Concert for Haiti: What The World Needs Now…
Though always a highly significant day in the calendar, Good Friday this year (2nd April 2010) was particularly special for the life of our church, with 717 people through the doors in one evening to attend Concert For Haiti: What The World Needs Now.
The musical entertainment- a wide range of swing, jazz and gospel numbers- showcased a lot of outstanding musical talent, including many CCK members; and was an outstanding product of many months of preparation.
With the hall filled to capacity and many more watching the video link down in the lounge, our musical director David Fellingham opened the show with the Beatles classic Can’t Buy Me Love and a lively trumpet solo that immediately drew the audience into the spirit of the event. This punchy beginning was followed by a variety of big band numbers, from a vintage Miles Davis instrumental to the recent Michael Buble version of Feeling Good. To close the first set, Stuart Townend performed several songs from his Creation Sings tour, which had everyone in the venue singing along to his beautiful melodies and powerful, Jesus-centred lyrics. This brought us fittingly into the portion of the evening on which the whole event was based: an offering for earthquake-stricken Haiti.
The situation in the Caribbean nation has been critical since it was hit by a level-7 quake on 12 January; indeed, it was the scenes of devastation that have been such an overt example of acute global need that prompted the event ‘What The World Needs Now’. Working alongside Tearfund has helped us to identify and contribute to a specific area of relief, details of which were given on the night to give people a better understanding of how their financial gifts would impact the situation.
After the interval, which gave guests an opportunity to mingle and further contribute to the Haiti fund by supporting the drinks bar, the music recommenced with phenomenal pianist Mark Edwards and his group of musicians, including on this occasion vocalist Sammy Sarfas, who had the crowd on their feet and joining in with modern jazzy numbers. The Dave Fellingham Big Band and Vocal Band were then welcomed back to the stage for another impressive set list, the highlight 
of which was their version of the official Song for Haiti, Everybody Hurts. Lead vocals by Sam Cox were accompanied by a video of poignant images from Haiti, a strong reminder of the long-term relief effort which has had a worldwide response.
The ‘love theme’ that ran through the programme came to a climax with Stuart’s Power of the Cross and a jazz arrangement of the traditional Amazing Grace. These final numbers perfectly embodied the musical excellence and atmosphere of fellowship and compassion that characterized the entire evening. It’s success as an event was summed up as Joel Virgo stood to thank the audience, stating that he had possibly never addressed so many in the venue.
However, the extent of its success as a fundraiser took a little longer to identify: CCK is thrilled to announce that the exact gift total from the concert is £13,007.06p. This is an amazing answer to our target, which was to supply communities with spring box water systems. Costing £3,500, each box can provide between 750 and 1000 people with sanitized water- which means that the money raised can benefit almost 4000 people in Haiti. Many, many thanks to all who prepared, performed, served, attended, contributed, and were in any way involved in this amazing night.
For more pictures from the Haiti Concert please click here.