A Bolton barbershop choir had a starring role in one of the country's favourite soap operas.
The Cottontown Chorus were invited to perform on an episode of Coronation Street as a singing Valentine.
A quartet from the choir were featured in the February 13 episode with the award-winning barbershop choir performed Every Time We Touch by Cascada.
Members of the Cottontown Chorus said they were ‘pretty pleased’ when they heard about the request - and are now hoping their appearance on the show will encourage others to join.
James McCullin, Baritone section leader at the Cottontown Chorus, was one of the quartet to perform.
He said: “I was part of the group who appeared on Coronation Street recently, I was the tall one with the beard.
“And the story of how it came about us appearing on the soap was quite funny.
“Chris Shepherd, who is one of the other singers, sent me a WhatsApp message, a cryptic one, one afternoon and it said do you know where we might find an arrangement of Every Time We Touch by Cascada, which is a dance song from the noughties.
“And I was like ooo okay, so I got Googling and I found someone on YouTube who had an arrangement and at that point Chris said well Coronation Street have been in touch and they are wondering could we send a quartet to go and sing this for them on an episode and when you get a request like that, you’ve got to do it, you can’t say no to that.
“We were all pretty pleased about it and they wanted us to film it ten days after they approached us, so we knew the words and then had to go and learn it.
“It was a little work to get it ready, but it was something that we were absolutely up for.
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Chess table and chairs set up in Farnworth Park for young people
“I think we put on a performance, and we really enjoyed the experience.
“This will certainly raise our profile in the Bolton area, and we are hoping if people enjoyed it and want to join they will come to our Come and Sing evening and experience it themselves.”
Jonathan King, Secretary at the Cottontown Chorus said he hopes this encourages other people to join their award-winning choir.
He said: “We are a barbershop chorus, so it is close harmony, acapella singing and we have won the national championships eight times since 2005.
“There is an annual competition and if you win you can’t then compete the following year so to say in that time, we have won eight gold medals and a silver medal, that is quite an achievement.
“People come from all over the Greater Manchester area to take part in our group and now we would like to encourage more people to join.
“We are running an evening on March 12 which will be a come and sing evening where we will teach the song which was sung on Corrie.
“And if people attend and they enjoy the experience, they can stay.”
Speaking about the experience of appearing on Coronation Street, Jonathan said: “A group from the Cottontown Chorus were basically invited down to do a singing valentine on Corrie and then the episode was aired the day before Valentines Day.
“They also had to do a bit of acting and they dressed them up in the old-fashioned barbershop clothes which we don’t wear anymore but it is what TV thinks we look like.
“Any publicity is good and seeing us on Corrie may make people feel like oh where have they come from and want to find out more about us so that is good.
“Covid wasn’t great for us, we lost a few of our members and we have shrunk as a Chorus overtime, so we probably had 60 or 70 people attend beforehand and we are now around 50 members.
“We would like to get to 100 it would be brilliant, and we are inviting people to come and join us.”
For more information about the Cottontown Chorus, go to: www.cottontownchorus.co.uk
If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno
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