Saltash was overflowing with Christmas Spirit and song, when the PGS Theatre Productions (formerly Plymouth Gilbert and Sullivan Fellowship) came to the town to perform a magically nostalgic Christmas concert: “I’ll be home for Christmas” at the Burraton Community Centre. 

This was the first time that the PGS have performed in Saltash, which marked their 100th Anniversary tour. 

The Mayor and Mayoress of Saltash, Councillor Richard Bickford and Mrs Sarah Bickford were special Civic guests. The cast of around 25 took the discerning audience through Christmas present,  past and still to come; with stunning versions of Deck the Halls, Joy to the World and Angels we have heard on High, before crashing back down to Earth with Ebenezer Scrooge and his miserly but hilarious Christmas List. 

The Company also entertained the audience with an entertaining reading Phat the Innkeeper’s Cat which led the enchanted audience to a Stable in Bethlehem for Oh Holy Night and the emotionally stirring Do you hear what I hear, before they were transported to the WW1 Christmas Truce of 1914 and a beautiful new arrangement of Stille Nacht/Silent Night. There were also performances from favourite Christmas movies of all time, including Mary Poppins, Home Alone and the Snowman, then journeying to the unknown from Frozen 2. 

The concert closed with a most fitting medley of Christmas carols, hymns and popular Christmas themed songs, such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire, White Christmas and Ding Dong Merrily on High with the enthralled audience joining in with the cast in high spirits and fine voices. 

Festive refreshments were served during the interval. Proceeds benefited the Sue Hooper Charitable Foundation, which is one of Saltash’s leading charities, and set up in 2000, in support of the Science of the Performing Arts and Musical Education in all their disciplines.