THIS pair of singers will be ‘Burning down the house’ with their vocals on Monday night as they take to the stage on BBC Two programme The Choir: Sing While You Work.

The 24-strong group from Cheshire Fire were picked out of 130 auditionees by king of the choir Gareth Malone to take on five other British organisations and put through their choral paces in an effort to be named the best workplace choir.

The Warrington Guardian talks to two members from the town as the competition heats up.

FOR Princes Trust assistant team leader Michelle Dalton, the programme relight her fire for singing having previously performed at social clubs in a girl group.

The 26-year-old, who is based at Warrington Fire station but lives in Widnes, said: “A few people needed a bit of a persuasion over sending an application form off but I couldn’t miss the chance to sing in my own workplace.

“They were looking for a mix of men and women and employees including firefighters and support staff so I was really nervous I wasn’t going to make it during the audition process.

“After I got the call from the production company the rehearsals were quite intense as they had to get us to competition standard in a short space of time so me and the other sopranos would arrange to practise in the evenings.

“But then the whole experience went by so quickly and I would definitely do it all over again.

“It’s been strange going back to normal and all I’ve got to look forward to is watching it back on TV!”

AREA manager Gus O’Rourke said he got involved to encourage others but was then stunned when he was actually picked to be a part of the choir as a tenor.

The 51-year-old who lives just a mile away from Warrington Fire station where he worked as a firefighter for eight years, said: “My only experience was drunken singing when I got together with friends over Christmas.

“But it’s been amazing and I never thought for one minute it was going to be so enjoyable.

“I thought Gareth Malone might have been a proper celebrity and a bit stand-offish but he was absolutely fantastic.

“He even sent me a direct message recently on Twitter with some advice after I had tweeted about a problem.

“He wanted the choir to carry on and have a legacy and there’s already been conversations about more performances.

“They filmed around 80 hours of footage so I’m really interested to see what they use in the programme and hope they get across how much work we do with teenagers, school kids and vulnerable adults on top of fighting fires.”

The Cheshire Fire choir have already got their first gig thanks to the show as they will be performing at Chester Cathedral on December 3 as part of the emergency services carol concert.

Tune in on Monday to The Choir: Sing While You Work at 9pm on BBC Two.