This petition to stop the planned closure of the BBC Singers has gathered over 100,000 signatures!
This is incredible, but we need to do more.
Continue to share
Please keep sharing this petition with your friends, family and colleagues. If you sing in a choir please include it in your weekly notices and encourage your choir members to support their fellow singers!
Encourage others to sign
We need as many signatures as we can possibly get come Friday at 5pm when this petition closes. It would outstanding if we could get close to 200,000 signatures by the end of the week.
Write to your MP
The Musicians’ Union is still encouraging its members and supporters to write to their local MP with the following letter template. http://bit.ly/3ZK6QMf
I urge you all to do the same.
Complain directly to the BBC
It is also worth pointing out that complaining directly to the BBC will not go unnoticed. If over 100,000 people complain to the BBC about this important issue then it will be incredibly difficult for them to ignore it. Please use the following link https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints/make-a-complaint
Media coverage
As I am sure many of you will have seen, there has been a lot of coverage of this issue in the national press. I have tried to list some of the links here for your perusal:
From Slipped disc who have obtained a letter sent by the acting co-directors of the BBC Singers to Richard Sharp BBC Chairman. The letter mentions inaccurate statements by senior BBC officials, all of whom are named within.
https://t.co/mSBz5uNfx8
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/13/bbc-chief-draws-ire-of-700-composers-with-devastating-plan-to-axe-choir
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/09/bbc-commit-cultural-vandalism/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/decision-axe-bbc-singers-total-assault-classical-music/
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/axing-the-bbc-singers-is-a-gross-miscalculation-executive-heads-should-roll-6thhn9g97
https://www.ft.com/content/54c5bb19-facd-422f-8c91-025198ccd5c2
Simon Webb - Head of BBC Orchestras and Choirs speaking on BBC Feedback - listen from 9’ 00’’ onwards https://t.co/9RwXA7Vel7
Conductor Sir Mark Elder on the BBC Singers on “Broadcasting house” - listen from 54’ 12’’ https://loom.ly/SD7FKSs
The Rest is Politics Podcast with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart- listen from 41’ 40”” https://t.co/NvZV9o1rOo
Jack Apperley