It’s all cheers for the children of Pond Park Primary School choir

The 60-pupil strong choir sang two beautiful pieces ‘Colours of the Wind’ and ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’ during a live performance at the Ulster Hall.

They then sang as part of a sing-off against St Conor’s in Omagh Matilda’s the musical ‘When I Grow Up.’

The busy local school choir, who have performed for the residents of Thompson House and Peter Corry are now getting ready for the school show ‘Beauty and the Beast.’

Principal of the school Geoffrey Cherry said, “We are absolutely delighted to be associated with Radio Ulster’s School Choir of the Year Competition and winning the Primary School section has been a great achievement.

“It was indeed a privilege to perform on the Ulster Hall stage alongside so many talented school choirs; the standard of choral singing was extremely high and I am very proud of the children.”

While Pond Park was named top junior BBC Radio Ulster School Choir of the Year, Grosvenor Grammar School, won the senior category.

The live televised event was presented by John Toal and Kerry McLean, and broadcast from the Ulster Hall.

Part of BBC Music NI, over the course of the past six weeks 64 choirs battled it out to win a place in the final.

Twelve schools from across Northern Ireland took part in the live final – with six competing respectively in the junior category and senior categories.

The awards to the two schools were made by guest judge Yvie Burnett, a Mezzo Soprano, who is also well known for her work as a vocal coach with ‘The Voice’.

The rest of the judging panel was made up of series regulars Dominic Peckham, Artistic Director with the Ulster Youth Choir; Ciaran Scullion, Head of Music, Arts Council for Northern Ireland and Richard Yarr, Senior Producer Classical Music, BBC Radio Ulster.

Each choir was invited to perform two songs after which the judges decided which two choirs from the junior and senior categories would go head-to-head as they battled it out.

Other runners up in final were Ballyholme Primary, Bangor; St Colman’s Primary, Saval; Riverdale Primary, Lisburn; Grosvenor Grammar School, Belfast; Ebrington Primary, Londonderry and St Conor’s Primary School, Omagh.

The two winning choirs will help BBC Radio Ulster celebrate its 40th anniversary during the year.