Sing like no one is listening with the Royal Wootton Bassett Tuneless Choir

“We’re open to anyone who loves to sing but perhaps feels that they’re not any good at it or perhaps can’t sing in tune,” said Lis Hazell, choir leader and manager.

The group started at the end of January, and since then has grown to almost 100 members.

“The clue is in the name,” added Lis.

“We’re not a traditional choir where everyone is divided into parts according to the pitch of your voice.

“We encourage everyone to just sing with the voice they’ve got.”

Sessions are held every Tuesday from 7.30pm to 8.45pm, at The Angel Hotel, 47 High Street, in Royal Wootton Bassett, SN4 7AQ.

Singers often socialise in the bar afterwards.

The choir is open to everyone, regardless of age or ability.

“The only criteria is that you want to sing but you don’t consider yourself to be any good at it,” said Lis.

“In Swindon we’re rather spoilt for choice when it comes to community choirs, but where do you go if you think you can’t sing very well or can’t sing in tune?

“The best thing about our choir is that we celebrate not being very good at something.

“For clubs that is actually quite rare, where the official criteria for being involved is that you’re not very good,” she added.

The choir sings a range of well-known songs that people are already familiar with and singers do not need to read music.

The idea is that anyone could come through the door, pick up a song book and get involved.

“For us it is not about practising to achieve a polish performance, it's all about participating and singing for pleasure,” added Liz.

The choir does performances all over Swindon, including at the KPC Family Fun Day earlier this summer, with four more lined up next month.

“We do like to perform where we can,” added Lis.

The Tuneless Choir participates in charitable activities and fundraising events. Along with the Chippenham Tuneless Choir, it has raised over £1,500 for Wiltshire Mind which is the Tuneless Choirs’ charity for the year.