Ready to smile, laugh – and maybe shed a tear? Watch a very special Christmas song composed and recorded in York

They are usually to be found on stage at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre in York.

However that is not possible this year because of Covid. So Charlotte Gray and Donna Riley from We Are Theatre have done something a bit different.

Although their summer mainstream shows were cancelled, they’ve been running most of their disability groups online.

Because many of their members have faced or are facing particular extra difficulties during these current times, they decided to write a Christmas song.

“It’s all about spreading love and staying connected,” said Charlotte.

“We have put a video on YouTube and we really want to share it as far and wide as we can.

“There’s no money involved and everyone has given their time freely to spread some positivity and we hope people find it a truly heart warming song and video.”

Filmed over months

Charlotte Gray told YorkMix about how she and Donna put it together.

“It was filmed over a few months at different times. We originally had the idea in late April.

“The people playing Grandma, the boy and the girl are all part of the same family so they could film together.

“The other indoor videos were all sent in to us after we asked friends to respond to our theme of giving a voice and spreading love.

“The outdoor bits were filmed by one person at a distance on a phone.”

The singing was recorded in a front room with six people socially distanced inside, before the Tier system came in.

“So we did it like a rehearsal schedule and the musical director (on the keyboard) had one singer in at the mic at a time, they left, he cleaned and sanitised the equipment.”

“Then everything else was done remotely.

Charlotte mixed the sound and edited the video, with help from Chris Dean, 18, who wrote most of the lyrics).