Choir to perform at Blackburn Salvation Army after tour

The North West Chorale has been in Belgium to sing, where they visited the Menin Gate in Ypres and Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery.

Now they are back in East Lancashire and will be performing their final concert of this tour at the Blackburn Salvation Army in Vicar Street at 7pm on Saturday, April 20.

Their trip across the North Sea also saw the group perform at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk Church in the town of De Panne, which is home to a military cemetery where more than 3,700 Belgian and British soldiers are buried.

The choir performing at Menin Gate in Ypres (Image: North West Chorale)

They also made a short trip across the border to Dunkirk to visit the Dynamo Museum, telling the story of the famous evacuation of Allied troops during the Second World War.

In attendance at the concert in Blackburn will be representatives from the Royal British Legion, and the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Councillor Parwaiz Akhtar.

There will also be a retiring collection for the Legion as choir members said they were "so moved" by the sacrifices made by the armed forces in the places they visited.

The choir at Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Cemetery (Image: North West Chorale)

Concert organiser, Eric Millest, said: "The North West Chorale is formed from members of a number of other choirs, including the East Lancashire Hospital Choir, Blackburn Music Society, Oswaldtwistle Church choirs and The Honour Choir.

"The latter choir was specially created to sing at the centenary commemoration of the start of the First World War held in Salford Quays, and the music was so powerful that people have been singing it ever since.

"This was the Honour Choral Suite's second international tour, and we are also singing Fauré's Requiem and some more light-hearted music associated with the First and Second World Wars."

Entry to the concert is free, with a collection for the Royal British Legion.