The People's Orchestra and The People's Show Choir Podcast, August 2025: Walking Choirs, Rusties and Wolverhampton

Introduction from Matt Ward (0:00)

[Theme song]

0:05 Matt Ward: Hi, I’m Matt Ward, and this is The People’s Orchestra and Show Choir Podcast – and I’m really excited to share that from this month onwards, I’ll be joined by Chris Weber as my co-host. Hey, Chris!

0:15 Chris Weber: Hi, Matt – how are you?

0:17 Matt: Yeah, good, thank you. Lovely. Each month we’ll be bringing you stories from across The People’s Orchestra and The People’s Show Choir community, letting you know what’s happening now and looking ahead to what’s coming up. In this episode, we hear from Lorna Parkhouse and Philip Field, who reflect on how things are shaping up for the Wolverhampton choir under new leadership. Julian Powell returns to talk about the Rusty Players Orchestra and what’s coming up for them over the summer. And of course, we’ll be talking about walking choirs. But first, over to Chris for August’s Word of the Month.

Word of the Month: staccato (0:52)

[Music]

0:56 Chris: The word of the month is staccato. It comes from the Italian word meaning detached, or disconnected. In the context of music, it means that you should play the notes sharply and short, completely detached from the notes before and after. This is the polar opposite of playing legato, which is another type of articulation, telling the musician to play the notes smoothly and connected.

[Music]

The walking choirs (1:24)

1:24 Matt: I do love that segment, Chris! Now, Piña Colada Girl took her microphone out to record some of the reactions from participants in the walking choir, so let’s have a listen to those, and then you can catch us up on what’s going on with that.

1:35 Becky: Hi, I’m Becky, and I’ve been coming to the walking choir since it started – I’ve only missed a few weeks. It’s been fantastic; I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Some mornings, even in the cold mornings over the winter, I thought, “maybe I don’t want to” – but as soon as we came along, Chris’s enthusiasm and the good, fun songs we were singing… I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, and I am going to miss it. Hopefully, in the future, things will happen, or maybe a few of us can get together for some walks, because that’s been really important to me – just getting out on a Saturday morning for that hour of walking has set me up for the day, really.

2:15 Marian: Hello, I’m Marian. I also came on the walking choir for most of the year. It used to get me out of bed, mainly, on a Saturday morning! And believe it or not, we only had one or two rainy days – I think there was once when it got called off, and once when we walked in the rain – but most of it has been bright sunshine, and that’s tremendous for your soul, really. But my main memory was arriving, with not many here for a while, and talking to a fisherman who was right next to the lake. He promised me faithfully he’d be here every week, and I only ever saw him once! The wonderful thing was they’d been camping in the cold overnight, and they’d got everything in their tent, including hot cross buns, cups of tea and biscuits, and they promised me they’d be there the next week to give me the same. I was so disappointed! But we had great fun, always, on the walk round, and met lots of lovely people.

3:00 Charlotte: Hi – yeah, I’m Charlotte. I’ve been coming on and off since the walking choir started. I would say, if anyone was thinking of doing something similar, go ahead and do it. It’s been a really fun experience. You get to meet different people, you have a laugh while you’re walking around. You don’t have to be a good singer – it’s all about taking part and having fun, getting moving, getting active. And you don’t think about it when you’re doing it, because you’re in the music and you’re just focusing on that. So it passes an hour of doing exercise which you wouldn’t normally think about doing. So definitely a good thing to start doing.

3:49 Chris: Thanks, Matt. Yeah, so it’s bittersweet, really, because sadly that’s the end of the walking choirs.

3:55 Matt: Oh, no!

3:56 Chris: Yeah – possibly forever, actually. To be honest, we always knew it was going to be a one-year thing. We were funded originally for 30 weeks to do it, after we did the pilot scheme, and we were always hoping we’d be able to get more funding to keep it going. But sadly, all the funding criteria have changed, and it’s meant that we’ve no longer been able to secure the funding to keep it going, unfortunately.

4:30 Matt: It went longer than the 30 weeks, though, didn’t it?

