“Rainbow means everyone is welcome!”, Peter Sebastian tells me, his hands waving in the air in a welcoming gesture. Peter, who identifies as a cis-gay man, is explaining the name behind Liverpool Rainbow Chorus, a choir which boasts around 30 members, predominantly from the LGBT+ community. He continues: “It’s an…

“None of us had ever lived through a pandemic before, it was a scary experience and a tragic experience, people lost friends and relatives, so it was something else to concentrate on.” Judith Crosier, a 57-year-old teacher from Bedfordshire, credits Gareth Malone’s Great British Home Chorus for helping her through…

A choir by definition is “the organized body of singers in…church service” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, and indeed, the UK choral tradition has its roots in the Christian churches of 14th century Western Europe, but are choirs and religion still so linked today? Self-proclaimed “musical priest”, Father Lee…

On March 23 2020, choirs across the UK put down their sheet music in the face of the country’s first national lockdown, little knowing that they would face over a year of uncertainty and silent rehearsal rooms. Although the standstill of the initial lockdown was shared by most sectors, many…

Statistics released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reveal how social factors, such as gender, ethnicity and geography, affected the degree and conditions of homeworking in 2020. Most strikingly, although levels of homeworking amongst men and women were similar, working from home increased the gender pay gap. In…

A new joint Footway and Cycleway is to be built along the east side of the A41 in Eastham, improving safety provisions for cyclists and pedestrians. A £386,531 contract was awarded to Cambrianway Ltd on 11 November, with construction starting in January. The 2km off-road path, linking the existing shared…