How joining a choir in rural France helped me build a new life after retirement

My husband Mike and I retired and moved from Manchester to Civray (Vienne) in 2023. In the UK I had worked as a banker and Mike was an engineer. 

I joined a choir called Lifting Spirits, partly because I did not have any other Anglophone friends here. Also, I have always loved singing. 

I grew up in South Africa and I used to sing a lot in school choirs and musical theatre. So I can sing in tune and I enjoy it. 

However, you do not have to be an experienced singer to get a lot out of joining a choir. Catherine Chambers, who runs Lifting Spirits, does a lot of training with us. 

That is because although the choir is amateur, she is a professional drama, singing and voice production coach. 

The choir is more of a passion project, however, and she offers free online courses, too. She is really enthusiastic about getting people singing.

We do three and four-part harmonies so you get to sing across a huge range. I like the repertoire too. 

It is very varied – a lot of pop and recent chart hits that teenagers recognise. We perform songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody and Beatles hits, show tunes, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gary Barlow's Sing, plus Simon and Garfunkel. 

We also sing French songs, and hope that more French people will join the choir.

We perform a carol concert at Christmas. Last year we rented a hall in Civray for it because it has better acoustics and is easier to heat. 

In the summer we sing at various fêtes in Vienne. There are lots of music festivals in this area. It seems to be a bit of a thing.

Nowadays, we sometimes even get paid to sing at special events in restaurants and suchlike. We have enough material to do an hour-and-a-half. 

There were only 12 of us in the beginning, but now we have 16 members and even have some men, which took a while. It can be difficult to get men to join an all-women activity, but we have a few who can sing in the bass lines now, which is great.

Even though Mike is not a member, we have made good friends through the choir. 

Although Catherine will not take people who cannot hold a tune, it does not matter if they cannot do harmonies at the beginning. People can always learn and we are open to new members of any nationality.

Pipe up: how to start with a group

• Find a local group by asking around and reading posters.
• Be brave. Have a go. It is always worth doing an audition.
• It is not usually necessary to be able to read music as long as you can catch on from listening. 
• Some people record the rehearsals, and we get given recordings of the harmonies so we can practise at home. I tend not to because I find I am ok just doing it at the group sessions. There is not much work to do at home, however. 
• Singing in French is a great way to learn the language. 
• Singing really does lift spirits; it is an incredible power. When I come out of rehearsals I am always in a really great mood. It is also a fun way of meeting people and making new friends.
• At rehearsals, try to stand near the best singers so you can follow along with them without getting lost, especially if you have not sung harmonies before.