4:33 Chris: Yeah – we managed to eke out the funding to keep it going. I think we probably did about 36 weeks in total, something like that. But it was great – really good fun – because obviously we had the staff, so I got to know the people working with us week in, week out really, really well. Some of those people were from our choirs anyway, so I knew them already, but we had a couple of people who I’d never met before, who weren’t part of our choirs, and it was really nice to get to know them and work together on the project. So that was a really nice aspect of the whole thing – but also just the joy and the exercise that we gave to all the people who took part throughout. And actually, it was quite an interesting little recruitment process too, because I think we’ve probably got about five people now singing in our evening choirs who started off with the walking choir and got to know people who were singing in our regular choirs.

5:41 Matt: And what about other participants? What have you heard, and who’s benefited from it? Are there any great stories of people who’ve thanked you for putting it together?

5:50 Chris: Yes. Again, I’m not going to mention any names, but we’ve had people who are carers who have really enjoyed coming out on a Saturday morning and having that time to themselves, where they’ve been able to just immerse themselves in the music and the singing with the headphones, and really get away from it all, whilst walking through fabulous scenery, singing along and having a really good time. We’ve also got a member of staff whose husband sadly died during Covid, and she has immersed herself in doing lots of things in the community voluntarily. She volunteers at the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital – I think she does two or three days a week there – and she does lots of other voluntary work. She doesn’t get paid for any of it; she does it because she loves it, because it keeps her engaged. So having the opportunity to do some extra things on a Saturday morning has just been really valuable for so many people. And I’ll be perfectly honest with you – it was great for me for losing weight as well!

7:05 Matt: Having that kind of motivation is brilliant, isn’t it? I haven’t been to one of the walking choirs, but I tend to do a cycle, or a walk, or a run every year, and as I get older I find it really helps me to keep motivated and actually get some training in.

7:20 Chris: You know, it’s funny you say that, because as I’ve got older, my aches and pains have got more pronounced and constant. So wait till you get to my age, mate! It became quite a standing joke in the walking choirs that, always on the first session, my back would be in pieces. Josh would always do the warm-up – we always did a physical warm-up before any walking – and he always did these exercises that we all ended up calling “Sciatica Central”, because they just literally destroyed my back. And then it was a regular occurrence that, as I was driving from Swan Pool (name unconfirmed) to Halesowen for the next session, Josh, in the car with me, would be putting a message on the staff WhatsApp group asking someone at the next session to bring ibuprofen for me!

8:20 So yeah, it was very enjoyable, and I am sad that it’s going. But in a little way, we’ve left a bit of a legacy. There’s a small group of people who have decided they’re going to stay in touch and keep meeting on a Saturday morning at Swan Pool. Although they’re not going to be doing the singing, they’re going to do the walk, following the route we normally did, and have a little walk together. I think that’s really, really lovely. But all things must come to an end.

8:50 Matt: Will those people be willing to have newcomers come and join them on the walk?

8:55 Chris: I think so, absolutely. If anybody listening is interested in just walking with some lovely sociable people, get in touch and I will put you in contact with them.

Summer choir events (9:05)

9:05 Matt: Brilliant. So what else is going on over the summer?

9:08 Chris: Well, Matt, we’ve had a really busy one. This July has been our first-ever time where every choir leader has put on loads of local choir events – I think we spoke about it last podcast – and they’re all done now, and they were great. For my choirs – I do three choirs, Halesowen, Sutton Coldfield and the Choir Brigade (name unconfirmed) – we combined those to do a concert last Sunday, the 20th of July, at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. We had 300 people in the audience, 180 singing, and a band playing, and it was fantastic.

9:42 Matt: That’s a lot of people, isn’t it – 300!

9:45 Chris: Yeah – really, really good. And all the choir leaders have been doing their own local concerts; it’s been really wonderful. The reason we did that was to engage with local communities more – to try and move the organisation away from being very centralised, from head office, to being much more community-based.

10:05 Then, moving forward into the summer, the choirs are doing a trip to York on the 2nd of August. We’re going to be singing in an area called Acomb, which is where the local York show choir rehearses, and then we’re going to have a half-day out in York. I love York – I grew up in Doncaster, so every time we had family over from Poland, we’d take them for a day out to York. Fabulous city.

10:35 Matt: I’ve only driven through York, but it looks absolutely beautiful.

