06 Aug 2026
A community choir is showing no signs of resting on its laurels after 10 years and with half a million pounds donated to a groundbreaking cancer research centre.
In fact, the founder of The Big Choir Sharon Czapnik Down not only has her eyes set on a £1m target, but she’s trying to swell their ranks with a summer recruitment drive.
Sharon started the group in February 2016 following her own personal experiences with cancer.
“I lost my precious dad to lung cancer in 2008, a much-loved colleague to bile duct cancer, and a dear friend to pancreatic cancer. I also lost both in-laws to throat and bowel cancer. Then, in 2011, it was my turn. I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and faced 18 months of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and Herceptin.
“Thankfully, I’m still here today – fit, well and incredibly grateful. I genuinely believe I owe that to the incredible advances in cancer research and to the understanding, due to research, that cancer isn’t one disease with one treatment fits all.
“Every type of cancer is different, and research and personalised treatment plans are what gives people like me a chance. When I sat having coffee with a neighbour and we compared treatments for exactly the same diagnosis, I realised just how much research had changed the treatment I received to that of my neighbour.
“That was my lightbulb moment.
“I knew I wanted to do more than make the occasional donation or take part in another sponsored walk. I would spend months organising a black tie gala, and once it was over I’d feel quite flat, and would have to start thinking about what I’d do next.
“I was becoming uncomfortable asking people to sponsor me. They were so generous for the first couple of years, but then the sponsorship tailed off – I couldn’t help feeling that they were giving something without really getting anything back.
“I became quite obsessed with finding a way to generate a regular, sustainable income for Cancer Research UK – something that would continue year after year, while giving people something meaningful in return.
“In 2016, community choirs were so popular. They seemed to be popping up everywhere. So, I decided to create one where every penny of profit goes to cancer research! The only problem was that I had absolutely no idea how to run a choir!
“Looking back, it was probably a little bit mad, and lots of my friends felt free to share that opinion with me! I took to social media, and after a few weeks I found a local vocal coach, who believed in the vision long before there was any evidence it would work.
“Without them, The Big Choir might never have got off the ground. Now I don’t feel any guilt when I take members’ monthly subs, or payment for tickets to our shows, because everyone is getting something very special in return. Not only singing, but a lovely, warm and supportive community which is what the St Albans group is.
“Plenty of people thought I was crazy. Starting a choir from scratch with no experience, and trying to turn it into a fundraising organisation, wasn’t exactly the obvious career move! At the time my husband Andy and I ran a successful design and build company, but my heart wasn’t in it, so we decided I would give up work and run the choir as a volunteer. It’s now my full time ‘unpaid’ job.”
Although The Big Choir was originally launched in Barnet, a St Albans spin-off started in 2022, meeting every Tuesday between 7.30-9pm at St Paul’s Church in Blandford Road, Fleetville.
Sharon explained how this came about: “We live in Barnet but have always loved St Albans. It’s one of the nicest places to go to during the weekends for walks, lunch etc. We popped into Ye Old Fighting Cocks one Saturday afternoon for a drink and got chatting to the landlord, who also did a lot of fundraising.
“He was so excited when we told him we ran a choir. He promptly invited the choir to sing in the garden of the pub a few weeks later.
“As we started to perform, he made a call and spoke to one of the local vicars, basically telling him that he must give us space to start a choir in his church – he also negotiated an amazing deal on rent, and we are still so grateful to him.
“Within 10 minutes the vicar arrived to watch us perform and the deal was done.
“That was 2021 and we started the St Albans choir the following January. It’s been such a positive experience, especially in an area where music is so welcomed and supported by the locals.”
Money raised by the choir goes directly towards a brand-new London research facility, The Francis Crick Institute.
“When I first became involved with Cancer Research UK and started fundraising for them, black tie galas etc, they invited me to visit the construction site of the Crick.
“They explained the whole ethos of this new biochemical research facility ‘Discovery without boundaries’ with open meeting points, where scientists can stop and listen, and join in, potentially bring something new to the discussion.
“They actively encourage scientific interactions and promote scientific discussion, bringing together different disciplines and perspectives, resulting in the exchange of ideas, with some very exciting results.
“I was so impressed with what I saw and heard, that I decided there and then to restrict all my fundraising to research of all cancers at the Francis Crick Institute. I felt so confident that if anyone found the cure for cancer, it would be here.
“They are currently leading a programme to transform their understanding of lung cancer. The goal is to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment, helping more people survive lung cancer.
“It’s research like this that our donation goes into. I know it’s only a drop in the ocean, but we feel that what we do collectively as a choir is making a difference.”
The past 10 years have been packed with amazing experiences, and Sharon picked a few of her favourites: “We’ve sung in Trafalgar Square for the past six years, under the tree during the festive period. We sing at festivals like Guilfest which is pretty amazing.
