World record attempt to get churches carolling

Churches are being invited to take part once again in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of Christmas carol singers singing together at the same time.

Premier Christian Radio is organising the attempt to smash the record set last year by 18,114 singers in multiple locations. Last year's effort was enough to beat the previous record of 14,100 held by Disney.

Now Premier want to go even further and are looking for more than 300 churches to take part.

Plans for this year's attempt were unveiled as a new survey revealed that less than a quarter (22%) of the nation plan to attend a church carol service this year.

The poll, carried out by ComRes, found that among churchgoers, 61% said they were likely to attend a carol service.

Premier hopes the world record attempt will help congregations swell this Christmas.

“Last year’s record-breaking attempt brought large congregations into churches, many of whom were not regular visitors,” says Peter Kerridge, chief executive of Premier Christian Radio.

“This year’s new attempt on the world record will undoubtedly provide an opportunity for churches to swell their congregations and help to reverse the survey statistics.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for churches to reach out to their local community and share the gospel of Jesus Christ at Christmas."

The world record attempt takes place this year at 7pm on 16 December, when carollers will sing five selected carols.

They are Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

Premier will play the carols on the radio, enabling churches to use the broadcast as their backing music and assisting nationwide unison for the event.

“After last year’s event, we received a broad spectrum of positive reports from churches telling us about unexpectedly large attendances and what an enjoyable evening it had been for all concerned,” said Mr Kerridge.

“Our little church was full to overflowing,” said one carol coordinator.

“It was a really good evening that connected the community with Christ and Christmas,” was the message from another church.

Vicar, Claire Greenwood, said; “People here are still talking about how enjoyable the whole evening was. We’re very glad we took part.”

Churches which would like to take part this year can register, now, at www.premier.org.uk/worldrecord where they can obtain full details of this year’s record-breaking attempt.