Meet the Burnley & Clitheroe choir leader for the choir bringing joy through singing

Local Vocals was established in 2021 by LIPA graduate Laura Bennett-Gornall with the aim of supporting charities across Northern England and helping bring the local community through the joy of singing together.

In the years since the organisation’s formation, Local Vocals has performed in various settings, including at a Wigan Warriors vs St Helens Super League game, as well as festivals, artisan markets, theatre shows, galas and weddings. It was at a wedding vow renewal that Local Vocals made the headlines recently.

Following a late withdrawal, Local Vocals responded to an SOS and performed at a wedding vow renewal ceremony in the Ribble Valley area with just a few days' notice last month, delivering a performance that was met with praise from the bride, Michelle Goodchild. George Harry Jones, who serves as the choir leader for Local Vocals in Clitheroe, Burnley and Blackburn, admitted that the experience was a first for him.

“I've had gigs before that have been, like, three weeks' notice or two weeks', but never a few days and never something so meaningful,” Jones admitted. “And when the bride picked the songs, she picked the two new songs that we'd only finished. In fact, when she picked them, we'd not actually finished the second song yet. So not only did we manage to pull a choir together, we also got the choir to learn two new songs – When Love Takes Over and Wings. We'd not actually finished Wings until, like, literally two days before,” Jones concluded.

However, when it came to the choir learning ‘Wings’, it required significantly more commitment from the choir members due to the time constraints.” Each one of those people who were there went home, and they learned that song. Like, the choir rehearsal helped them, but the choir's only an hour and a half. It's the dedication from each and every member. When they went home, they started listening to the audio tracks that we provided them. You get all the parts, and they learnt all the words, and it was fabulous,” Jones said in praise of his choir.

Since its launch in 2021, Local Vocals has now gained over 1,000 members. Their community has expanded to cover the Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire regions and welcomes anyone aged 16+, including those with no prior singing experience. Jones, who moved to Shenzhen, China, in February 2019 to teach music and remained there until 2025, believes that joining Local Vocals was “the best thing” he’s done.

“I was teaching music in China for six years, and I got back in July, so I was kind of floating around; I didn’t really know what I was doing in the UK anymore,” Jones admitted. ”I didn't really have a purpose, and then I saw an advert on Indeed. I was like, oh, that sounds fun. Because I've obviously taught kids singing before and stuff, so I was like, 'Oh well, I'll go and give it a go; see what it's like.'

“And then I remember being terrified because it was in front of adults, not in front of kids. And I was like, oh God, how am I going to do this? And then I nearly didn't go, and then I just thought, you know what, get out of your comfort zone; just do it. And I went and it was honestly the best thing I've done. It's almost like it gave me purpose. All the choir members talk about how much it means to them, but I think it's easy to forget as well. It means so much to the choir leaders,” Jones finished.

As a community, Local Vocals supports charities across Northern England, raising over £56,000 for local charities such as Derian House Children’s Hospice, Lancashire Mind, Rosemere Cancer Foundation and North West Air Ambulance since January 2021.

“I don't think she (Laura) could ever have imagined that it would have gone this big,” Jones said when asked if their fundraising efforts had exceeded their expectations. “For example, I did my Blackburn choir; we did a book sale the other day, and I was like, 'Oh, we'll probably get, like, £20.' They raised over £120 for it, just selling each other's books to each other. Like, they're all such generous people, and then with their generosity comes this kind of, like, altruism where they go out and they get other people to be generous, and you pass it on; it's, like, contagious. They all managed to raise just a crazy amount of money for charity, and then just being a part of that feels so rewarding,” Jones stated.

This summer, Local Vocals will be continuing their fundraising efforts as they host two back-to-back shows at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in August as part of their bid to raise funds for North West Cancer Research. As a musician outside of Local Vocals, the opportunity to perform at Bridgewater Hall is a full-circle moment for Jones, who performed at the venue on two occasions as part of a band.

Tickets for Local Vocals’ upcoming shows at Bridgewater Hall are available at https://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/local-vocals-010826/