Hallelujah! Blackpool pupils are a class act

Norbreck Primary Academy’s 36-strong choir won the Last Choir Standing competition after finishing runners-up in the past two contests.

And another Fylde coast school, Anchorsholme Academy, were also on song, picking up the runner-up spot in the final of the event, held at Blackburn’s King George’s Hall.

The win marked the culmination of a three-month selection process involving almost 2,000 schoolchildren from 50 schools and seven regional heats in different parts of Lancashire.

Norbreck headteacher Karen McCarter, herself a grade eight singer and pianist, said she was delighted her pupils had won.

She said: “We have worked incredibly hard, with rehearsals at lunchtimes three times a week.

“It is good for the children to see the result of hard work and dedication, it is a lesson for life and I think the parents like that too.

“The children are so lovely they gave up so many wonderful sunny days in the playground in order to practice.”

The youngsters performed two songs in the final, using two and three part harmonies to impress the judges.

They sang a traditional coral piece – Can You Hear Me by Bob Chilcott, and the set piece song all the finalists had to sing – Golden Days, which was composed by Fylde accountant Simon Cox and which won Last Choir Singing’s song-writing competition in 2017.

Now in its fifth year, Last Choir Singing is organised by Euxton-based True Bearing Chartered Financial Planners. More than 6,500 children have taken part.

George Critchley, chairman of True Bearing, said: “Last Choir Singing is our way of giving something back to the community.

It is so important that children have a chance to participate in the arts. The competition teaches them discipline and team work and they experience the pure joy of singing.”

Charity song

Simon Cox’s song, Golden Days, is now on sale on iTunes in aid of Brian House Children’s Hospice.