Young Voices

 Our Year 5 class attended the ‘Young Voices’ event in Sheffield Arena this week. This gave them a chance to perform with 5,000 other children in a huge choir accompanied by a live band and dancers. This is what they said about their experience:

“I have never felt so grateful for a trip provided by school. It was really a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even the rehearsals were fun. It was so good I could go many more times again and never get bored. We practiced almost every day before it happened, which was hard work, and required lots of effort and perseverance, but it was so worth it! When the lights dimmed, a loud contented cheer filled the arena. It was truly spectacular. As I looked out across the arena, the lights looked like a blanket of stars covering the sky. The singing was like a beautiful choir of angels with thousands of children from many different places coming together as one.  It was inspirational singing there and I’m so upset that we will not be able to go again. I am writing with a wonder of emotions. Never will I forget the moment I stepped into such an amazing dream.” By Isabel Armstrong

“On the day of the concert, we left school at 12:30 and arrived at about 1:30. After a short walk to the arena, we found our seats. At this point we were buzzing with excitement!  At around 2:15 the rehearsals started. We learnt new ways of singing the songs. It felt like we were an actual choir with thousands of other children. We also got the opportunity for a sneak preview of the acts. Urban Strides were there and showed off their dance moves.  It was amazing! Three hours later the rehearsals ended. Then it was around 5 o’clock when we had tea. We had definitely earnt our food! After that, the parents started to arrive. I searched excitedly for my parents in the crowd. I felt proud to be representing my school. At 7pm the concert began…

Personally I think that the real thing went better than ever. The atmosphere was amazing. The lights in the crowd twinkled all around me. Everyone sang their hearts out. It felt incredible to be a part of something so big. One big choir of thousands of people for one night. I’ll never forget it.”
Josh Fox 

“After waiting three months and doing lots of practice, it was finally the day of Young Voices! We all had a great time and I thought it was the best day ever. But now I want to do it again and I am sad that it is over. What was really cool is that Tony Hadley, Sharlene Hector and Beau Dermott all came to sing at Young Voices too. Beau Dermott was a golden buzzer winner in Britain’s Got Talent and Sharlene Hector is a singer and Tony Hadley the same, a singer. Amazingly, there were 5099 children there, all singing together as one big choir. We sounded amazing. Urban Strides were brilliant and Andy, the leader of Urban Strides, was inspirational. He taught us lots of new dance moves while making us laugh too. He’s got a very funny personality. The whole experience has made me realise how fun life can be and how we should never give up on our dreams.”
Grace Armstrong

“What a wonderful experience the Young Voices was this week at the Sheffield Arena seeing over 5000 pupils perform as one in a choir with primary schools from all over the country.  Congratulations to our Year 5 pupils who performed with such energy and enthusiasm and to all the staff involved in making this happen for our school.  What a great memory you all now have and what a rewarding part of the school curriculum it is for the children of Monk Fryston to be part of.  And from a parent’s perspective it was not only emotional but a delight to watch”.
Mrs Pickles, Parent & Chair of Governors

We would like to thank Mrs Lofthouse, Mrs Alderson and Mrs Harmer for accompanying the children on this visit.