The Choir With No Name
Through the compelling power of music and companionship, a Birmingham choir is giving new hope to people who have very little
It’s 6pm on a Thursday evening in Birmingham city. People are rushing home, out of the city centre, as fast as they can. Back to their cosy and comforting homes. Another group of people pass them in the opposite direction on their way to a church hall. They are the Choir With No Name.
Sally Debiage, Choir Manager for the last five years, greets everybody warmly at the door by name. Many of these people have lived on the streets, have experienced hunger, isolation and cold.
They know what it is like to be an outcast in their own city. A faceless person.
But all that’s forgotten tonight. For the next couple of hours they stand together and sing under the musical direction of Pete Churchill before sitting down to eat together. Chairs are set out in a semi circle opposite the stage where there’s a mini grand piano and pianist.
Pete runs a tight ship, this isn’t just a jolly little sing along. This is a choir and they’ve played in some prestigious venues all over the country with more concerts coming up.
“Right, everybody stretch, on your tip toes, stretch right up to the ceiling and down to the floor. Now roll your shoulders, shake your arms and your legs then take a big breath in and out,” Pete says and they all follow.
The first song is Don’t Worry Be Happy. Some hum. Some sing. Eyes are closed as people focus on their individual voice and sway to the music.
“Right, whose birthday is it next?” Pete asks. It’s Tracy’s, so she sits in the Listening chair. She has to pass judgement on the rest of the choir as they sing Don’t Worry Be Happy again.
Her friends, Cheryl and Natasha, clearly love this song and are going for it as they recite the lyrics and sway to the music.
“Seven out of ten,” Tracy jokes, “Not high enough!” Originally from Liverpool, she became homeless in her early forties.
“I suffered severe depression and anxiety. I lived on the streets. It was filthy and scary.
“I used to go to hospital and pretend I had run out of medication just so I could have a bed for the night.”
Fellow choir member, Cheryl, 51, walked away
Many of these people have lived on the streets, experiencing hunger and cold
from her marriage after thirteen years of domestic violence.
“I just couldn’t take any more. So one day, I just left with my two young sons. We had nowhere to go and ended up in a women’s refuge with just the clothes we were wearing.
“We were homeless but had a roof over our heads.”
She never thought she would have the courage to sing a solo in front of hundreds of people.
“Pete tricked me,” she jokes, beaming broadly. “He started singing Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics with me then just stopped so I was singing on my own!”
Where is the Love is next, and the lyrics, which resonate with their message of support and guidance, are incredibly emotional.
Sally then welcomes back Lizzie, a volunteer who has just had a baby. Everyone claps and cheers and that’s the lovely thing about this very special choir. As Gareth, a strapping lad in his thirties, says, “It’s family here.”
Originally from Scotland, Gareth got into trouble with alcohol as he grew up and was arrested a number of times before finding himself homeless on the streets of
“I slept on a bench. Some nights it was so cold I thought I would die”
Birmingham. “I slept on a bench in the train station and relied on food from local soup kitchens and church groups.
“Some nights it was so cold, I thought I would die.”
A member of the choir for the last seven years he relishes his role as choir representative.
“It’s my job to welcome new members and I like that.”
Bill, 58, worked as a theatre technician in hospitals and nursing homes for 25 years. He found himself homeless following the death of his mother when the council refused to renew the lease on their council house.
“My auntie died six weeks later and I had nowhere to go. All our family possessions ended up in a skip outside the house. It was heartbreaking.
“I was in a hostel for a bit but got bullied. I just wasn’t like the people in there.” He then got a job in a hospital with accommodation in Wales.
“I thought that was the end of my woes but the hospital closed and I found myself jobless and homeless again. I then had row after row of bereavements. All my family died as well as many friends.”
Happily, he now has accommodation in Birmingham. He loves the choir and has made many friends here.
A couple more songs, Good Vibrations, Our House and Sweet Dreams then everybody sits down to eat food served by Sally and her volunteers.
The choice of music couldn’t be better. The choir clearly connect with it. And that’s why this choir works.