NEWS FEED
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is looking to set the UK singles chart alight following the release of a charity single to mark the 15th anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York.
The choir of firefighters and support staff – first brought together by Gareth Malone for the BBC series The Choir: Sing While You Work in 2013 – is donating proceeds from its cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Rising’ to The Fire Fighters Charity, which provides life enhancing support to UK fire and rescue service personnel.
The Springsteen song, written soon after 9/11, tells the story of a firefighter in one of the twin towers as he comes to terms with the knowledge that he will not survive. Originally released in 2002, in reaction to the September 11 2001 attacks on New York City, ‘The Rising’ earned Springsteen many awards.
The choir’s decision to record the song was reached in New York where Cheshire Fire Choir had been invited to take part in a concert at Carnegie Hall. While they were there they performed ‘The Rising’ at the Ground Zero memorial and it was at that particularly poignant performance that the decision was taken to release the song as a single to raise funds for The Fire Fighters Charity.
Watch Manager Phil Marke explains: “Performing ‘The Rising’ is our way of never forgetting our colleagues. The moving song holds a special meaning for every single member of the choir as it was written in reaction to the September 11 2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York in which 343 firefighters, 60 police officers and 10 paramedics lost their lives.
“But, for Cheshire Fire Choir, the song isn’t only a reminder of those who fell on 9/11; each time we sing it, we feel it is a tribute to those emergency services personnel in the UK who have given their lives in the line of duty.
“We feel it is the right song for us to release to raise money for The Fire Fighters Charity which is there to help firefighters who put their lives on the line every day to save others. The charity really makes a difference with their support for firefighters and their families.”
The Fire Fighters Charity Chief Executive, Dr Jill Tolfrey, said of the single; “We are delighted to support the Cheshire Fire Choir with the release of its debut single and are hugely grateful to all of its members. Every penny we receive from sales will directly help us to support more injured or ill fire service personel across the UK, so we urge everyone out there to download the single and enjoy it, safe in the knowledge that they will be making a real, life-changing difference to our beneficiaries.”
