Military Wives

Military Wives Choirs
Military Wives and Gareth Malone launch new Foundation, September 2012.
Background information
Genres	Choral
Years active	2011 (2011)–present
Labels	Decca, BMG
Associated acts	Gareth Malone, Gary Barlow, The Poppy Girls
Website	www.militarywiveschoir.org

Military Wives Choirs are a group of British choirs formed of wives, partners and widows of British Military personnel as well as service women and veterans and are located around the UK and in several locations abroad. Formed in 2010, the choir has performed at major military events and also at the Diamond Jubilee Concert.

The first choir held their first rehearsal in April 2010 in Catterick Garrison. It was the idea of two Scots Guards wives who decided, whilst their husbands deployed in Afghanistan in 2009, to put up posters at the Garrison to actively encourage and look for ladies interested in singing together, to help support and give the wives a focus whilst their husbands deployed. They engaged a well-known local music teacher and set about putting together a choir made up of Wives, Girlfriends and Service women and so the first choir was formed. A letter was written to choirmaster Gareth Malone looking for help and support with the choir; at that time he was receiving acclaim for his BBC television programme The Choir and felt that this was an idea that could be replicated. Malone then went to RMB Chivenor to start another choir there.

Following the success at Chivenor, Malone, as part of the series, formed another choir at the Royal Citadel, Plymouth. Following the broadcast of the series and the release of the single Wherever You Are, more choirs were added at CTCRM, Lympstone and HMNB Portsmouth. The five choirs of Catterick, Chivenor, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Lympstone were invited to contribute to the album In My Dreams under the name Military Wives.

The Military Wives Choir formed by Gareth Malone at the Royal Marines Base Chivenor, as part of the fourth series of the BBC/Twenty Twenty television series The Choir, entitled The Choir: Military Wives. The aim of the choir was to help the wives and girlfriends of servicemen currently deployed to Afghanistan express themselves through song.