SINGERS across the county have been left disappointed after their community choir was removed from its closing slot at the Three Choirs Festival.

Consisting of 200 singers of all ages and abilities the Gathering Wave choir has filled Hereford Cathedral with song as a fitting end to the festival for the last three events.

However, the Three Choirs Festival has chosen to ditch the community choir which drew in a crowd of over 1,000 people for a more main stream act to close the festival next summer.

Carey Godwin is part of the Singing Tree choir who have taken part in the last three Gathering Wave projects.

She said: "We might not be the most perfect choir but we are so enthusiastic and are just a happy choir making a big sound.

"The choirs range in size and ability with some having as little as two or three members but we come together to make a big noise."

Three Choirs Festival Chief Executive, Alexis Paterson, said that alternative venues and times have been offered the Gathering Wave choir.

She added: "While we have had extensive conversations with deliverers Musicpool over the course of the past six months or so, with suggestions for the development and staging of the event, I’m afraid in the end Musicpool took the decision to withdraw the project from the festival and delay it till the autumn.

"We made every effort to find a way of accommodating the project in next year’s festival, and are sorry that it has not been possible. There will still be opportunities for local singers and musicians to participate in other ways."

Hilary Smallwood, joint musical director of the Gathering Wave, hopes that funds can be raised to run the community choir's performance later in the year.

She added: "The Gathering Wave has been a feature of the Hereford Three Choirs Festival for many years, marking the end of the festival with a joyful concert in the cathedral – and gathering together around 200 singers of all ages from community choirs and schools in the county.

"Its presence as the final concert of such a prestigious festival was a wonderful endorsement of the huge popularity and importance of community singing and its valued place in the Herefordshire arts scene.

"Sadly, for 2018, it has turned out that it is not possible for the Gathering Wave to take place as part of the Three Choirs Festival, as the committee have other plans for the final night slot to bring it into line with Worcester and Gloucester festivals.

"We will be doing our best to raise the funds to make The Gathering Wave happen later in the year and are confident that we will have the support of the cathedral and of many others in this endeavour. The Gathering Wave is a very special project brimming with inspiration and joy and dear to many hearts - we will do our utmost to preserve this for all our loyal and enthusiastic singers, and for the children for whom being a part of this event is a wonderful and once-on-a-lifetime experience."