Village Voices are bringing their vocals to Alnwick with a new singing group

Linnea Tormajer first started the Alnwick Allstar Choir in March 2022 and later developed Village Voices in 2023 with choir member Adriana McCool after she started to get feedback from people who were keen to sing but not as part of a choir.

Many people felt opposed to joining a choir for a number of reasons including not having the time for commitment, feeling like they weren’t good enough or feeling intimidated being in a choir. This sparked the idea for a different type of singing group, one which was much more relaxed and focussed on singing for fun rather than for perfect technique.

Linnea said: “Lots of reasons for not joining kept coming up and I had this idea of, I wonder what would happen if you started a social singing group and ran it almost like a yoga class where you have your venue and they just come and sing and then go home. There's no expectation of perfection.”

The first Village Voices were set up in Longframlington then Powburn before five others were started between Kelso and Berwick at the Scottish Borders’ mental health team’s request. Now, Linnea and Adriana will be running two choirs and seven singing groups over four days every week, with numbers continuing to grow.

The group covers a wide range of songs depending on the preference of the group and gets them singing in public to do what they love.

Linnea added: "It’s a social thing. They bring their friends or they've started to make friends so it's good to combat loneliness or have something to do during your day which isn't too taxing. There's a lot of fun and enjoyment that comes from that.”

Since expanding, Linnea and Adriana have recruited new people to join their team with Village Voices members Lee Hope and David Coulson, who have grown confident to be able to provide support to others.

Each group gets opportunities to share their what they love at different events throughout the year and this autumn Village Voices hope to get all seven of the groups together at the Alnwick Garden for a big performance.

"They don't need to have any singing experience,” Linnea explained. “There's no audition. This is singing for the pure pleasure of it and it doesn't matter how your voice sounds, whether you are a good singer or you think that you're terrible, it doesn't matter. To us, and this is our message, is that singing is the musical equivalent of football and anyone can kick a football.

"If you can kick a football, then you can sing and it might not mean you're playing for the Premier League, but you can still kick a ball. It should be accessible to everybody, regardless of your age or ability or musical knowledge.”

The new Alnwick Village Voices will run every Tuesday from 10:30am until 11:30am in the Small Hall at the Lindisfarne Centre. The first session starts on Tuesday September 3.