Shropshire firefighters aiming for Christmas number one

The Christmas number one slot is the most coveted accolade in chart music – and now four firefighters from Shropshire want to write their own place in pop history.

The four are part of a 40-strong group, the Fire Tones, who recorded their own version of Do They Know It’s Christmas to raise money for the Firefighters Charity.

Matt Angell is a training instructor at the Telford Central fire facility, and alongside Kat Frost in Clun, Sean Nichols of Much Wenlock and Kev Williams of Oswestry he travelled to Birmingham to record the track in October.

Matt, of Wellington, said he was approached by a fellow firefighter who knew he loved to sing and play guitar, and was asked to take part.

He said: “Me being me, I said yes then and thought about the logistics later.

“It was a very difficult thing to organise with us being spread all across the country, it was a matter of practicing here and there when I got a chance.”

On the recording day, when colleagues flew in to Birmingham from as far away as Scotland, Matt felt his initial nerves melt away.

He said: “It was a really great day, it was long but there was a real sense of community and camaraderie.

“We had the studio engineer and the singing coach helping us out. I was one of the first up, I sang the second line of the song.”

The 39-year-old father of three said: “It’s all very exciting. It would be great to raise as much money as possible for a great cause, especially with the events over the last year with Grenfell Tower.”

The Christmas single idea was launched by Welshpool firefighter Chris Birdsell-Jones.

The group got together and recorded the track in a 12-hour session after Anthony Greaves from BIMM Music College in Birmingham donated session time at a newly-built recording studio, and the single is set for release on December 1.

Kev Williams (Oswestry fire station), Matt Angell (Telford Training Centre), Kathryn “Kat” Frost (Clun fire station), Sean Nichols (Much Wenlock fire station).

Recently odds on the song making it to the number one spot for Christmas singles dropped from 100/1 to single figures. The single is as short as 2/1 with some bookies to land the precious top spot.

Kat Frost, who also helped organise the recording, said: “I’ve been involved since the beginning really.

“The recording day was pretty full-on, but it was very exciting.”

“The work that has gone into the project has been going on all year.

“It’s been a long process but it’s nice to see we finally have a product to show for it.

“To get the Christmas number one would be amazing but helping the charity is the brilliant thing.”