THE dream has come to an end for Chester’s A Handbag of Harmonies which was voted off BBC TV’s Last Choir Standing tonight (Saturday, August 2).
The all-female city singing group gave two exuberant performances of Build Me Up Buttercup and Downtown in the last of three heats in the nationwide hunt for the country’s best choir.
But they were subjected to some cruelly negative comments from judge Suzi Digby who criticised the Handbags for being overly simplistic and said their first song could have been sung by “a primary school choir”.
The Handbags’ musical director Matt Baker bravely hit back, saying the group worked extremely hard at making it sound so simple.
But Digby rounded off her remarks with a rather lame pun, remarking: ‘That wasn’t really my bag.”
But it has been a glorious adventure for the popular Chester choir which has enjoyed a high profile since first making it through to the final 60 chosen to take part in the show.
They subsequently made it through to the last 27 and then the final 15 who took part in the three heats. Sadly, they were not able to make it to the last six who will be subjected to a public phone vote rather than the whims of the judges who also include Holby City star Sharon D Clarke and acclaimed singer Russell Watson.
However, their involvement has seen the Handbags appear on Channel 4’s Richard & Judy, feature in Hello! magazine and broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside.
