A MALE choir which found its voice last year is looking forward to singing against some of the country’s best at a major international festival.

The St Helens Male Voices was set up last year to offer men of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to sing.

And it has been making its mark in the town, with performances including the solo part at the Silent Night event, held at Langtree Park in December.

The choir, which has the Dream featured on its logo, has amassed around 20 members, mostly from the town. It has rehearsals each Thursday evening at St Michael and All Angel, on Gartons Lane, Sutton.

And they will have their biggest event yet when they compete in the prestigious Llangollen International Eisteddfod Musical Festival this July.

Mike Collins, 57, organised the new choir with Wynne Rees and Brian Atherton, and is pleased with the progress of the fledgling group.

“We were just thrilled to bits that they accepted us and we’ll be with the best choirs from all over the country and some from across the world,” said Mike, from Windle.

“The choir is doing really well and rehearsals are just brilliant and part of it is down to Dr Martin Cook, our director who is fantastic.

“We have got recognition from all kinds of places and the Silent Night event was a good for us and it is things like that which have got us noticed.

“We do a mixture of older and more modern songs and have done some American spiritual stuff and we’ve also sang in Russian and Hebrew as well as English.”

“We are all excited about the Llangollen festival and we’re inviting people to join with us as we’ve got a few months of rehearsals ahead for it!”

For more information on the choir and to get in touch visit www.sthelensmvc.co.uk or look at the ‘St Helens Male Voices’ Facebook page.