The Military Wives Choir

This post is totally unrelated to anything that I normally write about and I make no apologies for this because these ladies are fantastic!

Earlier this year, choir master, Gareth Malone temporarily relocated to Devon to make another series of The Choir for the BBC. The idea for this series was to create a choir on the military base at RMB Chivenor, and later at Plymouth, to provide some much needed distraction for the wives and partners of those men who had been deployed to Afghanistan. And as usual, Gareth worked his magic. He really ought to be cloned - every community needs a Gareth! The result is not only a fabulous choir but a lifeline for the brave wives and girlfriends whose lives are left in limbo as they anxiously wait for their loved ones to return home safely. At the same time the Military Wives Choir has become a voice for other, previously overlooked, military wives throughout the country. An incredible achievement don't you think?

Gareth commissioned the 'royal' composer, Paul Mealor to write a song for the choir to perform at the Albert Hall for the Festival of Remembrance, using words taken from personal letters written by the wives and their husbands. The result is this exquisite and emotive piece of music that is guaranteed to reduce even the toughest amongst you to tears:

Find some tissues before you press play!

Listening to the soloist, Sam, now, singing so beautifully and confidently, it's hard to believe that she could barely bring herself to sing anything on her own at the start of the series.

With the backing of Chris Evans, they have released Wherever You Are as a single and are hoping to raise as much money as possible for two military charities (SAFFAS and the Royal British Legion). And they'd also quite like to be the Christmas Number One as well. [Update 21/12/11 - they are storming to the top of the charts and it looks like the government is going to waive the VAT on sales of the single and donate it to charity - what a result!]