Post Office Horizon choir hopes Britain's Got Talent final win is 'written in the stars'

Band members who helped people directly affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal to sing their way to the final of Britain’s Got Talent feel like ‘it’s in some way written in the stars’.

Alt-rock group Will and the People appeared with the Hear Our Voice choir in the semi-finals broadcast on ITV on Sunday.

After forming in 2009, the band lived in White Waltham for a decade and continues to record music in their Maidenhead studios, calling the town the ‘ancestral home of Will and the People’.

Frontman Will Rendle told the Advertiser the choir is ‘a wonderful thing to be involved in’ after their latest performance of Birdy's 'People Help the People' received the public vote.

While they are grateful for the judges' backing them, he said having viewers behind them is ‘10 times better’.

“It means everything. It affirmed that people are behind these postmasters,” Will added.

“It was 100 per cent initially about bringing a positive thing from singing together because it feels great, it’s cathartic, and it’s cheaper than therapy, as it’s been quoted by a lot of them.

“Something nice for these people who've been through so much.”

After touring in South East Asia 12 years ago, the band's former promoter, Mark Wildblood, moved to Liverpool to become a sub-postmaster and was caught up in the scandal.

His idea to form a choir to use music as therapy and support victims involved in the miscarriage of justice originated last year while meeting other attendees at hearings in London.

Mark asked the band to write an original song for the campaign, but decided their latest single, Falling Down, was ‘definitely the one’.

Keyboardist Jim Ralphs said: “Mark saw it as a privilege to be offered access to the whole back catalogue of an artist, and that song in particular struck a chord with him.

“One of the main lyrics in the song is, ‘I get the feeling that this isn’t just a me thing’ and that rang true with their plight and their story – the posties [being told] ‘you’re the only one this is happening to’ so they really connected with that line.

“That’s the magic of songwriting and engaging with music – it’s taken on this other life and this other meaning beyond anything we could have imagined.”

The 40-strong choir sang a rendition of ‘Falling Down’ and earned a standing ovation from the audience and the celebrity panel of judges earlier in the competition.

The band now has an ‘array of friends’ aged 17 to 76, including children of postmasters, many of whom have never had live singing experience before the competition.

“I'm so proud of them, and we’ve had to be quite stoic in our approach,” said Will.

“We've had to be professional and guide them. They just breezed through it.

“It has been an eye-opener because generally everyone has it in their souls to sing as one if they get together.”

“They’re such an amazing group of people,” added Jim.

“Seeing the catharsis and the healing going on as they’re singing. These people [whose] lives have been torn apart – to see them in such joy is what we live for as musicians.

“It’s the biggest gift.”

Regardless of the outcome next Sunday, May 31, Will and the People hope to release a charity single to raise money and ‘drum up as much attention’ to the cause as possible.

“It’s huge for us [because] it’s part of our story as well, so I’m very grateful to these individuals in the choir that have been strong enough to stand up and sing,” said Will.

“All of the extra things, getting to the finals, and all that stuff is part and parcel, a really nice and incredible bonus.

“Despite competition being very fierce, I think there is a chance, and it feels like it's in some way written in the stars that we should be up there as a group singing for the country, to the King at The Royal Variety Show.

“It just feels right, so definitely would be the very large cherry on top of the cake.”