In harmony as Army Wives eye a Christmas No1 (From The Oxford Times)

In harmony as Army Wives eye a Christmas No1

9:30am Friday 3rd August 2012 in Abingdon By Ben Wilkinson, Crime Reporter. Call me on (01865) 425427

IT started as a social club to keep each other company while their husbands where serving in Afghanistan.

But the Abingdon Military Wives Choir is now hoping for chart success after recording an album alongside more than 20 other groups nationwide.

The original Military Wives Choir, who scored a number one single last Christmas, is also involved in the album which will be released by Decca Records before Christmas.

The Abingdon group recorded one song with Shrivenham Military Wives Choir and two verses for two other songs on the record.

Some 120 troops from the base’s 4 Logistic Support Regiment have been in Afghanistan since March.

Choir co-founder Laura Bresciani, 27, whose husband Captain Marco Bresciani is serving with the regiment, said: “We are really excited we have been involved in recording an album.

“We never expected to be asked to sing on an album. We were just pottering along meeting every Monday having a sing-song and curry afterwards.”

The choir recorded their bit at the Shrivenham Defence Academy last month.

Mrs Bresciani said: “It was a day to remember. It was a long, hot day but it was really good.”

She said with more and more military wives’ choirs appearing across the country, soldiers’ wives were likely to always have something to do.

She added: “What is really nice is, because we have to move around every two years, choirs have cropped up everywhere, so the chance of moving to somewhere with a choir is quite good.

“It gives you something to look forward to every week.”

The choir will perform at the soldiers’ homecoming ceremony in St Helen’s Church, Abingdon, in November.

Co-founder Lucy Rutledge, 26, wife of Captain Stuart Rutledge, said: “It’s (the album) a really good achievement for our choir considering we only started a couple of months ago.

“It is something everyone will feel really proud of when it comes out.”

She said the group had been a success since featuring in the Oxford Mail in April, adding: “We have met people from other regiments and it’s been really good to get to know other people.

“In the past not much notice has been paid to the wives and families left behind. This gives us a voice and a way of supporting each other.”

The Abingdon group performed at a family fun event at Dalton Barracks on Saturday.

• Decca Records was also behind the release of an album by Wallingford Parish Church choir, which reached number two in the classical music charts in May 2011.