Pupils from a Mill Hill prep school have sung their way through the regional finals of a competition to find the nation's best choir.
36 children aged between seven and 11, from Goodwyn School, in Hammers Lane, beat rivals from around the south-east to take a step closer to the grand final of the BBC's Choir of the Year.
Since its launch in 1984, 120,000 singers from more than 2,000 choirs have taken part in the competition, with the opportunity to sing on live TV at the Royal Festival Hall in December up for grabs.
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Suzie Williams, the school's music teacher and conductor of the choir, said: "This is quite a stiff competition and they just sang fantastically on the day.
"I went there thinking it would be a fund day out and we'd sing our best but the kids were amazing, which was reflected in the comments made by the judges afterwards.
"One of them told the kids: You're fantastic - that's what singing should be.'"
The children, who were entered into the Children's Choirs category, travelled up to the University of Warwick, in Coventry, for their area final on Saturday, March 8. The category is for under-14's, and they faced competition from choirs of 13-year-olds.
Charlotte Levy, 11, said: "When we heard the other choirs we thought they were fantastic. We thought how are we going to beat them?' But the judges said that we expressed ourselves really well and we worked really well as a team."
Rishi Khiroya, also 11, added: "It shows that size doesn't always matter."
Recordings of their singing will now be considered by a second panel of judges who will choose six finalists from all of the regional winners to sing at the Philharmonic Hall, in Liverpool, for a place in the final.
And they are developing a taste for success, having won the childrens charity Barnardo's inaugural choir competition in February after a sing-off with three other young choirs at the Barbican.
Suzie said: "These kids are lovely and they're so much fun. We're keeping our fingers crossed."
Posted by: Rog T, Mill Hill Music Complex on 8:36am Sun 16 Mar 08
The Goodwyn Kids did their recordings at our studio. They were extremely professional and sang fantastically. They are a credit to the school and their parents and we will be keeping our fingers Crossed for them.
The Goodwyn Kids did their recordings at our studio. They were extremely professional and sang fantastically. They are a credit to the school and their parents and we will be keeping our fingers Crossed for them.
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