Lucy’s Pop Choir, which meets in Cottingham and Beverley, is welcoming new singers of all abilities — and is set to expand to East Hull with a new session opening soon
Groups from Lucy’s Pop Choir perform at events all over the country(Image: Submitted)
Singers of all ages and abilities are being called to join a choir that is bringing joy to people in Cottingham and Beverley – with another session due to open in East Hull soon. Lucy’s Pop Choir encourages singers to come along and be themselves, with no pressure to perform solos, read music or wear uniforms.
Lucy’s Pop Choir is the brainchild of Lucy McClean. She started her own choir in York in 2013 when she was looking for a light-hearted group to sing with. But all she could find were choral, classical or religious choirs. The original choir comprised just Lucy and a group of friends, and now there are branches all over England and Ireland, from Middlesbrough to Peterborough.
A trained voice coach, Lucy said the choir was a “happy little side gig” until Covid hit and she realised it was the thing that really made her heart sing. She said: “It’s only in the last couple of years that it’s really grown rapidly. It’s accidental and it’s brilliant. I started it in York in 2013 just because I couldn’t find a choir in York that wasn’t choral, classical or religious. I wanted to sing things from the charts. I started one and I made all my friends come and we just had such a laugh.
“I had a bunch of clients I was teaching that wanted an outlet for what they were learning. Over Covid we couldn’t do anything and I realised that choir was more what I was enjoying. I spent time customising the business and after that we’ve been getting more team members. We’ve gone from maybe six or seven sessions pre-Covid and now we’ve got around 22.
“It’s just steadily grown and grown from there and it’s all a bit nuts. They’re such a little community, all the different groups, the Hull one especially. Carl runs our sessions in Hull he used to tour and now he works in events and really used to miss the singing itch that they get and it’s been great.”
Lucy has just taken another team member on in Hull. Jessika-Mae Martin will become the latest addition to the team and, once trained, will be instructing her own sessions. The choir currently meets on Wednesday nights at the Goodfellowshop Inn on Cottingham Road, and there is another session in Beverley, which meets on Tuesday nights at Toll Gavel Church. Participants pay a monthly membership fee, which allows members to participate in as many sessions a month as they can get to.
The choirs are always accepting new sign ups, with maximum numbers dependent on the venue. Lucy said: “Jess has joined so we can start another session over the other side of Hull, on the East Side. We are currently looking for a new venue. We’re looking for more voices to come and join the existing groups and then when Jess is ready to start her own group, which won’t take long, people can go to that. We do the same songs at all the sessions so people can pick and choose which group to go to. Or they can go to all of them. Sometimes people switch between Hull and Beverley sessions, or attend both.
“Once they get going, it’s such a nice community. We get people who’ve just moved to the area or want to make some new friends or they want to de-stress in the middle of the week. Recently, someone emailed me from the Hull group after the session and said she wasn’t going to go to the session because she’d had the worst day. She said three songs in and she felt so much lighter and so much better. As much as it’s a stress for me sometimes, I get over myself as quickly as I can because the difference it makes to them all and the buzz that they get makes it so worth it.”
Lucy assures people that there is “no uniform, auditions or solos”, and all gigs are optional. “We try and keep it as stress free as we can,” she said. “People are busy enough! It’s all really chill and fun.”
The groups from Hull will sing at Hull Pride on Saturday. They regularly sing at charity events and encourage any charities who would like their help with fundraising to get in touch via the website. Anyone interested in signing up or attending a free taster session can register their interest via the website: www.lucyspopchoir.co.uk/
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