Back in 2010 when two Scots Guards wives begged, cajoled and bullied (in the nicest possible way!) their friends into coming along to the inaugural rehearsal for the first ever choir for military wives (not forgetting affiliates, girlfriends and servicewomen) who would have thought that 5 years on that choir would still be going from strength to strength and have been the inspiration for numerous other choirs across the country? But that is the case and the current members of the Military WAGS Choir recently celebrated in style with a social event in the function room of a local pub. There was also an amazing cake made by the lovely Sharon who, rather fittingly, was one of the choir's very first members.
The choir now has approximately 60 ladies on its books and has helped many more, who have sadly moved on, cope with the difficulties that military life brings. Unfortunately, there are only five ladies left (including Carol, the MD) who have been in the choir from the very start but this is what it makes it so unique. The ability of all the ladies to learn songs from scratch and not use music in performances which, with a constantly changing membership (we lose and welcome numerous ladies every term) is no mean feat, our repetoire is huge and expanding all the time. We are still much in demand in both the local and wider area with performances planned this year in Northallerton, Sheffield, Richmond and Newcastle to name just a few. The level of support the public give us, especially in the local area, always amazes all the ladies and makes the difficult times more bearable.
The past five years have been a complete rollercoaster with some amazing opportunities interspersed by deployments, serious illness for some members (one of whom sadly lost her battle) and saying goodbye to good friends but one thing never changes, the support that the ladies provide for each other.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us on our journey so far and here's to the next five years!