10:40 Chris: Matt, let me tell you – next time you’re driving through York, don’t keep driving! Stop and have a little wander around. It’s fantastic, really brilliant. There’s so much to see and do – even if you just walk along the city walls, it’s brilliant.

11:00 And then we’re doing something very different on the 16th of August, which is a busking trip down to London. We’re going to do some singing in Woodford, some singing in Wimbledon, have a picnic in St James’s Park, do a little photo outside Buckingham Palace…

11:25 Matt: That’s Westminster – just anywhere that starts with a W, really!

11:28 Chris: Apart from Oxford Street – although we could call it “Woxford Street”…

11:32 Matt: That’s Westminster too!

11:34 Chris: Yes! And we’re going to have dinner there. So that’s going to be a really exciting day as well.

Julian Powell on the Rusty Players Orchestras (11:45)

11:45 Matt: Oh, that’s great. Excellent. And of course, it’s not all about choirs, is it? We’ve also got the orchestral stuff going on, and we’ve just been joined by Julian Powell here. Hey, Julian!

11:55 Julian Powell: Hi there – how are you doing?

11:57 Matt: Yeah, very good. So we’ve invited you on this month so that you can tell us what’s been going on with the Rusties.

12:02 Julian: All right. It’s coming to the end of my first year with the Rusties, and it’s been quite a transformative year, actually – I believe that’s a good word to use. In the year, we’ve done a number of concerts and performances – about four or five, which is quite good – and we’ll do another at the end of this weekend. Both groups have moved venues, and both groups have had changes of personnel – the Black Country more than anything else. We did go through a period where we’d have at least one new person every week. And it was quite spooky, because I’d joke about the next person coming, from whichever section, and then they’d come the next week! It’s like, “oh wow, I should have said something like ‘and the next person will bring me a million pounds'”!

12:54 Matt: Tell the universe what you want! Brilliant. So where are the two Rusties orchestras, then?

13:00 Julian: One is in South Birmingham – they rehearse at King Edward’s girls’ school (name unconfirmed) – and the Black Country one is now in Bilston; they rehearse at the XL Church in Bilston.

13:15 Matt: OK. And what level do you need to be to play in a Rusties orchestra?

13:20 Julian: I’d say from beginner up to about Grade 6-ish, maybe.

13:25 Matt: Oh, wow – so it’s a big range.

13:27 Julian: It is quite a wide range, yeah, because, being one of the arrangers as well, we actually cater music for people a lot more now. There have been quite a few times where I’ve just said, “OK, leave it with me – I’ll sort that part out and rearrange it. There you go, that’s fine.” And it works on both levels, because we had a mother and daughter who joined recently, and they’re very good players, and with some things I was thinking, “oh man, they’re not going to stick around for this”. It’s like, “oh, wait, you play that as well? All right – give me a week. Come back next week.” And then I do a piece, and it’s like, “oh, this is a bit of a challenge – there you go!”

14:05 Chris: So how do you do that, Julian? Because obviously the divide between a beginner and someone who’s Grade 5 or 6 is quite large. How do you keep the beginners from finding it too difficult, and the Grade 5 and 6 players from finding it too easy?

14:20 Julian: With the beginners, I tell them it’s more about patience. Because when you first start… there are people who come in who’ve been getting back into playing, and after a few weeks they’re feeling themselves, and it’s like, “oh OK, yeah, I’ve got it now, I’m fine”. And then there’ll be some people who are struggling with a lot of stuff, and I just tell them it’s part of their journey as they’re learning. I’m trying not to name names, because that sounds a bit isolationist. It is part of their journey, and you can actually see the growth in their playing – with both groups. I believe it’s really closely linked to their confidence levels, and that’s the main thing I’ve seen this year: the confidence levels of both groups have grown tremendously.

15:15 Chris: I think it’s fantastic that with the Rusties you can come in at whatever level and be part of that – I love it; I think it’s absolutely brilliant. And what you talk about with confidence really resonates with me as a choir leader, because with community choirs, non-auditioned choirs, a lot of people who join us have never sung before, other than in the shower. But in a way, in a choir it’s quite easy to hide, whereas in an orchestra there is no hiding. So I would imagine that, in your job as an orchestra leader and conductor, that aspect of building confidence when there is nowhere to hide has got to be really important.

