Sign language choir set to bring Wrexham audience to tears at major gala

Nation Cymru staff

A signing choir whose performances regularly leave audiences in tears will take centre stage at a major musical celebration in Wrexham.

Dynamic Signing Sensation will perform at Wrexham Music Cooperative’s gala concert at St Giles Church at 7pm on Wednesday, July 8.

The group, made up of young people with a range of disabilities, has won a growing following through its emotion-packed performances and busy programme of high-profile events across the region.

Members have shared the stage with Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists and BBC Choir of the Year Johns’ Boys Male Voice Choir and have also collaborated with Wrexham favourites Declan Swans.

The concert will provide a showcase for the talents of the young musicians taught by the cooperative’s tutors and is being sponsored by the arts-loving care organisation Pendine Park via the Pendine Arts and Community Trust (PACT).

PACT, established by Pendine owners Mario and Gill Kreft to support arts and community activities has funded bursaries providing a free year of music tuition for the main prize winners on the night.

There is a primary school prize, a secondary school prize and a special recognition award.

PACT has given similar support to the Wrexham Music Cooperative’s sister organisations in Denbighshire and Conwy at their annual gala evenings.

Mario Kreft MBE said: “Music has the power to inspire and move people, and the wonderful and talented members of Dynamic Signing Sensations do exactly that with their every performance.

“The gala concert is an important cultural occasion for so many people in Wrexham and it is always a joy to see our talented youngsters on stage, and doing what they love.

“We are delighted to be supporting the gala concert and I am sure everyone who attends will enjoy a musical celebration they will remember for a long time.”

The signing choir’s leader, Amy Pritchard, said the gala concert was another major event for the group which is run by Dynamic Wrexham, a centre for children and young people with disabilities.

She said: “We have been really busy this year with performances, and we have more performances coming up, but the gala is probably the biggest one we will be doing up to now.

“Our members absolutely love being a part of the choir. “They get so much confidence from performing, and they love being part of a team and working together, we call it like being part of a big family.

“The public’s reaction is incredible when they see the choir, we normally end up bringing them to tears, to be completely honest.

“We see the audience crying or just with massive smiles, and we get loads of compliments at the end of every performance.

“We have 25 choir members with our youngest aged 12 and our oldest is 25.

“Our members have a wide range of disabilities, there is no set disability.

Using sign language, choir member Lewis, 24, who is profoundly deaf, said : “I have been in the choir from when it started in 2016. I like coming to the choir because everybody helps me to sign and they are my friends.”

Choir member Bethan, 25, said: “The best thing about the choir is the people and seeing them grow in confidence and seeing them smile.”

April, 14, added: “I really enjoy signing, my favourite song is probably Dancing Queen.

“I want to stay in the choir for a long time and become a sign language teacher like Amy.”

Amy, who works at St Christopher’s School, said: “The cooperative has been very welcoming to us because the Signing Sensations choir is for young people with learning needs and disabilities, so it is nice to be accepted in the way the cooperative has”

Wrexham Music Cooperative manager Scott Lloyd said: “Pendine’s support for the arts is fantastic and through that support they are giving youngsters the opportunity for funded music lessons.

“The children we will be selecting for these awards are children that the opportunity will mean a great deal to.

“We are very proud of our fantastic partnership with Pendine and the ongoing support and ongoing work that partnership provides.

“The gala concert will see a whole feast of musicians from Wrexham take to the stage, from some of our younger people who are just starting out in our various programmes through to our more higher grade members and our ensembles from across the city.”

Heather Powell, the cooperative’s head of service, said: “We’ve been working with the Signing Sensations for a few years now and supporting them by giving them performance opportunities.

“When you see them on the stage, the choir members absolutely light up and they light up the room.

“My favourite time of year actually is when the Signing Sensations perform because it is very, very special.

“People who see them perform are always bowled over by them.

“Their passion for what they do, and how in their own way sing, just the same way the other children sing, is heartwarming to watch.”

The gala concert starts at 7pm and tickets can be booked online via Eventbrite.