Invictus choir

It was an excellent idea, but I did feel that it went astray at times. Gareth seemed not to understand that one of the things that keeps these service people going is a sense of a team all working together. This was reflected in the way the original group of 10 worked well together as a choir - it reproduced the camaraderie of service life.

But them, seemingly randomly, Gareth introduced two extra singers, which was a very strange thing to do, both socially and vocally - it was obvious from the start that the choir was too small - with a group if untrained and inexpert voices the more the merrier when it comes to producing a good sound. And, worse still, he dropped a whole gang of US singers on them at the last minute. It seemed a bit crass to me - the choir should have been told that this was the plan to start with, so they could have welcomed their fellow singers from the US with enthusiasm. It felt a bit manipulative to me.

I also felt that (like most "reality" shows) Gareth was pressing people's buttons to make good TV - almost encouraging them to bare their souls and break down - I felt uncomfortable about that. It seemed slightly disrespectful - and I admired the head injured man who was clear that he did not want to be misrepresented in a mawkish or unrealistically "happy ending" way.

It was very interesting to see the woman who did the starting solo - excellent voice and lots of courage.

The end product eventually worked well; but I was not quite so happy with the process.

I have run choirs for people of all sorts for most of my adult life and have seen how transforming they can be for everyone, and particularly for those with MH problems. And it was clear that singing at Invictus was very therapeutic for many.

Indeed nana a triumph really, when we really sit and think about all that has happened to our brave men and women. all of whom have come through terrible times, not only during their time in the war zone, but afterwards,

We saw some of the Invictus games as we are on holiday in Orlando. As ex military my DH and I were very moved and shared some moving moments with them. Our 2 little grandsons raised some laughs and were fascinated by some of the prosthetics some of the guys have .

It was a wonderful celebration of life .

LullyDully I too was moved by this programme as I have recently joined a choir, which has been a lifelong ambition of mine. I could relate to some of their emotions though clearly I have not suffered their trauma. I did feel there had been some heavy editing and I was deeply concerned when one of the choir members talked about how she would miss the experience.

I sincerely hope that there is some 'follow up' support for these amazing people and that we are informed about their progress in the future. This was surely the message in the new song that was specially written. Their recovery was ongoing not achieved!