“Supporting the runners at Race For Life events is lovely, and really makes a difference to the people taking part. What we didn’t expect them to do was stop and listen, but it seemed to give them that little hit of energy they needed to carry on running. We performed at St Pancras station for the BBC when they hosted one of their breakfast shows there which was fantastic, and of course at the Crick.
“Sometimes the most special performances are the local ones. Obviously being invited to sing at St Albans Cathedral is a great honour and we absolutely loved singing at the St Albans Christmas Cracker and at the Clock Tower. I could go on and on, we just love performing.
“It’s difficult to pinpoint the highlights as there are so many, and sometimes it’s the smaller events that give the most back to the choir.
“We do two shows each year, one summer and one Christmas. Honestly, our audiences are the best! The energy doesn’t just come from the stage, it flows both ways. They give as much to us as we give to them. Our shows feel like genuine celebrations, which often result in new members joining us – they always say how clear it is that our members are having such an amazing time when they perform, they just want to be a part of it.
“I suppose a couple of personal highlights for me would be receiving an invitation to meet King Charles at Buckingham Palace in 2025 and winning Fundraiser of the Year at the BBC Make a Difference Awards. Both incredibly humbling experiences.”
Did she expect to still be going after so long? “Absolutely not! I obviously wanted it to succeed, but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.
“I was thinking, if I can get 40 people there, each paying £30 a month, and have a concert at the end of that year, we’d probably have £10,000 to donate. I didn’t dare think that it might go beyond that.
“But what I hadn’t accounted for was the amount of support I’d get from complete strangers. I kept asking them, ‘Why our choir?’, and every time the answer was the same: it was because of the fundraising aspect, because let’s face it, not many of us haven’t been affected in some way by this awful disease.
“They kept bringing their friends, and soon we had over 100 members. I have to say I was relieved, having chosen to call it The Big Choir it wasn’t a good look to have just a handful of members. In our first few weeks we had around 12 regular members. Now we have 70 in our St Albans choir and the full Big Choir membership is over 200. All singing together for the same cause. It’s amazing!
“We’re very lucky in that we have a lot of the original members still singing with us every week. We hope they’ll all be singing with us for many years to come.
“I know it sounds a bit corny, but we really do feel like a family. Our members genuinely seem to care about each other. When someone is going through a challenging time, the choir rallies to support them. We see members going out for group dinners, walks together, theatre trips etc. It’s lovely to see.”
She gives a huge amount of credit to their musical team: “They have challenged, inspired and encouraged us to keep raising the bar, and the difference has been extraordinary. We’ve grown from being a perfectly good community choir, into something far more accomplished and musically ambitious.
“Today we perform in six-part harmony, with many of our bespoke arrangements being specially commissioned for The Big Choir. We believe investing in bespoke arrangements allows us to stand out from the crowd, ensuring our performances are distinctive, memorable and just that little bit more special when it comes to our shows and outdoor performances.
“I’m someone who loves organising. I love the detail, and being an interior designer I’m very much in touch with the visual side of performances. I employ the best musical directors to take care of the vocals, but I take control of the design and visual elements of the shows.
“I love a spreadsheet too, so I’m in my element arranging timings, running orders etc. Organising events is now second nature, but as with our singing, we like to raise the bar each time.
“It’s getting more challenging with every passing year to think of ways to do that, but we love a challenge. This year we were able to obtain some incredible video messages from some real music legends, congratulating our members on raising £500,000. We played them at the shows.
“The look on our members and our audience’s faces was magical. We thought hitting our fundraising target warranted something very special, and we were so happy we could make that happen. Our new target is the One Million!”
Sharon is keen to expand the St Albans group, and would encourage potential members to come along and try out even if they aren’t confident of their singing.
“We have singers of all abilities from amazing soloists right to the other end of the scale, and everything in between.
“The beauty of singing with a choir is that you don’t have to have the best voice.
“The magic happens when all the parts come together. And if there is someone who finds it more challenging, we have ways of making them ‘blend’ with the other voices.
“What we do ask of our members is that they do a little homework, and we also offer singing lessons if they feel this might help.
“I’d say, book a free taster, come along and you’ll meet the loveliest, most supportive group of people, who will soon become friends.
“You’ll learn to sing in beautiful harmony, even if you’ve never sung before. It’s a new skill and anyone can learn to do this under the right guidance. We have an incredible choir director who makes it so enjoyable.
“Most of our members have come along on their own, which I always think is so brave, but without fail, when I follow up the next day they praise the friendliness of the group and say how welcome they felt.
“There is nothing to lose, but so much to gain from group singing. Within weeks they will feel comfortable and confident. It really is such a beautifully positive experience.”
If you’d like to experience the choir for yourself, book a free taster on their website, www.thebigchoir.org. Just click the ‘BOOK A FREE TASTER’ button on the home page. The next choir term starts on Tuesday December 1 and they look forward to meeting any new members.
Check out The Big Choir on social media: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebigchoirlondon; https://www.facebook.com/TheBIGCHOIRLondon; https://www.instagram.com/thebigchoirlondon/
