Military Wives are Stronger Together

The Military Wives Choir at Chicksands was only formed this summer and now they can be heard on a CD.

The 20 singers, who are either female members of the forces or related to one of the troops, can be heard on the album Stronger Together alongside 630 other women from British military communities.

Katherine Page, whose husband has just returned from Afghanistan, is on the Chicksands choir’s committee. She said: “We sang on two tracks; Stronger Together and One Voice. The recording was done at Chicksands.

“Everybody was recorded at their individual bases then they merged the different choirs.”

They recorded each voice part individually so that they could be mixed back in the recording studio.

The choir is led by Julia Fraser, one of the teachers at Robert Bloomfield Academy in Shefford. On Thursday, September 13 the choir travelled to the Wellington Barracks in London to join the other Military Wives choirs to shoot a music video.

In total 650 women from British military communities both at home and overseas were portrayed in the video for the album’s lead song, Stronger Together. They broke the world record for the biggest video shoot in music history.

Katherine added: “It was a bit overwhelming. It’s not something we expected to be doing. It’s good to be part of something so big –it’s nice to give everyone a chance to get together and do something positive.”

The album, called Stronger Together, was overseen by choirmaster Gareth Malone and it will be released by Decca Records on Monday, November 5.

The first Military Wives Choirs shot to success after appearing on the BBC Two series, The Choir: Military Wives last year.

The video recording also marked the launch of The Military Choirs Foundation, which will provide practical help and support to the rapidly growing network of choirs on military bases around the world.