Children from Stichtse Vecht set a record singing with Marco Bakker

On Friday, 10 December, children from the new council Stichtse Vecht attempted to set a new record for the ‘biggest open-air children's Christmas choir’. A record had already been set for the biggest open-air Christmas choir, an adult choir, which consisted of more than 5,000 people. This meant that the children, who sang a variety of Christmas and other songs with various Dutch celebrities, would be setting the first record for an open-air children's Christmas choir: their own Stichtse Vecht record.

Starting 3:30 p.m., the public could stroll around the Christmas market in the village centre of Vreeland. Half an hour later, the children started handing in their sponsor forms at the Malaria No More! stand. The attempt to set the new record was linked to the sponsor campaign 'Sing for a Mosquito net’. In exchange for the completed sponsor form, the children received a Christmas bonnet with the text ‘Building Stichtse Vecht’. On 1 January 2011, the councils of Loenen, Breukelen and Maarssen will merge to create the new council Stichtse Vecht. The council is using the singing campaign to bring the children in this new town closer together, and raising funds to fight malaria will make them aware of their position in the world.

The show started at 4:30 p.m.. MegaMindy (Pauline van Aken) walked onto the stage and announced the first artist: millennium development goal rapper MC Lazy. Before MC Lazy rapped his number ‘Maak het waar’ (Make it real), he explained what the millennium development goals are, what malaria is and what you can do about it. At the top of their voices, the children sang 'MalariNee' and in the refrain 'When I say; Malaria, you say; MalariNee' ‘'Malaria – MalariNee', ' 'Malaria' – 'MalariNee'. Next, MegaMindy introduced Ellen Evers, a Dutch actress and singer who has performed in musicals such as Cats, Mamma Mia and The Full Monty. Mayor Boekhoven came onto the stage and sang ‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’ together with the spectators. Ellen Evers handed the stage over to Marco Bakker, (opera singer), who sang ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo’. You can see and hear his performance on the site of RTV Utrecht. The spectators lost none of their enthusiasm when Wiet and Rikki from the Dutch soap 'Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden' (Good times, bad times) started singing their song. A lot of children danced on the stage while they sang their version of ‘Jingle Bells’ . And then it was time for the results of the sponsor campaign. Mylène Gordinou de GoubervilleArjan Erkel (moderator of the Dutch school TV programme 'Nieuws uit de Natuur' ('Nature news') walked onto the stage together with (Malaria No More's ambassador). Mylène gave Arjan a cheque for € 1,470. Arjan Erkel had attended a previous sponsor campaign in Vreeland and expressed his admiration for the effort the villagers put into fighting malaria. Thanks to the collaboration with Wilde Ganzen, the amount we raised will be augmented by 60%, meaning that 300 children will be able to sleep protected by a mosquito net. Another record. The last people MegaMindy interviewed were aldermen Gera Helling and Jaap Verkroost. They had to guess how many children had come in order to determine whether the record had been set, but in the end, that wasn't all that important anymore. Important was that the children had come together, sung with the artists and had raised so much money for a good cause. Last but not least, MegaMindy thanked the two organizers, Sandra Boogert and Karin van Dis, who organized the artists, the children and the show in a very short period of time.

Sandra and Karin, all of the artists, children and parents, on behalf of Malaria No More A BIG AND WARM THANK YOU!