BBC Radio Scotland CiN Choir

I'd just got back from a couple of days leave when my boss beckoned me over with a mischievous glint in her eye: "We've had an idea for Children in Need," she told me, "and we think it's just the thing for you to organise. Let's have a meeting."



With what noble task was I to be entrusted, I wondered? Or to put it another way, what difficult job needed doing? At the meeting, I was soon to find out.



"We'd like you to get together a choir of presenters and producers for BBC Radio Scotland's Children in Need night. You'll need to get them all together, organise a recording session, ask Jamie to teach them how to sing, find a song they can all manage, record it and make it into something we can broadcast on the night itself."



How long would I have in the studio with everyone to pull off this feat? "Oh, about an hour. Have fun! Next item on the agenda, one of the spots on Pudsey's bandage needs replacing...."

I'll skip the process of synchronizing the diaries of 20 presenters and producers to get them all in one room at the same time, and the surprising difficulty of finding a studio big enough to fit us all in, and jump to the moment when everyone began to arrive for the recording session. Would anyone be able to sing? Would they be too nervous? Would all these very individual people work as a team? Would Jamie tell rude jokes?

Picking up a top tip from a former music teacher, Inspire Participants With Sweeties, I had a large tin of them ready to welcome everyone in - and as the studio filled up and the sweet tin emptied, a wonderfully festive atmosphere emerged. When you think about it it's actually quite rare to get so many BBC Radio Scotland people all in one place at one time - we're all working at different hours on different programmes, and the sense of being united was palpable.

In fact it's amazing how much energy people are prepared to put in for Children in Need. Nerves, busy broadcast schedules, other work commitments, all were put on one side for our hour in the studio- and this group of big individual personalities all knuckled down with Jamie, worked hard, and came up with something fantastic: a real, united voice of a community - the hallmark of all the best choirs.

So next time I'm asked to organise a BBC Radio Scotland choir, I'll jump at the chance! Just don't tell my boss yet- it might give her ideas....

Dominic Jewel is the Producer of BBC Radio Scotland's Classics Unwrapped.