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One member who has personally felt the uplifting effects of the Sing! Littleborough choir is Janet
SING! LITTLEBOROUGH
A community singing group for the locals of
Littleborough and beyond, ‘Sing! Littleborough’
has been raising the roof at various venues and
events with their joyful song and smiles since
October 2017.
Led by the vocal coach and musician Phil
Reynolds, the choir is taught a range of songs,
both new and old, to entertain their audiences,
meeting at The Falcon pub in Littleborough
Square.
Sing!’s first rehearsal two years ago saw over 50
people come through the doors. Within the hour,
members were singing in three-part harmony,
belting ABBA’s ‘I have a dream’ followed by a bit
of James Bay’s ‘Hold back the river’.
Since their formation, Sing! has played a myriad
of gigs from Heart Radio to local care homes,
concerts at Gorton Monastery and even sang at
Manchester Together with One Voice in Albert
Square last year, marking the first anniversary of
the Manchester Arena bombing. They
performed Faith Hill’s ‘There You’ll Be’ to a
crowd of approximately 15,000, which was
screened across Cathedral Gardens and
MediaCityUK.
When asked how the singing group came about,
co-founder Sarah Williams said: “I really love
singing, it is so uplifting and good for the soul, so
after the unexpected closure of the Rock Choir
in Littleborough, myself and a few singing friends
REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2019 32
Birch. Janet said: “Sing! Littleborough has changed my life. It’s not about your singing ability. It’s
amazing; I’ve had anxiety issues in the past, but being part of the choir has built my confidence.
“You can just let yourself go when you’re singing, and nobody judges you. I have discovered that I
really enjoy entertaining people. For me it was a life changer, not the singing but the social side of it. I
love it and I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
Do you fancy joining Sing! Littleborough?
Photo: Kerry Hargreaves Photography
Sing! welcomes new members all the time - join them at the Falcon Inn, Littleborough from 7pm -
8.30pm each Wednesday (term time).
Sessions begin again after a summer break on Wednesday 4 September 2019.
Sessions are £5 each.
(Joan Cook, Liz Creagh and Joanne Bottomley) No auditions, no need to read music, and if you can talk you can sing.
put out some feelers online and were
overwhelmed with the response. The choir’s next gigs for 2019 include:
“Finding a choir leader and venue were the next • Rochdale Heartbeat Autumn Serenade - 28 September at Littleborough Cricket Club
steps, and both Phil and The Falcon Inn were • Rochdale Half Marathon - 6 October at The Wine Press, Littleborough
keen to help us get the group off the ground.” • Music at the Monastery - 13 October at The Monastery, Gorton, Manchester
Phil Reynolds, who also runs the Rochdale
Carers Choir and Tameside Voices, said: “I al-
ready knew Liz and Joan from other choirs and
they’d been gently nagging me for a couple of
months to come and set up a choir - it was one of
the best decisions I’ve ever made.
“I’ve worked hard to make it a fun weekly social
event whilst providing a variety of performing
opportunities (over 30 in 18 months) and the
choir has surpassed all my expectations.”
Most recently in July, Sing! performed their
current favourite song, Chasing Cars by Snow
Patrol - the most played song on UK radio in the
21st century - at Milnrow Wellbeing Festival.
Phil added: “Singing is proven to have a huge
positive physical and emotional impact on health
and wellbeing, and many of the choir members
rely on rehearsals as a lifeline for lots of reasons.”
Sarah added: “We are changing lives: the number
of members who say how much they love choir
and how uplifting it is, is really humbling.”
33 REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2019