A community choir is celebrating 15 years after it was launched live on the BBC with the support of TV personality and choirmaster Gareth Malone.
The group was set up in 2008 as part of the BBC show The Choir – Unsung Town, in which he brought together hundreds of people from the estate to perform in Britain’s biggest community choir.
Since the show, the members have continued their singing, with practice every Tuesday at Oxhey Wood Primary School between 7pm and 8.30pm.
Jill, one of the members, said: “I joined the choir when it first started 15 years ago after my husband died and it has been fab.
"I loved watching Gareth on the TV and I love singing too so I thought why not join.
“It's just fab, I love it.”
They perform a variety of songs, from pop hits to musical numbers and have recently been practising Heart of Stone from the West End musical Six.
Anyone can join the group and no experience is needed to take part.
Magda Lauchard, the publicity and promotions manager for the choir, said: “We have been going strong for a while, but we are hoping to get out there more and encourage more people to join.
“We perform at events and work extremely hard in rehearsals but also have lots of fun.”
The group has performed in many different venues across Hertfordshire and the rest of the country, including St-Martins-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, Central Hall Westminster, Watford Palace Theatre and St Albans Cathedral.
Magda added: “We call ourselves the Purple Family because we are truly like a family. We have Simon Wookey who is our musical director and took over after Gareth left us, about six months after the show ended.
“He has been here for 14 years and does so much for the group, we wouldn’t be able to do anything without him.”
The group hopes to see membership grow and invite more people to come along for a singsong as well as continue with their performances.
The next concert is their Christmas show on December 9 at St Matthews Church, South Oxhey.
To get tickets you can email southoxheychoirs@gmail.com
To find out more about the choir you can visit their website here.
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