MEMBERS of Portsmouth Military Wives Choir are set to boost their musical shows, after a donation from a developer working in Gosport.
The choir, which covers the city and surrounding areas, received £1,000 from firm Taylor Wimpey, which is currently building the Alver Village development, off Grange Road in Rowner.
The donation means that the choir can buy more instruments, so that they will not have to borrow equipment from venues.
Sammy Davies, fundraising representative for the choir, said: ‘It means a huge amount to us, I think there is a misunderstanding widely held that we all get lots and lots of royalties from the records and things like that.
‘In actual fact, we’re self-sustaining so we don’t have massive amounts of funds in our coffers.
‘This is really important to us, we’re actually going to use the money to purchase our own keyboard so we can do more concerts locally, without being completely dependent on venues having the equipment in place.’
In recent weeks the choir has performed at London Waterloo train station and on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, with a keyboard having to be transported for them across the city.
But now after receiving the cash, Sammy said that the group are six months ahead of their plans to buy their own instruments.
And she now hopes that they will be able to serve the community better and improve future performances.
‘We had a situation coming up at Christmas where we thought we might have to do some songs dependent on backing tracks, which doesn’t sound terribly professional at all,’ she said.
‘We are able to give back to the community far more than we have of late.
‘It takes a lot to raise money through raffles and things like that.
‘A one-off donation, which is immensely generous, has really allowed us to achieve a goal without far earlier than we had previously thought possible.
‘We can’t thank them enough, it was absolutely completely unexpected and a real gesture from them.’
To get involved with the choir, contact them on mwcportsmouth@hotmail.com.
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