The choir will perform on Glastonbury’s prestigious Pyramid stage later this month Pic: Flickr user Wonker
Singers from the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir have spoken of their excitement after they were announced to play the pyramid stage at Glastonbury.
The choir – who shot to number one at Christmas – will play the morning slot from 11.30am to midday on the famous pyramid stage on Saturday June 25.
Caroline Smith, Children’s Physiotherapist at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and choir member told Eastlondonlines: “This is amazing and a bit surreal. We can’t believe that we are performing at Glastonbury with many of our heroes the day after our debut album is being released.
“Our goal is to celebrate the NHS and all its amazing staff, so to do this at Glastonbury is a dream come true.”
A Glastonbury appearance adds to a great 2016 for the NHS choir, after they signed a two-album deal with Decca Records earlier in the year.
The performance will be one of the biggest for the choir, with attendance at Glastonbury roughly at 175,000.
The Pyramid stage where the choir will perform has played host to some of music’s most popular and influential artists since the festival began in 1970.
Taking to the same stage after the choir is another Lewisham act, the Deptford-formed band Squeeze. Glastonbury headliners for 2016 include Coldplay, Adele and Muse.
The Lewisham and Croydon NHS Choir Pic: Wikimedia Commons
The choir, who came second on Gareth Malone’s choir talent show The Choir: Sing While You Work in 2013, were invited to perform by the festival after Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis gave birth to her third child in an NHS hospital.
Eavis said: “I’ve obviously got a very close relationship with the NHS having just had a baby and experiencing how incredible the whole NHS was, and also just talking to the staff about the experience of the cuts and what an impact that’s having on people. Seeing it firsthand, it really makes you treasure it and realise what an incredible thing it is.
“We just wanted to invite them down to perform here on the Pyramid and this feels like a year that’s more important than ever.”
The five day festival runs from June 22 to June 26.
