How a Yorkshire Choir's Christmas Album is Raising Money For Dementia UK

Nick Ingram is the founder of Voices of Yorkshire. He began his singing career in the West End, then got a record deal and had songs in the charts in 2008 and 2009 with pop rock band The Yeah You’s. Since then he has sung the voice overs for the singing parts in Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam. ‘My background in music is very varied,’ he laughs. Nick moved up north seven and a half years ago and that’s when he started running choirs. Voices of Yorkshire has been running for six years, starting out with a small group of 20 people. Now they boast around 400 members, as well as an offshoot in Oxfordshire.

Voices of Yorkshire is a relaxed and inclusive group, open to anyone with a love of singing. ‘It’s for anyone who shares a joy for singing and wants to come together to make a really good sound, but mostly to be there for each other and raise money for charity,’ says Nick. ‘We range from age 16 and our oldest member turned 90 last week! Everyone is welcome and we sing at various events throughout the year, always raising money for charities. We tend to have a charity of the year and a couple of years ago we raised money for Martin House Hospice (a fantastic children’s hospice), last year we raised money for local mental health group It’s Worth Talking About, and this year we’ve been focusing on raising money for Dementia UK. We’ve done all sorts of fundraisers for the charity this year and in June we put on a performance in Ilkley and raised a lot of money. We had a volunteer from Dementia UK come along to talk to our audiences too, so we got to learn more about the incredible work that they do.’

Voices of Yorkshire sing a range of well known contemporary rock and pop songs as well as some show tunes, but Nick is always open to new suggestions. There are currently six choirs involved in the group in Bingley, Skipton, Oakworth, Silsden, Pudsey and Menston, running Monday to Thursday. ‘We rehearse separately then come together to perform,’ Nick explains. ‘I try to find places to perform where numbers aren’t limited as it gets quite tricky when everyone wants to perform. We sang for Candlelighters’ annual bereavement afternoon at Headingley Stadium which was really emotional and touching, but so rewarding. It’s a real honour to be asked to go and sing there. The idea is to bring as many people together as we can so we can spread joy.’

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‘We’re performing fairly locally over Christmas, including in Skipton, Ilkley and Bingley. We’ll start at the end of November with a selection shows, including light switch-ons. It’s a pleasure to be asked to perform at those. I’ve really learned so much about collective singing through the power of being a group and singing together. In fact, I had a post on my Facebook page recently from a lady who sings with us sharing how important it is for mental and physical health. Even though I’ve been a singer my whole life, I’m still learning lots about the physical benefits of it.’

Head to voicesofyorkshire.com to stream By ‘Eck It’s Christmas when the album is released, or if you are interested in joining the group.