The Sunderland choir which was on TV at Christmas

Top-class Christmas music was coming out of Hylton Castle Junior School 36 years ago.

In 1987, the junior school choir created its own carol and it was a success.

It was so much of a hit that it qualified for the finals of a television carol service competition.

Music teacher Brian was the mastermind

It's all down to music teacher Brian Wilson who came up with the idea of composing a new carol.

He did just that and then recorded the children as they performed it.

Brian sent a recording of the choir performing it to the TV station - and they qualified for the finals.

Santa went on tour

Get in touch if you were you a part of the choir. Tell us what you remember of your TV appearance.

To give you more of a feel of the Christmas news in Sunderland that year, Santa went on a tour of Co-op stores.

Here he is on his visit to Ryhope superstore.

Left to right are Dianne Carrick, Mark McLaren grocery manager, and Jackie Caffrey.

There was extra surprise for youngsters who were going the panto "Aladdin" at Sunderland Empire that year.

The Lions Club laid on an appearance by Santa and his sleigh as the children were entering the theatre.

See if you can spot someone you know in this photo.

If you were in the Hylton Castle Junior School choir - or in any of our retro photos - let us know by emailing [email protected]