Worcester Male Voice Choir helps raise thousands for charity

The project Men United in Song brought together hundreds of male singers from five different choirs to perform in front of a packed audience.

Worcester's Male Voice Choir was among the attendees, taking around 60 people combined from the choir and Men United in Song.

The national singing project was funded by Arts Council England and delivered by music education charity Peterborough Sings! and Peterborough Male Voice Choir.

Peterborough Sings! and Peterborough Male Voice Choir mentored and supported four partner choirs who sang at the event – including Northampton, Worcester, Radcliffe-on-Trent and Welwyn Garden City male voice choirs.

In preparation for the national concert at the Albert Hall in Nottingham, the Worcester choir performed at the Swan Theatre on May 18.

The project helped raise £90,000 for Prostate Cancer UK (Image: PA)

Men United in Song project coordinator Art Shrimpton said: We had our local concert on May 18 at the Swan Theatre that was made up of 70 people from the Worcester Male Voice Choir.

"Then on May 25 we drove to Nottingham to perform with four other choirs in the project.

"The five choirs came together that had 400 men in total performing a song repertoire and individual."

Mr Shrimpton revealed Worcester's choir raised £30,000 towards Prostate Cancer UK, with the overall total coming to £90,000.

The choirs, who all sang in front of an audience of around the equivalent of the number of men singing from each choir, had 10 weeks to prepare for the event.

"There was about 400 at the Albert Hall, which was full," said Mr Shrimpton.

"At the Swan Theatre there's about 350 seats and that sold out in no time at all.

"It was really good. There was a lot of whooping at the end of the songs and I think three standing ovations.

"We're used to a polite applause so there was great enthusiasm amongst the crowd and overall it was a success."

Mr Shrimpton now hopes a number of the singers will want to carry on following the concert's success.

Some members of Worcester's Males Voice Choir during rehearsals (Image: Art Shrimpton)

"Numbers dropped off in covid so it's nice to have some fresh blood and new members," he said.

"We hope about 20/30 people will want to carry on and join.

"We started with 70 in March and still have 70 now. They all seemed to really enjoy it.

"It was a good male-bonding exercise that delivered a good warm feeling."

Laura Kerby, chief executive at Prostate Cancer UK, added: “It’s incredible that so many men came together to sing their hearts out in Nottingham, particularly when they had little or no experience of singing before their 10-week rehearsal period.”