Let’s do this together

Like many of you, our Christmas plans ans are up the spout – or should that be sprout?

We won’t see many of our close family with the new restrictions, but as I tell The Dark Lord, there are always silver linings.

“You’ll be the only one playing the piano this year so we can still sing carols,” I said brightly, trying to cheer her up.

“But I can only play Adele songs,” she moped. “Single mum with a son, known throughout the world? Adele’s got a lot in common with Mary when you think about it. What’s a couple of thousand years between gigs?” I told her.

My care worker niece Leo is stuck in Bristol and can’t join us – so she’s trying to get a Christmas Day shift instead.

Obviously I cheered her up too when I texted: “And at least when you play your accordion, the old folks can just turn off their hearing aids!”

But one reader who’ll be whacking up the volume to 11 this week is retired teacher Julie Coan from Heywood, Lancashire, whose late father’s old record collection has her rocking around the Christmas tree.

She writes: “My mum Jean, sisters Janet and Ann and I have wonderful memories of our dad Bob Mills back in the 1970s and his record collection of Christmas LPs.

“I have dad’s records and still play them every year. Found a copy of the Bert Kaempfert LP in a charity shop recently and gave it to my sister Ann along with a Des O’Connor Christmas LP.

“She was thrilled!! “Our favourite was Christmas With Bert Kaempfert – we loved the track Jingo Jango. We also have records by Andy Williams, George Chisholm, and even Pinky & Perky made our house full of fun and Christmas cheer!

“He was a totally wonderful dad who left us with such happy memories. What happy days those were.”

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.