Staff at Perth Royal Infirmary have topped the UK singles charts with Captain Tom Moore after joining the choir for Michael Ball’s charity single You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Four speech and language therapists at the NHS Tayside hospital lent their vocals to the Voice of Care Choir with fundraising hero and war veteran Captain Tom, who sings alongside Ball in the hit single which has already raised millions-of-pounds for NHS charities.
The colleagues, Karen Clark, Jaclyn Dallas, Gillian McCalley and Caitriona Hutton, recorded their own singing before working with Michael Ball and a music producer via Zoom.
Former Kilgraston pupil Karen said the past week has been a whirlwind, from first receiving a message about the opportunity to reaching Number One by Saturday lunchtime.
Karen said: “I was emailed by the music producer to ask if I and anyone I worked with would be interested in singing with a high-profile artist on a charity single.
“Myself and three of my speech and language therapy colleagues had to sign up within an hour, record ourselves that night and send the recording to be mixed overnight.
“It was played on BBC Radio Two the following morning and we then had a zoom call with Michael Ball and the music producer to record the video of us singing and waving.
“Then it was shown on BBC 1 breakfast on Saturday morning, the recording went to number one by lunchtime.”
Karen has been singing in choirs for most of her life, but this is her first chart experience.
She said: “This has been a crazy, surreal roller-coaster of an experience and definitely not the average day in the life of a speech and language therapist.”
The charity single featuring the PRI colleagues and the 99-year-old war veteran had sold more than 60,000 copies, via sales and downloads, by midweek.
However, You’ll Never Walk Alone is being closely followed by The Weekend’s Blinding Lights.
The final Official Chart Top 40 will be unveiled on BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart with Scott Mills on Friday from 4pm with Captain Tom hoping to secure his a debut Number One single before his 100th birthday on April 30.
Kilgraston’s headmistress, Dorothy MacGinty, invited ex-student Karen and her colleagues to sing with their choir after the pandemic.
Mrs MacGinty said: “We are absolutely delighted that our alumnae is part of this wonderful project, raising money for our NHS during this pandemic. Well done to Karen and to all those taking part, we applaud you.
“Singing still features prominently here at Kilgraston so I would be delighted to welcome Karen and her colleagues back to her former School to sing with our choir when this is all over.”
Allied health professionals lead at NHS Tayside, Angela Murphy, said, “It’s been lovely to watch the video and see some of our speech and language therapy staff taking part along with other healthcare workers from across Scotland and beyond.
“We’re very proud of Jaclyn, Gillian, Caitrona and Karen for taking part and representing NHS Tayside for this fantastic cause.”
