Choir sings for charity at the Lamb

John Ward Turner reports:  On the evening of 28 June, a group of Croydon Male Voice Choir members rallied round to share their musical repertoire for a worthy cause at the Lamb Tavern in the famous Leadenhall market.    

Croydon Choir boys prepare to sing at Lamb

The Lamb has been a well-known London watering hole since the 1780s and a favourite of Charles Dickens. It was also the venue for clandestine trysts between the great poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. 

Nowadays, the Lamb is enjoyed by city workers seeking refreshment after a hard day’s business - and is where the Croydon Boys joined them to help raise money for the charity ‘Ordinary to Extraordinary’ (O2e), at the behest of fellow CMVC member and fundraiser for O2e, Anthony Padgett.

O2e comprises a community of philanthropic volunteers who enjoy furthering their physical wellbeing through exercise and adventure, while carrying on a variety of fundraising activities to improve the lives of children who are in need of help due to disability or illness.

Once the singers had settled in the pub, it was initially a battle of pitches to compete with the boisterous background bar babble. But the fortissimo voices of the Croydon choir soon won the drinkers’ attention, with their rousing rendition of Puccini’s Nessun Dorma – recognised by many thanks to the Three Tenors. 

An appreciative round of applause ensued, followed by renditions of Angels, Speed Your Journey, African Prayer and other well-known songs. Although collecting buckets were not permitted, a healthy £400 was raised for O2e – rounded off with a final encore of Nessun Dorma, insisted upon by the customers, to rattle the roof timbers of the ancient tavern.