‘We’ve always known she’s got a nice voice and it comes quite easily to her’
Anna Cook from Cottingham will appear as a semi-finalist in the junior category of BBC’s Chorister of the Year competition(Image: Submitted by Corrine Cook)
A young chorister from Cottingham is one of five semi-finalists chosen from a national pool of hopefuls who will sing for a chance to take home the crown in the BBC ’s Young Chorister of the Year competition’s junior category. Anna Cook is just 11 but has been singing in her church choir since she was a five-year-old.
She is a chorister at Beverley Minster and was chosen as one of five semi-finalists who will compete in the junior category of the competition this Sunday on BBC One’s Songs of Praise. Anna’s mum Corrine Cook teaches at Tranby School in Anlaby, where Anna attends and started having singing lessons.
Anna’s dad, Mike, is also a music teacher and works at Wilberforce Sixth Form. Corrine said Anna was entered into the competition “as a bit of a punt” alongside several older students.
She was “shocked” and “incredibly proud” to receive a call from the BBC to say Anna had made it to the semi-finals, filmed in Manchester at the Halle St Peter’s. Corrine said: “I got a message at work to ask if I could give the BBC a ring. I thought it was as a music teacher for one of the other girls. Even then I didn’t really realise what it meant, it was a bit of a shock.
“I’m unbelievably proud of her. She’s only been having lessons for about two years and she’s done the little local festivals.
“In the competition, she’s up against cathedral choristers. She was just in a little parish church choir, a normal girl, not singing every day of the week. She did really well and she really enjoyed it.
“We’ve always known she’s got a nice voice and it comes quite easily to her. She was learning these pieces for Cottingham, she was learning a hymn and an anthem, so we decided to enter her.”
Anna, alongside her siblings Lauren, nine, and Seb, six, is also into playing hockey and has recently been picked to train with Humber Hockey. Anna spent most of her life singing with St Helen’s Church Choir in Welton, which is where her family have worshipped for many years.
Corrine and Mike recently moved their kids to Beverley Minster – which has multiple choirs – due to their busy timetables. All three of their children enjoy playing sports and singing. “It’s in their blood,” Corrine said. “They don’t do much practice and they pick things up quite quickly.”
Anna is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Abigail Mount, who was also a Tranby student and Beverley Minster chorister. She was selected as one of the five girls nationwide to compete in the girls’ semi-final of the prestigious BBC Young Chorister of the Year 2022 competition, and has gone on to sing as a soprano and often appears as a featured soloist with the East Riding Concert Orchestra.
Corrine said the three days of filming in Manchester were “quite intense” but Anna enjoyed the experience and came away with a few new pen pals. The family are remaining tight-lipped about whether Anna is one of three semi-finalists chosen to make it all the way to the end. The semi final of the BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition will be aired on Songs of Praise on Sunday, October 4, on BBC One at 1.15pm.
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