16:00 Julian: Yeah, it is. And it relates to my work anyway, because I teach drum kit in schools, and the majority of the students I have do not own drum kits – they just come once a week for a lesson, and they’ve got to get better. So I’ve had lots of practice in that: “hey, trust me, this will work – give it time”. It’s a lot of patience-building. But the one thing that I do like to get across to them is that it’s about making the mistakes. The mistakes are actually part of the process. A lot of the time, people are just trying to be perfect – but if you’re perfect, you’re not learning. That means you already know the thing, so what’s the point in playing what you already know?

16:55 Matt: That’s a journey, isn’t it? I know from learning bass guitar and guitar myself that you have to put in the practice to get there.

17:05 Chris: Matt – sorry, let me just interject there – I think the Rusties could do with a bass guitarist!

17:10 Julian: We have a bass guitarist.

17:12 Chris: Oh – you need another one! Matt needs somewhere to play!

17:15 Matt: I’d have to do it remotely – I’m a long way from Birmingham [unclear]. It’s a good point, though, actually. Presumably anybody’s welcome if they sign up, but do you have, like, lots of clarinets and not enough violas? What are you particularly looking out for, if anybody’s listening and thinking they would like to become part of the Rusties?

17:46 Julian: We could definitely do with strings – just like with The People’s Orchestra, we struggle with strings. We’ve noticed, because there are two other Rusties groups in Wales, and there was a joint concert last year, that both of the Wales groups have lots of strings. And we realised what it actually is: Wales is a brass band country. There are lots of brass bands and not many amateur orchestras, whereas the Midlands has lots of amateur orchestras. So we do struggle for strings. We’ve got some in the Black Country, and we have one in South Birmingham – I don’t know if you can count the harp and the bass guitar as strings! In fact, if you count all of the strings on their instruments, we’ve got lots! But no, we do struggle for strings. We’ve had quite a lot of brass come in, and there’s always saxophone.

18:45 Matt: Oh, there you go. Anybody listening who learned violin at school, or hasn’t picked up a cello for years – get yourself on eBay, get yourself a little second-hand instrument, and come along and join the Rusties Orchestra. Julian will make you feel very welcome. Thanks so much, Julian – this has been brilliant, catching up with you. Thanks for telling us about the Rusties.

19:10 Julian: You too – that’s fantastic.

19:12 Matt: Hopefully we’ll catch up with you later this year or early next.

19:15 Julian: All right – it’s great to talk to you guys again.

19:18 Matt and Chris: You too – thank you. Cheers, bye!

[Music]

Little Notes from the Heart (19:30)

19:35 “Everybody’s great, but I’d particularly like to point out Ula and Baz. Without them, we would be nowhere. They make me look forward to every week – they make it such fun. I have some challenges in my life, so it’s quite good to be able to get out and sing my heart out, and it just makes me feel good. So thanks to Ula and Baz.”

19:55 “I’d like to say thank you to Heather for always putting out a comfy chair for me for rehearsals. It’s so thoughtful, and so much appreciated. Thank you, Heather.”

20:09 “I want to thank Sue Turner. I do have a lot of problems sometimes – very much like the problems when I come out on stage and sing – and she sees it, and she pays me a lot of respect as a fellow singer, and that really makes me feel good.”

[Jingle: “Little notes from the heart”]

Lorna Parkhouse and Philip Field on the Wolverhampton choir (20:40)

20:40 Matt: Our Wolverhampton choir has seen its previous two choir leaders leave, because they’ve moved to London to progress their careers. We’ve brought in our resident megastar choir leader, Lorna Parkhouse, to take on that challenge, and I had a chat with Lorna and long-standing member Philip Field just the other day. Here’s what they had to say. Hi, Lorna! Hi, Phil!

21:00 Lorna Parkhouse and Philip Field: Hello – good morning!

21:02 Matt: So, Lorna, you already lead the Shrewsbury choir – and do it brilliantly, so I hear – but now you’ve taken on Wolverhampton as well. What persuaded you to say yes to the added responsibility?

21:12 Lorna: Ultimately, Chris! But actually, it is something we had long discussions about, because I do work quite a lot of evenings. I had to weigh up whether this was going to be right for me, absolutely, long-term – because one of the things with Wolverhampton is that they’ve had a lot of change, and if I was saying yes, I needed it to be a permanent thing. So partly Chris did do a good job of talking me round, but to be fair, he gave me the space and the time I said I needed to really consider the decision, because I didn’t want this to be another snap decision. I want to be in front of them knowing I’m going to be there a long time.

