Schools across Darlington have battled it out for the honours in their very own Eurovision song contest to help raise money for the Mayor’s charities and good causes.
Following the success of last year’s event, the Mayor’s Darlington Schools Eurovision Song Contest returned with 21 schools across the Borough competing at the Dolphin Centre on Friday (10 Feb).
St Augustine’s RC Primary School, representing Italy, performed a stunning version of Puccini’s soprano aria O Mio Babbino Caro, to secure a well-deserved first place.
Second place went to St Mary’s CE Primary School, representing Scotland; and third place was awarded to St Bede’s RC Primary, representing Brazil.
Councillor Brian Jones, Mayor of Darlington said: “What a wonderful night, the children and their schools put in a lot of hard work to give us a fabulous show.
“They really did pull out all the stops and I’m grateful to all those who took part, and supported the event to help raise funds for local charities.”
Young representatives from each school were invited to the Town Hall to attend the draw ceremony in the council chambers with the Mayor and Mayoress, Cllrs Brian and Doris Jones, and draw out their particular country. The selected country was all in the luck of the draw.
The songs came from countries that span the entire globe; some of the songs were very traditional tunes, others corny classics, while some were previous Eurovision winning entries. Schools also ran projects on the country they were chosen to represent.
The idea of a primary schools’ Eurovision Song Contest was born from former Mayor Cllr Tom Nutt’s lifelong passion for international links and the towns’ associated twinning arrangements. The event is sponsored by Darlington Building Society in association with Darlington Town Twinning & International Association.