A night that could not be stopped by load shedding.
Carols by Candlelight took place on 5 December at the Blairgowrie Plaza.
The aim of the event was to raise funds and gifts for the children of the Carol Sithole Centre.
The Salvation Army band played joyous sounds of Christmas carols.
The event arrangements were managed by Lisa Hein of Ziggies Caffe with the help of a number of other people.
The Blairgowrie Plaza stores each donated R200 that was used to buy gifts for 84 children aged from three to 18 years old of the Carl Sithole Centre in Soweto.
The centre was selected as the beneficiary by the Salvation Army.
“Every year around December we come together to make people aware, Christ is born again,”said Pastor John Rowsouw of the Salvation Army.
Blairgowrie Spar donated the candles which were sold to raise funds for the home and 3@1 provided the printing of all the hymn sheets and posters.
Andy Thomas of HOTSHOT Audiovisual and 3ZACrowd provided sound equipment and was also the MC.
Tim Desbois, a talented Blairgowrie resident, performed some Christmas carols.
The jumping castles and lucky packets were arranged by Tersia from Blairgowrie Pharmacy.
Ziggies Caffe provided food and refreshments for the Salvation Army band.
Blairgowrie Plaza centre management cordoned off the car park and donated old toys and clothing.
“It appears the event was a huge success despite the load shedding which took place just as the event got underway, as well as the high winds from a storm,” explained Hein.
The kind, new owners of Blairgowrie Spar were also generous enough to allow the band to use their generator to allow entertainment to continue.
A resident from Blairgowrie, Ruan Lauwrens said that they had come to share in the joy of Christmas.
“It is nice to do a community thing and come out and let the children enjoy themselves, spend time together and give back,” said Cynthia Springer.