22:00 Matt: So what have the first few rehearsals been like? Have there been any surprises? And how different is it from the other choir that you lead?

22:08 Lorna: Oh, that’s a really interesting question. I think the surprises have been more on the choir’s part, and I’ll let Phil talk about that. But I am conscious that I am quite pacy, I think it’s fair to say – Phil’s definitely smiling and nodding at this point! I work in quite a fast-paced way. I try to involve all of the choir in all of the sections of the rehearsal, so I don’t just wholly focus on the altos for 10 or 15 minutes. I’ll do a little phrase from each part, and then I’ll blend them together. So the concentration level from the choir has had to increase a little bit throughout the rehearsal, because I need them to sing at the notice of “right, three, four, you’re in”, whereas before, they were used to having longer in between their singing, I think. So my style’s been a little bit different for them.

23:05 Matt: OK – how’s that been for you, Phil?

23:08 Philip: It’s been really good. I’ve known Lorna for a while, mainly because she’s our pianist at all our mass events, as you probably know, and I’ve had the privilege of singing a couple of times at Shrewsbury, so I kind of know Lorna’s way of working. So I was delighted that she was coming to Wolverhampton – but I think the others were in for a little bit of a shock! People were saying at the end of the first rehearsal, “I’m exhausted, I ache, my lungs have had a workout”. But it was good, and I think now they’re really used to her way of doing things. It’s all good.

23:40 Lorna: I think we had a few comments at the end of that first rehearsal saying, “I’ve never stood up so much in a rehearsal”, because I had them up, I had them moving. They were just used to sitting, and I work in a very different way, I guess.

23:55 Matt: Like a kind of Red Bull! We’ve talked to other choir leaders who run multiple choirs, and they’ve said that each choir has a different personality. Are you finding the same?

24:05 Lorna: Oh, very much so, and I’m very much trying to treat them completely independently. They are completely different. They have started to team up beautifully – I think I used the phrase “mega choir” for when they fully get together, and it is absolutely awesome – but they are completely different. And what was really lovely: I think it took until about week three or four with Wolves before I was able to say, “right, now I can see all of your personalities shining through”. Now I can see you laughing within the songs, having little jokes with each other, feeling comfortable enough to move a little bit, and really having fun. And as soon as the personalities start to come out, that’s when the choir really starts to shape the feel of it all.

24:56 Matt: And I know you’ve got a lot of new members at Wolverhampton now. How does it help, having brand new members who haven’t experienced a previous choir leader?

25:05 Philip: They probably don’t know any differently, to be fair. I’ve had many choir leaders – Chris is one of my choir leaders – but I think we’ll leave that there! No, we all love him – he’s listening in! But all choir leaders have a different style, and I guess if you haven’t been in a choir before and Lorna is your first leader, you don’t know any different. I think it’s a bigger shock for the people that have had other choir leaders, because it really is a fast-paced learning experience. So the new guys, I think, just accept it for what it is, and we all kind of gel together, because it’s like a little family, really.

25:40 Matt: Is that the deciding aspect that keeps you there, Phil? Or is it something else?

25:45 Philip: Well, I’m a member of the Halesowen choir, and I’ve also sung with West Brom, but I love Wolverhampton. It’s the nearest choir to where I live, but that’s by no means the reason why I stay there. It’s just such good fun, and we’ve really gelled – we’re like a small family. Everybody gets on. There’s no animosity there; there’s no one trying to be “look at me, I’m the better singer”. We just all get on really, really well, and since Lorna started, that’s become even tighter, I feel. And now we kind of think we’re part of the Shrewsbury family as well, because we’ve done a couple of gigs together – they come down and surprise us, we sneak up there and sing with them – and it’s just really good fun.

26:25 Matt: It does sound like great fun. So, Phil, you’ve been with Wolverhampton for however many years it’s been going?

26:32 Philip: I was there from the beginning – day one.

26:35 Matt: So how has it changed from day one till now?

