Quantcast
Channel: Leicester Mercury Latest Stories Feed
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9894

Severn Trent choir triumph BBC2's The Choir: Sing While You Work

0
0

Workplace warblers Mick Sneath and Jamie Turner are celebrating victory in a television singing contest.

The pair, from Leicester, are members of the Severn Trent Singers choir, which was last night announced as the winner of BBC2's The Choir: Sing While You Work.

The choir clinched the title with their rendition of 1960s song Feeling Good, made famous by Nina Simone.

The programme showed them beating the other two finalists in front of 3,000 people at the international Eisteddfod music festival in Llangollen, Wales.

Their win was filmed in July, but the gripping finale was broadcast last night.

The water company workers were the unanimous choice of judges Ruby Turner, Ralph Allwood and Manvinder Rattan, ahead of fellow finalists from the Royal Mail, in Bristol, and NHS staff from Lewisham, south east London.

Jamie, 22, of Thurcaston, said: "It was a question of fight or flight when we sang.

"We all loved our song and decided to give it everything and we just flew. Everyone was fantastic, especially our soloist, Laura.

"The atmosphere in singing to just three judges in Bristol in the semi-final was amazing, but the atmosphere at Llangollen was 1,000 times better.

"We had to wait hours for the result to be announced. We talked with the other choirs and it was sweaty palms time.

"It was a bit of a blur as the judges talked about the skills of the finalists as they announced the result.

"When they said we had won we went crazy. We could not believe it. All the hard work had been worth it."

Mick, 49, from Oadby, who works as a distribution services technician, said: "It was an incredible experience. It was a song we loved to sing.

"To be in front of 3,000 people who really know about singing was pretty daunting. But we gave our best performance and were really pleased with how it went.

"People came up to us afterwards saying how much they enjoyed our singing."

The choirs sang in a 20-minute period slipped into the Eisteddfod main programme.

Each choir was given a new song for the final. Royal Mail sang Fleetwood Mac's Don't Stop and Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust performed For Once in My Life, made famous by Stevie Wonder.

According to the judges it was a close call between the finalists. However, they said Severn Trent Water's choir rose to the challenge and were complimented on their confidence on stage, fantastic singing and overall accomplished performance. As far are the judges were concerned, it was a "unanimous decision".

The Severn Trent Water choir will feature on tonight's BBC One Show and are now building up a repertoire for a concert to be given on December 13.

Mick said: "As yet we do not where the concert will be. So many want to hear us now."

Severn Trent choir triumph BBC2's The Choir: Sing While You Work


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9894

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images