Why community choirs are more popular than ever in Northern Ireland

Community choirs, where voices of friendship sing loud and proud, are more popular than ever. Among them is The Sperrin Choir in Mid-Ulster, getting ready to celebrate 50 years of uniting in song Sperrin Choir on stage. Pulling up in the car park outside the Parish Hall in Castledawson, the strains of America from West Side Story drift out into the spring evening.

The Sperrin Choir has rarely been in finer voice. Around 50 of the members have turned out for the weekly rehearsals, a healthy number some 50 years on from its beginnings as the more classically styled The Regan Singers..