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26
May 2021
Sing it loud! Knaresborough choir returns tomorrow night
A Knaresborough community choir will sing live for the first time this year tomorrow night after making last minute arrangements to beat new lockdown rules.
Numerous choirs in the Harrogate district were looking forward to meeting face-to-face again after restrictions eased on May 17.
But government guidance changed at the last minute to say amateur choirs in England could only gather in groups of up to six people indoors.
Knot Another Choir in Knaresborough, which has up to 80 singers in normal times performing pop songs from the 1960s onwards, was faced with having to cancel its return to the town's Trinity Church Hall after months of Zoom singing.
But after some frantic calls around the district, Julie Bradbury-Sharp, a trustee of the choir and its events coordinator, managed to secure the use of a marquee at Harrogate Railway Athletic FC's ground, which is classed as outdoors and therefore able to accommodate the group.
Ms Bradbury-Sharp said:
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Ms Bradbury-Sharp alerted Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones to the plight of choirs.
Mr Jones raised the issue in a parliamentary debate about covid yesterday, urging the government to resume as soon as possible "indoor gatherings for groups such as community choirs, and other events that bring people together".
The first song on Knot Another Choir's list for tomorrow night is Simply the Best by Tina Turner. Ms Bradbury-Sharp said:
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