Choirs join forces and raise £16,000 for charity after venue 'packed to the rafters'
A charity concert involving eight choirs from the region that returned for the first time since the Covid pandemic, has raised at least £16,000 for Birmingham Children's Hospital.
On Sunday, choirs from Wolverhampton, Shropshire, Staffordshire and the Black Country, took part in Choirmania 2023 at Birmingham Town Hall.
The event was started just before Covid but Sunday's concert was the first time it has taken place since the pandemic.
The eight choirs that took part were: Bridgnorth Community Pop Choir, the Bridgnorth Show Choir, Wolverhampton Show Choir, Telford's Better Together Choir, Wombourne's Community Pop Choir, South Staffordshire Community Pop Choir, Stourbridge Show Choir and Stourbridge Community Pop Choir.
Sunday's return of Choirmania was "packed to the rafters" organisers have said, after more than 1,000 people bought tickets.
Simon Whitmore the musical director and show organiser said the first half of the concert was entitled Songs of Hope and Encouragement and the choir sang songs such as Fix You (Coldplay), Firework (Katie Perry), You’ve Got a Friend (Carole King) and Something Inside So Strong (Labbi Siffre) which went down a storm with the audience.
He added that in the second half, the audience were involved with a singalong and party anthems by Queen (We Will Rock You), Abba and Tina Turner.
Simon said: “The audience were truly amazing. From after the very first song I knew we were in for a great evening.
"The audience were just so supportive. As a musician it doesn’t really get any better than this. A packed house at the iconic Birmingham Town Hall, an amazing audience and raising such a huge amount of money for charity.”
Linda Dewhurst who took part in the event said: “The atmosphere was electric and I wanted to do it again as soon as it finished.”
Another choir member, Janet Harrow, added: "An amazing experience, singing our hearts out with choir buddies, to raise such a huge amount for Birmingham Children's Hospital.”
Simon added: “The concert was a great success and I’m hoping over the next few days we will receive a few more donations to push the total raised even higher.”
