REDDITCH Choral Society certainly had plenty to sing about when it was featured on BBC Midlands Today on Friday as part of the programme’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
The famous BBC red sofa stopped off at Redditch Library on its seven-day, 1,000 mile tour of the West Midlands to mark its big birthday, along with BBC reporter, Ben Sidwell.
Ben had been tasked with finding out about other 60th anniversaries along the way and, as Redditch Choral Society was founded in 1964, it was a perfect fit.
Famous red sofa comes to Redditch
Group members got to sing from the red sofa and met the BBC crew at the library. The society was filmed singing Handel’s uplifting Hallelujah chorus, much to the surprise and delight of library users. They were joined by a quartet of musicians organised by conductor, Emily Tyrrell.
Emily said: “We were absolutely delighted to be asked to celebrate alongside BBC Midlands Today and we had a lot of fun singing from the famous sofa.
“The library staff were really welcoming, and thankfully library users embraced our full-volume performance – many came over afterwards to say how amazed they were.”
She added choral singing was often regarded as the ultimate feel-good activity as it boosted physical and mental health, built connections in the singers’ brains and was sociable, fun and exciting.
Redditch Choral Society is currently welcoming new members to rehearsals for its next concert on Saturday, December 7.
Rehearsals are from 7.45pm to 9.30pm on Wednesday evenings at Crabbs Cross Methodist Centre.
Emily added: “New singers are welcome to ‘try before signing up.
“The process of learning the music from the early autumn rehearsals through to performing it in concert with a professional orchestra is really exciting.
“It’s such a privilege to lead this process, and wonderful that there are spaces for more singers to experience it.”
60 years of broadcasting
BBC Midlands Today is one of the longest running regional television news programmes and broadcasted its first ever episode on September 28, 1964.
That saw presenter Barry Lankester welcome viewers for the very first time and, since then, the show covered thousands of historic stories across the region, including the construction of Spaghetti Junction, the devastating Birmingham pub bombings and the closure of the MG Rover Longbridge Plant.
The current line-up for the main early evening bulletin includes several presenters such as Nick Owen, Mary Rhodes, Shefali Oza, and Rebecca Wood.
Mary said: “I have been presenting the programme for 12 years, and it remains a privilege to bring the news to our audiences.
“Having grown up and studied in the region, it means a lot to prepare and host a programme that has the community at its heart and is loved by so many.
“I grew up watching Midlands Today, and I never imagined I would be part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.”
BBC Midlands Today airs at 6.30pm every evening on BBC One.
