Trip to Cardiff 2006 - Youth Choir of the Year

Kathy Tigg

On Friday 10th November Amabile set off on their travels down to Cardiff to sing in the BBC Youth Choir of the Year Competition 2006. We had originally planned to set off quite early but as per usual things didn't quite go according to plan. We had to offload all 40+ uniforms onto a different coach and that also meant our entire luggage! Fun, fun, fun. We set off, and as a choir tradition we always have to watch a DVD, all part of the experience. As you can imagine we were all very anxious and tired from the rehearsal we had the night before.

We arrived in Cardiff after a long journey to find we couldn't find a way to get to the hostel we were staying - as usual never a dull moment in Amabile! We settled down into the hostel in our rooms of six, as you can imagine it was very loud and giggly! We then went down and had a choir rehearsal for the big day tomorrow.

Morning comes and it's like Piccadilly Circus trying to get everybody to have a shower and up and out of bed. The nerves are beginning to mount as we all meet downstairs and one of the older girls who has left choir, Catherine, begins to do people's hair. We then carry our uniforms down to the Millennium Centre where we were settled into our changing rooms which were very posh and most importantly had mirrors! The time arrives for us to go and have a sound check. We were all getting very excited to see where we were going to perform. We walked in and I was literally speechless, the place was massive and quite daunting, but nevertheless we got on and performed our two songs. We then went back stage to rehearse some more in our parts to make sure we all used plenty of emotion in our faces and that we were all confident with the notes. The wait for us to then get into our uniforms seemed to be endless we just wanted to get out there and perform to the best of our ability.

The time arrives and we are asked to be seated, then Aled Jones comes on stage and welcomes everyone, then introduces the three most important people, the judges and the guy who did the workshop. This was a brilliant idea for the choirs to be able to warm up before they went on stage. We then had to sit and listen to four choirs before we were up on stage. The best thing was that we were able to hear two of the judges' comments about the choirs' performance so we could ensure that we put this into our performance. The time arrives - we were all backstage in our places ready to go and sing for the longest eight minutes of our lives! I had quite a mix of emotions, very nervous but excited that I had the opportunity as one of the older girls to sing in such an amazing place. After we had sung we listened to the judges' comments and as we were walking off stage Aled said 'oh they seem to like you' and I couldn't help but smile. When we were off stage for the first time after the competition I felt so happy that I knew every girl in the choir had given it their all and we couldn't have sung those songs any better and my friend Becca giving me the biggest hug ever!

We then had an interval and another workshop when finally the judges were on stage and a man with an envelope with the results in. Every girl was holding hands and just waiting in pure suspense for what was in that envelope. I however found it very frustrating that the man on stage with the envelope kept on talking when we just wanted to know who had won! Then he said... and the winner of youth choir of the year 2006 is Amabile Girls' Choir. Wow! Everyone was screaming so loudly it was just incredible, no words could describe how amazing such an experience was, even now the singing is a bit of a blur and the results, because you were concentrating so hard to get it right and in the end it paid off. I remember saying to one of the judges as we went to have our photo taken with them thank you so much and it was a good job I had waterproof mascara on! I cried my eyes out with so much joy.

Then we got back to a room where all of our bags were and everywhere in the room a girl was on their mobile shouting down the phone we won, that was the moment it properly hit me that we were youth choir of the year. We then loaded up the coach and we were back travelling home. As you can imagine we were all exhausted but just couldn't help but scream and talk all the time because of what had just happened.

I now cannot wait to back down there again ready to sing for the finals and I'm sure that will be just as an amazing experience as this one.