A music director from Bromley Cross has brought together a community choir and West End musicians in a bid to get everyone feeling happy and raise money for Bolton Hospice.

The Happy Voices Choir was founded three years ago by Helen Washington, who worked in the West End for 20 years before moving back to Bolton.

Helen runs the choir alongside her role as the Children’s Musical Director for the UK touring production of Les Misérables.

Drawing on her musical connections, Helen organised a big band composed of West End musicians to perform alongside her choir members.

Together they produced a cover of Judy Garland's song Get Happy, which is available to watch on You Tube.

The singers and musicians performer their sections individually; the videos were then edited together.

Helen said:"The project was about cheering everybody up in the theatre world and also raising some money for Bolton Hospice.

“I wanted to actually do something rather than just say thank you.

“The theatre world and the musical sector is really suffering right now, but this song shows that you can’t stop us from being creative.

“The choir has been a source of support for a lot of people during lockdown, we’re a very close knit group."

So far £470 has been raised for Bolton Hospice.

Assisting Helen were her colleagues from the West End Alan Berry and Mikey Davis, in charge of the video editing and band arrangements respectively.

Having worked in numerous productions including Hairspray and Matilda, Helen is a huge advocate of the power of music in boosting people’s wellbeing.

She said: “Theatre and music is a great form of escapism and it would be a shame to lose it.

“Ultimately this song has cheered people up and we’ve had an amazing response from people.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to put your happy face on.”

Donations to Bolton Hospice can be made via Helen's Just Giving page.