Choir brings together people touched by cancer

"For me it's about awareness more than anything."

An Ashbourne woman whose late husband had cancer three times is raising her voice as part of the newly-formed It Starts With You choir.

Bernadette Packer, 66, lost her husband Ian three years ago at the age of 55. She is now one of dozens of people inspired to join the community choir by BBC Radio Derby presenter Becky Measures, who shared her own experiences of hereditary cancer.

Bernadette and her fellow listeners are set to make their debut performance on Sunday at the station's Make A Difference Awards.

Bernadette said: "It's been amazing, I've met some really nice ladies and it's nice to meet Becky.

"Becky's inspiring and her story actually made me sit up and think, 'Wow, I didn't know that about her'. I listened to her on the radio and she inspired me to do this."

She said her husband found a lump that he didn't mention at a check-up - which could have raised the alarm on his cancer sooner.

She added: "My husband had cancer three times and I think for me, I'm not sure if it was hereditary, but it was more about the fact that he should have gone to the doctors earlier.

"For me it's about awareness more than anything."

One of the songs being performed by the choir was written by Grammy award-winning composer Eliot Kennedy, who has worked with Celine Dion and Gary Barlow.

The It Starts With You campaign was launched by BBC Radio Derby to highlight hereditary cancers, inspired by the story of the station's breakfast presenter Becky.

In 2004, Becky became the youngest woman in the UK to have a preventative double mastectomy at the age of 24, after discovering she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation.

Having this mutation meant Becky had a significantly increased risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Her mum, Wendy Watson, also had the operation in 1992.

Wendy is thought to have been the first person in the UK to have the procedure.

The It Starts With You campaign, fronted by Becky, has led to listeners contacting the station to share stories of how cancer has touched their lives.

As a result, a community choir was started, with weekly rehearsals carried out at Radio Derby's Bloomfield House.

Fellow choir member John Morley said he was a big fan of the song, especially the line, "Life is full of surprises".

He joined because of his late wife's battle with cancer.

"She had breast cancer and she fought it for 13 years, but it finally went to her brain and she had a brain haemorrhage and that finished her off," he said.

"That was 37 years ago, a long while but I've not forgotten her.

"The choir has been brilliant, a lovely crowd, I'm really enjoying it."

Christine Middleton told BBC Radio Derby she was "buzzing" for the choir's debut.

She said: "I know the feeling of performing in front of an audience and I'm sure everybody's going to be absolutely enjoying it.

"It's giving people an opportunity to actually talk about perhaps things that are worrying them and they don't share it with anybody else, because they perhaps don't want to burden them. There's a camaraderie."

Executive producer at BBC Radio Derby, Rachel Gilchrist, said: "It started with a couple of people calling the show.

"One turned into three into five, until we'd got almost 40 people with incredible stories, so we decided to get them together.

"What better way to get people together than singing? It's joyful and positive, they've formed their own friendship group and will keep on telling the message to check family, friends and yourselves for signs of hereditary cancer."

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