Refugee Action staff past and present are busy collecting freebie food and donated prizes from every corner of London…
I am sitting in Lucky Voice Islington holding a clipboard and talking fundraising targets with someone in a Tina Turner wig and an Asthma UK t-shirt…
Some shifty looking singers rock up early and withdraw to a local pub very swiftly when we tell them the bar doesn’t open until 4…
I get a frantic call from a celebrity judge backing out at the last minute.
It must be the day of the Islington Charioke Marathon.
Oh, you weren’t there? You missed it? For real? Well, I do pity you cos the Islington leg of the Charioke Marathon was a veritable aural feast.
We kicked off with some vocal limbering up courtesy of Nicaise, during which the talents of the Sing Up for Youth Music team became apparent within seconds when the only person to volunteer for a solo in the singing round was from the Sing Up corner. Everyone else looked rabbit-in-headlights pale with a ‘did I really sign up for this?’ haunted look in their eyes.
The singers were truly inspirational, entertaining and frankly fearsome in their mic devotion throughout the day. I expected energy levels to dip towards the evening, but nope, teams kept scaling new karaoke heights on the hour, every hour. They certainly rose to the Charioke challenge and gave it their all (and oohahjustalittlebit more).
Special big ups go out to the shimmying of the Asthma UK gents, the beautiful orchestrations of the Youth Music team and Scene and Heard’s stamina in the gaps between new tag team arrivals.
In the hotly contested competition categories, our judges got to hear some of the most innovative cover versions known to humankind. Indeed X-Factor looked as tame as the Antiques Roadshow compared to the goings-on in the power ballad category.
Amongst the entrants there were, horrifyingly, some incredibly talented singers (karaoke hustlers – you know the type, people who pretend they’re rubbish but then come over all Mariah) and those who were erm, more ‘vocally challenged’ more than made up for it in showmanship.
The judges were even cowed into stunned silence by some of the performances – or maybe that was just the whiplash effect of hearing Total Eclipse of the Heart five times or being Beyonced by a Meat Loaf look-a-likey.
Sadly, as chief puppet master I missed out on much of the in-pod action. However I hear from Sally that in Refugee Action’s pod 6 the highlights were: Angels (reprise with lighter and balloon action), Pusia’s Abba, Sonia’s GNR, Joy’s and Pusia’s formidable Push It, Clive’s spinningspunningspan, Laurie’s Slim Shady, Peewee’s Toxic, Katie’s catsuit and shapes on the dance floor, Nathalie’s Dolly and showtunes, Ben’s dapper outfit and Lionel, David’s Laid, Olivia’s creative use of banquette seating, and the group chorus of End of the Road (with backing support from other rooms).
A big round of applause is dedicated to our guest singers Dame Joanna, Max the dusty cowboy and Sophie the starlet who all popped in for a slice of the mayhem.
This pod raised a whopping £5,863.50 for Refugee Action and the money is still coming in, people. A-mazing, as the lovely Katie from Lucky Voice would say. Indeed, post-marathon, there’s nothing quite as special as watching Joy and Pusia do one armed push ups to Salt n’Pepa and musing to one’s self that ah, they raised £1.5k doing that move.
Disha, my spy in Refugee Action’s pod 5, says that the moments to write home about were Katy and Emma’s Chain Reaction, Vanessa’s Say a Little Prayer, John and Steph’s Proud Mary, Olly’s guitar playing, Crispin’s Freddy Mercury, Siobhan’s tambourine playing, Jo L’s dancing, Alyn’s Man in the Mirror and Jo C’s 99 Red balloons (in German).
The creative agency Margaret took over most of this pod and are total heroes for transporting their office to Lucky Voice for the day in order to complete their charioke relay. We had some people tapping away diligently on laptops in the bar during the day whilst others sang their hearts out.
This lot raised an incredible £2,970.38 for Refugee Action, with Refugee Action’s top fundraiser being Reverend Vanessa, who secured £1,030 in sponsorship but who I didn’t managed to persuade to warble ‘Say a Little Prayer for Me’. Next time, Vanessa, next time.
A special thank you also goes out to Holly who volunteered her time to help Refugee Action on the day but skillfully managed not to be roped into any singing whatsoever. And a standing ovation goes out to those that had to be physically prised from the pods at closing time – I didn’t think that after ten hours people would still have a final glory lap left in them. How wrong I was…
So chariokers and Lucky Voice, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, what a night it was…
Oh, what a night.
Late November back in 09,
What a very special time for me,
‘Cause I remember what a night…
Tags: charioke, charioke fundraiser, charioke marathon, fundraiser, karaoke, Lucky Voice
Posted by Esme Peach