If recent TV programmes have whetted your appetite to join a community choir, you now have a chance.
 
The Friday Lunchtime Choir needs new singers as it starts its fourth season on Friday 5th October at 1.15pm.
 
Run by the Department of Education and Children’s Music Service, the choir meets at the Salvation Army Citadel, Lord Street, Douglas, for half an hour a week.
 
It membership ranges from young mums and dads to retirees and includes people from wide range of professions, including a pilot, people from the legal profession and shop workers and managers. Many had never sung before they joined.
 
‘All are welcome, no matter how much or how little previous singing experience they have had,’ said Maggie Richardson, who formed and runs the choir. ‘Recruits are guaranteed a friendly welcome. All the music is provided, although we ask for a donation of 50p a week to cover this.’
 
The choir has already performed end-of-term and charity concerts. This term will see its biggest performance yet – singing at the Gaiety Theatre during the Salvation Army’s annual carol concert on 2nd December.
 
Workplace choirs are becoming more and more popular, said Maggie. Gareth Malone’s latest series, ‘Sing While You Work’, which starts on BBC Two tomorrow (Thursday) features him with four British workforces, with a sing-off to decide the winner.
 
The programme will mark the TV debut of Manvinder Rattan, Head of Conducting for the charity Sing for Pleasure, who is a judge. Maggie is a previous chairman of Sing for Pleasure, hence a lot of the Friday Lunchtime Choir’s repertoire is similar to that the programme will feature.
 
Maggie, who heads the DEC’s Music Service, said: ‘We enjoy music of many different styles and from many different cultures. It’s chosen to be a challenge but not too difficult, so singers feel a sense of satisfaction from just a 30-minute rehearsal.
 
‘Many of our members joined with trepidation, having never sung a note in public, and it’s now a highlight of their week.’
 
For more information on the lunchtime choir, ring Maggie on 686555 or visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Friday-Lunchtime-Choir/156393334395594.