT girls performed a dance near the end of the evening; and Jr. WAIT girls performed their own dance near the start of the evening.

 

(“Junior WAIT” is a group of four girls, aged between 9 and 11. They persisted with Uncle Marshall, even though they are ‘underage’ to join the WAIT UK team. At his suggestion, they created their own dance using the song, “We’re all in it together” from The High School Musical. Their performance brought the roof down – it was terrific!! They’re now working on a new act!)

  Junior WAIT girls rewarded for their effort!

 

 

The other performers are most definitely worth mentioning and honoring. Alan Rainer, an Ambassador for Peace, read a moving Christian poem; two young men from Rosemont Performing Arts school, Jacob and Minal, performed beautiful songs separately; Peter Graham and George Ostapko performed three numbers; Gabriel Hughes performed two songs one on the piano and vocals and the other he sang accompanied by Neil Robertson; Neil Robertson himself performed two numbers; Debbie and Sarah Hanna sang “The Rose”; the north London youth clubband made their first public performance; Robin Shaw performed two pieces on the electric guitar and vocals; Marva Sobambi sang beautifully; Edward Mukasa performed a piece concerning Christian martyrdom originating in Uganda; David Rennie and Louise Rawlence offered a lovely number; and lastly, Tamara performed an original composition on the piano.

Sarah and Debbie Hanna sing "The Rose"

 

 

North London Youth Club Band in full swing                                   Minal sings his heart out!

 

 

 

            At the concert, refreshments were available, some of which was due to the kindness of certain families donating home-made cakes and other food stuffs. Overall, there was quite a variety of items available to buy, though each individual ticket came with a free drink and a free biscuit. Also, there were hand-made toiletry bags and Russian dolls for sale thanks to very kind donations. As another fundraiser, a raffle was held with prizes that were all donated by the WAIT members’ families.

 

 

 A special thanks goes to the SET girls who helped sell the food, to the SFT team for their support, to all those who donated items for the raffle and food to sell, and to David Rennie and staff for setting up the sound system.

 

This concert raised approximately £800 (plus a further £290 came later) that will be going towards the Uganda WAIT trip in July.Our gratitude goes to all those who came to attend the concert, but also to those kind individuals who did not come, yet sent a cheque in the post.  Thank you very much!