26:38 Philip: It’s always been a lovely little choir, but now they seem to have more confidence than they’ve ever had. I can tell that they now believe in themselves more – they actually believe that they can sound really good. I think the acoustic where we’re now rehearsing helps – it’s incredible; the sound is incredible. It’s also incredibly loud if you make a mistake – but we try not to! I just think there’s a lot more enthusiasm and excitement in the choir now. We’ve got lots of gigs lined up, and I think they can’t wait to get there on a Wednesday. It’s always been good fun, but now it’s like we’re moving forward. I think that’s how we all feel – we feel like we’re actually moving forward now.

27:25 Matt: You’re on a journey to something.

27:27 Philip: On a journey – yeah, that’s the best way of describing it.

27:30 Matt: Well, that’s a brilliant way to sell the choir to anybody who wants to be a member. What would you say, Lorna, to encourage people to join?

27:38 Lorna: I would totally agree with all of that, and it’s lovely to hear it from a singer’s perspective. One of the other things I’m trying to make a difference with is doing more local performances – rather than just focusing on the two combined performances a year, to really start making an impact in Wolverhampton, to be the choir that people call on for events and things. So we have had a couple of bookings now, haven’t we?

28:15 Philip: Yes, we have.

28:17 Lorna: We’ve got another big one in the diary – a local concert in Wolverhampton for Christmas as well – and they’re starting to come in. We did a big… it’s called Tettenhall Village, but it’s a massive village – we did the Tettenhall Village Fête a couple of weeks ago, which is huge. They literally do it on Tettenhall Green; they close the road in between the greens, and there are stalls and DJs. That was fantastic – absolutely brilliant. And seeing the choir, seeing their confidence, seeing their enjoyment at the prospect of performing, and the fact that they now know they’re good, and they’re inviting their family and friends… We looked out into the audience, and it was full of choir family and friends, picnicking, listening to us, standing up and dancing, singing along. And that is a change even I’ve noticed during this term.

29:10 Philip: It’s a real confidence boost. They now believe that they can do it, and, as you say, they invite their friends and family. It was fantastic – and the Lord Mayor loved us too.

29:20 Lorna: He did. The Mayor of Wolverhampton is very interested in booking us again.

29:25 Matt: Brilliant. Oh look – all the success for the future to both of you, and thank you for joining us today. It’s been a pleasure.

29:32 Lorna and Philip: Thank you for inviting us – thank you very much.

[Music]

Join, donate or volunteer (29:40)

29:40 Matt: And remember, if you’d like to see for yourself what it’s like to be part of one of our choirs or orchestras, September will be the perfect time to give it a go. Whether you’re an experienced musician or just love to sing and play for fun, you can try it out with our two-week free trial. Visit thepeoplesorchestra.com and click the “two weeks free” button to find your nearest choir or orchestra, or drop us an email at hello@thepeoplesorchestra.com. We’d love to welcome you.

30:05 Remember too that, alongside all of the fun that we have playing and singing, there is the serious work that we do as a charity. So if you can afford to make a small donation, please head to thepeoplesorchestra.com, click the Donate button in the top menu, and give what you can. And if you’ve got some spare time and would like to volunteer to help out with organising any of our concerts, get in touch through the website, thepeoplesorchestra.com.

Coming up in August, and next month's episode (30:30)

30:30 Matt: Coming up in August – just a reminder – we embark on our summer extracurricular activities, which for our choirs include a day out to York, and a really exciting travelling and busking day around London. Meanwhile, our individual choirs and orchestras have now finished for the summer, and will begin gearing back up to get going at the start of September.

30:50 Thank you for listening to this episode of The People’s Orchestra and Show Choir Podcast. In next month’s episode, Chris and I will be talking about an amazing new initiative to help raise money for the charity – The People’s Orchestra charity lottery – along with some great interviews with people who are integral to the organisation. So visit our website, thepeoplesorchestra.com, and follow The People’s Orchestra and The People’s Show Choir social media channels. And if you would like to find out more about how I can help you with making a podcast for your organisation, take a look at my website, audioeditingsecrets.com, and follow my social media, which is @audioeditingsecrets, on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

31:25 Matt: I’ve been Matt Ward…

31:27 Chris: …and I’ve been Chris Weber…

31:28 Matt: …and thank you for listening.

[Music]