Singer Patti Boulaye as the Founder/President of the charity SUPPORT FOR AFRICA , organised , on the behalf of her charity, the 5000 strong gospel choir for The Golden Jubilee parade on June 4th 2002.

The Golden Jubilee Gospel Choir was made up of 3,500 members of churches and groups from around London and the South-East, including The Metropolitan Police gospel choir and 1,500 young people from Stagecoach Theatre Arts School. The choir was a great example of unity and diversity working side by side. Young people from the ages of 15 years to men and women in their seventies sharing a common interest, dancing and singing side by side in celebration.

4,800 of them assembled in St. James Square at 2pm while 200 gospel singers, mainly from the Kingdom Choir took their place on stage, outside Buckingham Palace, with Karen Gibson conducting and Nicky Brown the choir's Director of Music. Joining them was conductor Noel Tredinnick whilst Patti Boulaye led the singing up The Mall.

A BRIEF HISTORY
The Golden Jubilee Gospel Choir went for a record - never have 5,000 Gospel voices been gathered together for any event. Patti Boulaye's plan to encourage the evangelical church's involvement, through her charity, Support for Africa, in the building of clinics in Africa for the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS and Malaria, led her to stage a sell -out event produced by Sir Michael Parker at The Royal Albert hall, to raise money for the charity.

The result was 3,000 Gospel singers raised the roof of The Royal Albert Hall on 10th March 2002 in " Reaching out for Africa" and raised enough money to allow the first of many planned clinics to be built in Africa to educate and treat HIV/AIDS sufferers. Having got together 3,000 Gospel singers, which was a record in itself, Sir Michael came up with the idea - Why not go for a bigger record and recruit another 2,000 - making a total of 5,000 - for The Queen's Golden Jubilee? And that is exactly what Patti did, working tirelessly for The Golden Jubilee as she does for her charity. She also wrote a special song "JUBILEE SONG (Celebrate Good News)" to be sung by the 5,000 gospel singers during the procession. At the end of the procession Patti took to the stage, in front of The Royal family and the cheering crowds, to lead them in singing The British National Anthem.

The Golden Jubilee Gospel Choir met together, for the very first time, in the open air of St. James's Square at 10am on the day of the procession, where Patti Boulaye and her Sun Dance dancers /singers endeavoured to teach the 5000 gospel choir, some basic choreographed movements involving; dance, flags and ribbon waving, to create a sea of colour, vibrancy, excitement and joyful singing voices. After this mammoth task, Patti Boulaye led The Golden Jubilee Gospel Choir up The Mall, singing and dancing to the Palace gates.

The choir where in bright colours of their own choice. 500 members were in yellow and formed the letter "H", the rest were in an array of colours. In front were The Metropolitan Police Gospel Choir, some of whom were in uniform (without their hats). In front of the Police Choir were 20 members of Patti Boulaye's Sun Dance dancers/singers dressed in tropical pink (except for the men). 4 of them carried the charity flags and joined the others to form a chevron ( "V" ) shape behind Patti.

At 3.05pm the choir led Her Majesty up The Mall, while swaying, dancing, clapping and waving red, white and blue ribbons. The public were encouraged to join in with the singing. They sang to the pre-recorded soundtracks of:-

• This Little Light of Mine
• Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore
• Jubilee Song ( Celebrate Good News)
• He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - all linked by
• Amen

The songs have been specially chosen and adapted by Patti to encourage the spectators to join in and participate in the singing. Patti's "jubilee Song" is a dance number with a Soweto swing style. The final position of The Golden Jubilee Gospel Choir was outside the Palace; between the gates and The Queen Victoria Memorial, where The Queen took her seat for the rest of the parade. At 5.55pm, immediately after the fly past, Patti sang the National Anthem with the mass choir of 20,000, the orchestra, military band and bagpipes will join in for the big finale.