Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day? – At Stockland Green School, it really is!

Stockland Green School students from Christmases past and present joined a festive singalong to celebrate a much-loved pop hit that the school played a special part in recording.

Just over half a century ago, students from the school travelled to London to lend their angelic voices when Birmingham glam rock legends Wizzard recorded their yuletide classic ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’.

Brummie songwriter and band leader Roy Wood had wanted to use local kids to provide the backing vocals on the hit, which was released in December 1973 and raced up to number four in the charts and has been an annual festive favourite ever since.

Roy arranged for the young choir from the Slade Road school to be bussed down to the capital for an unforgettable day of recording.

Fifty-one years on, some of those former students returned to Stockland Green to sing the song again with current pupils and original Wizzard multi-instrumentalist Bill Hunt, whose brother-in-law was a teacher at the school in the seventies.

A classroom at the school was turned into a winter wonderland for the performance, as alumni Mary Lafferty (62), Denise Pitkin-Bree (61), Nick Romillie (62) and Hilary Gunton-Barnes (61) joined 77-year-old Bill and current students in a rendition of the song.

A BBC film crew was there to catch the historic moment too. The reunion is scheduled to feature on BBC’s The One Show on Monday, December 16, while you can now hear the former students being interviewed on ‘Christmas Hits Unwrapped: Stories behind the songs’ on BBC Sounds. Click here and listen from 03:34.

For the former students, the day brought back memories of not only their school days, but their unforgettable moment as pop stars.

Mary said: “It’s very strange being back at Stockland Green – there have been so many changes. We used to rehearse in the school hall for choir practice and we all auditioned for the Wizzard song. Only so many of us got picked.

Hilary remembers the children enjoying their day out in London and interacting with the colourful glam rocker.

She said: “I think I was 11 or 12 when it happened. I had a little red cardigan on and we were given badges which I pinned to my cardigan. I’d never been in an acoustic setting before – the muffled atmosphere in the studio made me feel like I’d gone deaf!

“It was a beautiful summer day when we did it. There’s a myth that the studio was decked out in Christmas decorations to make us feel more Christmassy, but I don’t remember that.

“Now, my family just laugh every time they hear the song!

Denise said: “The school is unrecognisable to me today, it’s changed so much, even since my nephew, who’s 27 now, went here.

“I remember we didn’t have any rehearsals – 12 of us were picked and we went on a bus to London to record the song.

Due to union rules, the Stockland Green pupils who sang on the record don’t feature in the famous video that is shown every year. It features different children, miming along to the Brummie kids’ voices.

However, Nick, who grew up to become a recording artist, said it provided him with his first taste of life as a professional musician.

He said: “It’s great to be back at Stockland Green. As soon as you hit the driveway to the school, it feels familiar, even if the buildings are new.

“I remember assembling on the playground next to a white van, which was full of goodies and sweets. I don’t remember much about the journey down to London, but I remember arriving in the studio, which was Hyde Park Recording Studio.

“We did the audition in assembly and I didn’t realise what it was actually for – I just stood up and sang, because I was always singing as a kid!

“Over the past years, I’ve shared a lot of photos and memories about the experience. I can honestly say what shaped me from the experience was that feel-good feeling of doing something special. When we were in the studio singing together there was a camaraderie and afterwards we went to a restaurant for dinner and met Roy Wood. We just felt so special.

Despite being a recognised multi-million-selling Christmas classic, ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’ has never actually hit the number one spot – and was even beaten to the top of the chart on its release by ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ – another festive West Midlands anthem by fellow Glam rockers Slade.

Even though he sang on the Wizzard classic, Nick has kept a Christmas secret for 50 years.

“Secretly, I always liked the Slade song a bit better!” he laughed.

Main picture: Stockland Green students past and present, staff, BBC film crew and Bill Hunt united for a joyous occasion.