Sydney, you've done it again!

Ken and I have watched Carols By Candlelight in Melbourne every Christmas for the last 20 or more years - since it was first televised, I'm sure. One year we decided to attend the concert, so we rolled up with some friends and were astonished to discover that we should have booked tickets beforehand - at $30 per person! We had no idea that people paid to go to Carols by Candlelight; when it first started, it was free - you just turned up with your rug or chair, and enjoyed the concert. So we went back to watching it on t.v. and enjoying it less each year, as it got more and more commercial and pop music orientated.

In comparison, Sydney's version "Carols In The Domain" - which is on the week before Melbourne's, gets better every year. While they do have some young pop star singers, they also have a few opera and/or classical singers, as well as children's entertainers early in the night, and it is a very well balanced program. And it is FREE to those lucky enough to be in Sydney - sponsored this year by Woolworths, who donated $4 million to the Salvation Army. I understand that the cost of the tickets to Melbourne's carols goes to charity (Institute for the Blind, I think), which is all very well, but it would be great if they could get a sponsor too, and go back to being a free concert.

So, well done, Sydney - great concert again, beautiful backdrop, fantastic fireworks, and the proceeds to a very worthy cause.