A MUSIC project that celebrated Trowbridge’s multicultural community and helpers singers join scratch choirs has folded after four years of service.

In 2013, Candy Verney and Liz Lavender formed the Trowbridge Song Project after securing a £50,000 grant from the Arts Council.

One goal of the project was to collect and archive stories of migration from people who have come to Trowbridge from far flung regions across the world and to give singers a chance to perform a concert with just half a dozen rehearsals.

When the funding ran out in 2015, Mrs Verney helped choirs across Wiltshire, and further afield, go from strength to strength by helping them train for concerts and by attracting more singers.

But after four years, the committee and project founder, Mrs Verney, decided that it had run its course.

“I am so proud of the legacy we have created over the years. It has been inspiring to have so many people from different backgrounds come together, sing their hearts out and make friends in the process,” said Mrs Verney, who has been running community choirs for 20 years.

“I had a vision, I joined up with Liz, we got the funds and then we got some great volunteers and away we went.

“We had three big concerts in the first two years, with acts from Africa, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Jamaica, Tibet, Poland, Guyana, and massed choirs involving hundreds of singers.

“The concert at the Wiltshire Music Centre was incredible. We had exhibitions, singers from all over the place, it was like a mini festival.

“We also documented stories from people who came here. The entire oral history collection is archived at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham which is brilliant.”

However, this month, it was decided that the project should fold as it was mission accomplished for them.

“We ran out of money in 2015 so we kept going through starting these scratch choirs and now they are self-sustaining, it is time to draw this story to a close,” added Mrs Verney.

“We also had a documentary, Wings of Song, made about us by director Samiha Abdeldjebar, which tells our story. I am so proud of that story too.”