Imagine yourself walking into the St. Teresa's Church from the main entrance. As you go towards the altar, there is an organ on the right side of the aisle. That's where church choirs are located during various masses of the day. By 8:55a.m., everyone from the GoodNewsSingers would come down from the 3^rd Floor, and occupy a seat on one of the benches behind the organ. The musicians would set up their instruments. And when all's set, we are ready to sing.

This is a series of 4 masses/services, spanning from Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday to the joyful Easter Sunday. Besides singing at the St. Teresa's Church, we also perform at the Maryknoll school hall.

Christmas usually starts earlier in the choir's calendar. About 5 to 6 Sundays before Christmas, we will start to choose songs for Midnight mass as well as practicing christmas carols for carolling. In the 70s' to late 80s'all English Midnight masses were held in the Chapel of the Pastoral Center, a very cozy place for the congregation but we never had enough seats. Now Christmas masses are held in the Maryknoll school hall.

There are special traditions during this time of the year: Additional rehearsals other than the regular choir practices, extra throat drops, members coming back from overseas... and the partridge in the pear tree...... and we all dress up for the occasion.

"Once in a year, it is not for a miss, to visit our neighbors and sing out like this..........."

To all GNS members, the combination of these ten, twenty words conjures a lot of wonderful memories of festive atmosphere, cold weather and endless singings of christmas carols in the busy streets of Hong Kong. These words are the first few lyrics of the song "We wish you a Merry Christmas" by Peter, Paul and Mary, weaver's version. They are near and dear to every choir members around Christmas time, that usually means around October. As a tradition of the GNS, we sing this song as the prelude of all Christmas carols.

Carolling is widely considered to be the most exciting event of GNS. It is quoted by a large number of members as the most memorable event. The reasons are many for this. It is a time for celebration, a time for performing freely, a time for singing on the top of our lungs and out of control, a time for having fun. In the early years - 70s to early 80s, we used to jingle along the streets of Kowloon Tong. But in the late 80's we relocated our singings and fun to Tsim Sha Tsui and Central. During those carollings when we migrated from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central, we would continue to sing while we're on the ferry and it's well received by all the passengers aboard. Since the last few years, we have permanently stationed by the entrance of the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry. Why Tsim Sha Tsui?? Because it is crowded!!We derive a lot of fun and satisfaction using singings to tear down the barriers between strangers. You don't see very often that passerbys in Hong Kong to stop and enjoy or join in our singing. Because of our years of presence carolling at the entrance of the Tsim Sha Tsui Star ferry around Christmas time, it feels as if Christmas is not Christmas without us singing there.

GoodNewSingers has traditionally helped to sing during weddings. We use our natural voices, guitars and flutes to enhance the warm and lively atmosphere in the sometimes too solemn occassions.

People who invite us to sing for their weddings are usually friends and relatives of our members, old and new, and of course our members themselves too. There are also people who have heard us sing during masses or other weddings, and would think about us when it became their turn to make the vows.

Preparation work is very important. Firstly, the couple will meet with us several months before the wedding day, usually during our 11am practice. We will try out some songs and then they will choose what they want us to sing for them. Some of the songs we usually pick are: The Wedding, Song of the Wounded, Wherever You Go, If You Love Me Really Love Me, He and Peace. Usually, the wedding couple will choose about 3 to 4 songs for ceremonies, which last for about half an hour, or 4 to 5 songs for masses, which last for an hour including the eucharistic prayer. We will also sing the responses, alleluia and The Lord's Prayer as needed, so as to make the wedding as perfect and memorable as we can.

On the wedding day, the GoodNewSingers will be dressed semi-formally to respect the occasion.We will gather together half an hour before the ceremony begins, to practise the songs and finalize the details. After the ceremony, we will be invited to take a photo or two with the couple and to congratulate them. We will then receive red packets from the couple as a reward for the efforts and time we have put in.

We do not necessarily have to stay in St.Teresa's Church for the weddings; we also go to other churches, for example St.Margaret's Church, Rosary Church and the Cathedral.