Watch Tayside’s Makaton Choir perform This is Me ahead of our Evening Telegraph Christmas Concert

By Cheryl Peebles

November 30 2022, 6:00am

Sing it Sign it: Tayside's Makaton Choir will perform at the Evening Telegraph Christmas concert. Image: Kenny Smith/DC Thomson.

One group at our Evening Telegraph Christmas Concert won’t just be singing – they’ll be signing too!

And Sing it Sign it: Tayside’s Makaton Choir promise to put on a phenomenal show with around 50 performers of all ages giving us some festive favourites.

The inclusive choir performs songs using Makaton, a language system which augments speech with signs based on those in British Sign Language and is often used by those with communication difficulties.

Members of the Tayside Makaton Choir who will be singing and signing at the Evening Telegraph Christmas concert. Image: Kenny Smith/ DC Thomson.

It is among six local schools and groups which will perform a series of festive favourites in our Meadowside HQ on Sunday.

And if you don’t want to miss the seasonal sparkle, snap up your tickets before it’s too late for the 1.30pm and 4.30pm performances.

We went along to a rehearsal to see Tayside’s Makaton Choir in action – and were blown away by this rendition of This is Me – their regular warm-up tune – from The Greatest Showman.

Sing it Sign it: Tayside’s Makaton Choir – This is Me

The choir was formed three years ago to create a one-off recording for World Down’s Syndrome Day but was so popular it continued.

It now has around 100 members who meet weekly in Dundee, Arbroath and Perth.

Tayside’s Makaton Choir getting ready for our Evening Telegraph Christmas concert. Image: Kenny Smith/ DC Thomson.

Choir founder and Makaton tutor Mike Carlin said: “Everyone is excited about the concert. They totally thrive on performing.

“The audience get a lot from it too; a lot of people find it quite emotional.”

The Makaton choir is in festive spirit ahead of the Evening Telegraph Christmas concert. Image: Kenny Smith/ DC Thomson.

The Christmas concert lowdown

Also taking part in the concert are:

Dundee NYCOS
Dundee Youth Music Theatre
High School of Dundee
Harris Academy
Braeview

We hope the concert will become a regular feature of Christmas in Dundee, inspired by the annual festive concert our sister newspaper, the Evening Express, has staged in Aberdeen for more than 50 years.

Local schools will benefit, as proceeds from ticket sales will go to our Pounds for Primaries initiative in which local schools collect tokens to share in a £10,000 prize pot.

Tickets available through www.eventbrite.com – search for Evening Telegraph Christmas Concert 2022 – cost £10 for adults and £5 for concessions plus a booking fee.