The Choir: Military Wives

Choirmaster Gareth Malone has tried to expose singing, specifically in a choral setting, to groups who he believes would benefit largely from the experience. The latest group he targets is the wives and partners of those in the military. This specific ten month project will include those stationed at R.M.B. Chivenor and the Royal Citadel in Plymouth. He believes military wives are unsung heroines who remain stoic in their quiet support of their husbands and the military as a whole. However, he feels that they do not have a formal place in the military, and thus literally and figuratively do not have a voice. He is hoping that the setting up of a choir of military wives will not only provide a distraction for the wives as their husbands are sent overseas - in these specific cases, a six month tour of duty in Afghanistan - but also that missing voice. He also wants the choirs to act as a formal mechanism to pay respect to the military which is the world in which they live, but also a place within that military to provide the support back to the wives. This task may become all the more difficult if there are casualties overseas, not only of the husbands of choir members, but of any member of the British military who trained at those two specific bases.