A Burton choir were gearing up for their date on television in 1986.
The town’s Mercian Chorale sang their way through to the national finals of a competition.
From the 400 choirs which auditioned, only 48 were chosen for the grand final which was to be televised before the eventual winners would be named the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year.
Mercian Chorale were still a relatively new choir in 1986 having only been formed in 1983 by members of Burton Youth Choir.
The choir was directed by Burton’s well-known musician Michael Bates and its repertoire covered everything from early church music to pop music.
Over the three-year period between formation and national finals, the choir had grown to 22 members.
To give the choir the best chance of success, Burton engineering firm RE Cooke and Son sponsored the members with an appeal being made in May 1986 for more companies to put a little money behind the group.
The choir of the year competition is still in existence having been established in 1984.
Burton’s Mercian Chorale didn’t sing their way to victory in the 1986 contest as the eventual winners were the Nottingham-based Cantamus choir.
