KENDAL was in good tune over the weekend as some 900 choristers from 40 different groups gathered en masse to sing.

Singers from as far as Brighton, Perth and Aberystwyth came together as part of the annual Street Choirs Festival, which takes place in a different location each year.

On Saturday (June 24), all 900 participants congregated outside of the Brewery Arts Centre to sing a selection of six tunes.

Anna Charles-Jones, part of the Open Voice Choir in Manchester, said that it was her seventh festival.

"The choirs are all very inclusive," she said. "Most of the choirs are part of something called the Natural Voice Network. There are no auditions, you don’t actually have to be able to sing although we hope that we can! It’s very welcoming."

The town's new mayor councillor Andy Blackman spoke before the choirs began singing, offering a 'warm Kendal welcome'.

"Have a great time singing," he told the crowd. "Have a great time making new friends with other people who enjoy singing."

The collective then performed Plovi Barko, Wild Mountain Thyme, Let The River Run, Song of Peace, Rolling Home and Unison in Harmony.

And although the hundreds of singers had only practised together for a short time on Saturday morning, the choir was in good form and its members were evidently enjoying themselves.

From Burnley, there was the East Lancashire Clarion Community Choir. The group, which has been going for around 20 years, has its roots in politics.

Barbara Sanders, a member of the choir, said that singing and socialism had always gone together.

"I’ve always put those two things together," she said. "Because every movement, every protest movement has songs and songs give you strength."

After the groups had sung together, they dispersed throughout Kendal to continue to entertain listeners at 20 different locations.

The weekend also included a number of workshops and concerts.

David Burbidge, leader of Lakeland Voices and organiser of the event, said that one of the festival was a celebration of harmony singing, community and responsible citizenship. One of the most important things about singing, he said, was its accessibility.

"The voice is the thing we all have in common," he said. "The voice is something that is very individual. It has the thumbprint of the soul but it also connects everybody together, whether it’s the voice of the people in the metaphorical sense or the voice of people singing together.

"People have two needs in life. One is to express themselves as an individual which they do through their singing and they other is to belong to something and when people sing together they express both of those things."