Village releases 10th Christmas single in a row

Mariah Carey, Ed Sheeran and Elton John have all had huge hits with their Christmas singles, but none can match a village pub in Kent.

Locals at The Five Bells in Chelsfield have released a festive song for the tenth year in a row and, rather optimistically, have the number one spot in their sights.

Known as The Belldrinkers, their latest song, called "Another Song, Another Christmas", is more than seven minutes long and comes with a music video referencing past attempts to top the charts.

The annual project's co-creator is Lester Barnes, a media composer who records the songs in his garden studio. He said they were always keen to try something new by thinking about "what type of music we haven't done already and what will be funny".

The track features more than 60 local amateur singers over a backing track made up of Chelsfield musicians and Mr Barnes professional contacts from the West End stage and film soundtracks.

"The song this year has people who have never sung in public before performing alongside a flautist who can be heard on the Harry Potter film scores," he said. "We have these highly rated people queueing up to offer their talents for free."

The production process usually begins in the springtime when he meets up with The Belldrinkers co-creator Dave Griffiths in the local pub to discuss ideas for the next Christmas song.

Mr Griffiths is a guitarist and lyric writer for the community record and admits that finding inspiration can often be a struggle.

"Something usually comes to me in the nick of time," he said. "The words normally have to be silly, funny and relevant to the village, although we have covered more worldwide topics like global warming and Covid."

The group has attracted attention for past efforts: in 2016 they were invited to perform on the BBC's One Show.

"Despite appearing to an audience of millions, we've never generated any money to break even," said Mr Griffiths. "We put our hands into our own pockets to pay for studio hire to record the drums, but it has been more than worth it."

Mr Barnes added: "We do it as it's a lovely thing to bring the community into our local pub at Christmastime. It's become a wonderfully eccentric tradition, and we're already thinking about next year's chart flop!"

"Another Song, Another Christmas" by The Belldrinkers is available to view on YouTube now.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.