Enjoy the challenge of Choir In A Day - coming up in Boxgrove

We Are One: Choir In A Day returns this spring following a successful debut last year in Chichester. For its second outing, Bersted Arts are moving the concept to Boxgrove Village Hall on Sunday, April 28. You can secure your place now for £35 per person if booked before March 30, after which the price goes up slightly. For more information and to sign up, visit berstedarts.com.

Artistic director James Etheridge said: “Choir In A Day is exactly what it says. Our last event saw people from all walks of life and from all around the county and beyond come together, learn several songs under the direction of an experienced, professional musical director and then perform them in the evening to a live audience.

“Our debut event last November was an incredible success. We had around 50 people join us – some who had performed in a choir before and others who had no musical or performance experience at all. We received some amazing feedback and calls to do it again – and so we’re back, this time with an 80s vibe and a selection of well-known songs to match but with a different end to the day rather than a performance.”

The whole idea emerged after the weekly choir that Bersted Arts ran for a number of years folded because of the impact of Covid and of the cost of living crisis.

“But as we walked away we knew that lots of members still really, really wanted it and needed something. We just thought that there must be something that we could do that would be sustainable and that we could do at different times of the year and so Choir In A Day was born.”

At the first event they tackled six songs from two-part to four-part harmony: “We knew it would be tough but we had to start somewhere and we did a performance at the end of the day. To get 50 people was beyond what we thought. We thought we might get 30 to 35 so 50 was really good and, as with anything that we do through Bersted Arts, any profit we make we plough back into the next event which is this one.

“People come on the day and they learn the songs but the outcome this time will be slightly different. We have limited the songs down to two. We're doing Lovely Day which is a real people-pleaser song. As soon as I heard it I realised it just ticked all the boxes. It fills you with glee and you can't help but smile when you're doing it. You can't help but move. You just move to the beat. The other song we are doing is The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I went to see All Of Us Strangers, the film, and it really affected me. This is the song that's played at the end of the film. It is an 80s song and I'm an 80s child and it's all about the power of love and it is just such a beautiful song.

“So these are two songs that we're going to be doing but we're not going to be doing a performance this time. We've got a videographer who is coming along all day and we're going to be making a video to Lovely Day. The videographer will be doing short videos throughout the whole day and we we'll also do some set-ups for Lovely Day. The outcome will be the music video. I'd hope to get it turned around within a week.”

And already James is looking ahead to the next event which will be in December at St Wilfrid's church in Bognor.

He's also hoping to join next year's Festival of Chichester with a Choir In A Day event.