The REAL Military Wives

When the military wives of Catterick took their first faltering steps towards forming a singing group in 2010, they had no idea they’d be sparking a global phenomenon…

It was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever done KIRSTY BRIGGS

BUT then a letter to choirmaster Gareth Malone asking for help led to a TV series, hit singles and albums, and countless appearances around the world. Now there are 75 military wives choirs boasting 2,500 women across the UK and around the world, as far apart as the Falkland Islands, Cyprus and Italy. All thanks to that letter from the Catterick wives to Gareth.

By the time he received the message, it was too late to work with them for a TV series, as the choir was already instead, Gareth set up choirs in Chivenor, Devon, and then Plymouth.

‘It was something I’d never thought about before,’ he explains. ‘What happened to wives when their partners that seemed to bring them together as a whole community.’

A massive 2.65 million watched The Choir: Military Wives and the single Wherever You Are – with lyrics taken from soldiers’ love letters – beat Little Mix to the coveted Christmas number one slot. Albums including In the choirs’ motto – followed, as did appearances for The Proms, the collaborated with Gary Barlow and Lulu.

Today, Military Wives Choirs is a registered charity helping the Armed Forces and their families. Here are just a few members’ stories… there from day one and it’s been and one wife, Nicky Clarke, saying, “I’m thinking of writing to Gareth Malone and the tour while the guys are away. Will you

were just having a laugh and none of us thought anything would come of that letter. We went back the next week and the next because the emotional support was fabulous – we were always there for each other.

‘For me the highlight was singing at the Festival of Remembrance in front of the Queen. I was a bag of nerves, praying that we’d get through In My Dreams without a hitch – and we did. That was our duty.’ ‘WHEN a member’s husband was diagnosed with cancer, we set up a rota to take meals over every day so she didn’t have that worry. Living overseas, she might have fallen through the holes but the choir picked up the slack – through singing, we’ve become family.

‘When her husband died, I asked if they’d like a choir at the funeral in Edinburgh. Twenty-one of us from three was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever done.

‘I move around with my husband’s job and as you get older it’s harder to meet people, but when you join the choir, you automatically have a group who welcome you. It’s amazing.’ ‘WHEN my husband heard an appeal on the radio for a new musical director to step into Gareth Malone’s shoes when he left the choir in 2011, it piqued my interest. I’m a music teacher and my son was about to join the navy. I heard nothing until six months later, when they called me in for an interview. I told them at the very end that the next week I’d be a military mum and I think that clinched it! ‘It’s been fantastic. We’ve performed in Ypres and Normandy as well as locally, but it’s the weekly getting together and people being able to have a hug or a cry when things for your mental health and wellbeing.’