It is one event that always takes its place in Oxford’s Christmas calendar – the Lord Mayor’s Carols.

For many years, Lord Mayors – and mayors, before the upgrade to Lord – have hosted the festive celebration at the Town Hall.

On this occasion, Oxford Mail photographer Chris Love climbed the stairs to the balcony to get this impressive picture of some of the singers and musicians.

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You can see the historic civic mace in the middle of the picture, in front of the 1975 Lord Mayor, Bill Fagg.

It was estimated that 1,000 people were packed in the auditorium and balcony to hear and join in the Christmas music – many more than would be allowed now under health and safety regulations.

One tradition at this celebration is that the Lord Mayor sings solo the first verse of Good King Wenceslas.

Some of his predecessors and successors have chickened out, claiming they couldn’t sing. But Mr Fagg, to his credit, went ahead and delighted everyone with his delivery.

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In his speech, he said he hoped that the period of unrest and violence the country had been suffering in recent times would end and there would be more goodwill and understanding in the New Year.

He chose two good causes to receive money collected from those who attended – the Oxford over-70s Christmas party and the Kidney Patients’ Association, which was trying to raise £100,000 for extensions to the renal unit at the Churchill Hospital.

This year’s concert takes place at the Town Hall on Sunday, December 17 at 2.30pm.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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